Home : Prisoners' Rights

Carty v. Turnbull - Motion for a Receiver (06/14/2006)
In 1993, the National Prison Project filed a lawsuit on behalf of Virgin Islands prisoners housed at two facilities in St. Thomas, U.S.V.I.. The following year, the parties reached a settlement agreement, requiring the Virgin Islands government to rectify severe overcrowding, to address squalid conditions, to remedy deficient medical and mental health care, and to institute inmate classification and fire safety measures to ensure the safety and security of the prisoners. In the decade since the case was settled, the government has been held in contempt three times for failing to comply with the agreement. Last July, the NPP asked the federal judge presiding in the case to appoint an outside expert to take over the prison health care system in St. Thomas, and again to hold the government in contempt for failing to abide by the judge’s remedial orders mandating adequate treatment for severally mentally ill prisoners.

Carty v. Turnbull - Contempt Motion (06/14/2006)
In 1993, the National Prison Project filed a lawsuit on behalf of Virgin Islands prisoners housed at two facilities in St. Thomas, U.S.V.I.. The following year, the parties reached a settlement agreement, requiring the Virgin Islands government to rectify severe overcrowding, to address squalid conditions, to remedy deficient medical and mental health care, and to institute inmate classification and fire safety measures to ensure the safety and security of the prisoners. In the decade since the case was settled, the government has been held in contempt three times for failing to comply with the agreement. Last July, the NPP asked the federal judge presiding in the case to appoint an outside expert to take over the prison health care system in St. Thomas, and again to hold the government in contempt for failing to abide by the judge’s remedial orders mandating adequate treatment for severally mentally ill prisoners.

ACLU v. Williams Petition for Writ of Mandamus (04/04/2006)
ACLU v. Williams Petition for Writ of Mandamus

Presley v. Epps - Consent Decree (02/15/2006)
In June, 2005, we filed suit challenging conditions where 1,000 maximum security inmates are held in Unit 32 of Mississippi’s Parchman Prison. This suit followed our challenge to conditions on Death Row in the same prison system. In January 2006, the state agreed to a consent decree admitting that conditions in Unit 32 violate the Eighth Amendment. Since then, significant improvements have been made in environmental conditions, and in an unusual step, prison officials have given NPP attorneys unrestricted access to the prison system’s internal electronic records on prison classification, use of force, discipline, and medical and mental health care.

Giarratano v. Johnson et. al. (01/19/2006)
BIG STONE GAP, VA -- With help from the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia and the Rutherford Institute, a prisoner suffering from Hepatitis C today filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking to overturn a Virginia statute that prevents him from obtaining a copy of the Department of Corrections policy describing how it is supposed to treat the disease.

ACLU Letter to New Orleans City Council Regarding OPP (12/08/2005)
The ACLU of Louisiana asks the City Council to fulfill its obligation by holding a public hearing on the re-opening of the Orleans Parish Prison, and to do so before any more OPP buildings are re-opened. Among the first issues the council should address at the hearing is whether an adequate evacuation plan exists for OPP.

Letter from OPP Attorney John F. Weeks, II to ACLU Attorney Eric Balaban (11/30/2005)
Letter from OPP Attorney John F. Weeks, II to ACLU Attorney Eric Balaban

Letter from Sheriff Marlin N. Gusman to New Orleans City Council (11/10/2005)
Letter from Sheriff Marlin N. Gusman to New Orleans City Council

Orleans Parish Prison Memorandum of Law (11/10/2005)

Letter Regarding the Re-Opening of the Orleans Parish Prison (10/21/2005)
The city-owned Orleans Parish Prison (OPP) was engulfed by Hurricane Katrina, abandoned by correctional staff, and then haphazardly evacuated in the five days after the storm struck. Since the evacuation, the 6500 prisoners previously confined at OPP have been housed in a number of other prisons and makeshift shelters. However, at least some of these prisoners may soon be returning to OPP.