Mass Incarceration
Dockery v. Hall
The ACLU, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), the Law Offices of Elizabeth Alexander, and the law firm of Covington & Burling LLP, filed a petition for class certification and expert reports for a federal lawsuit on behalf of prisoners at the East Mississippi Correctional Facility (EMCF). The lawsuit, which was filed in May 2013, describes the for-profit prison as hyper-violent, grotesquely filthy and dangerous. EMCF is operated "in a perpetual state of crisis" where prisoners are at "grave risk of death and loss of limbs." The facility, located in Meridian, Mississippi, is supposed to provide intensive treatment to the state's prisoners with serious psychiatric disabilities, many of whom are locked down in long-term solitary confinement.
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158 Mass Incarceration Cases
U.S. Supreme Court
Jun 2011
Mass Incarceration
+2 Issues
Flores-Villar v. United States
Whether the government may constitutionally make it more difficult for citizen fathers than citizen mothers to transmit citizenship to their out-of-wedlock children born outside the U.S.
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U.S. Supreme Court
Jun 2011
Mass Incarceration
+2 Issues
Flores-Villar v. United States
Whether the government may constitutionally make it more difficult for citizen fathers than citizen mothers to transmit citizenship to their out-of-wedlock children born outside the U.S.
U.S. Supreme Court
May 2011
Mass Incarceration
+2 Issues
Maples v. Thomas
Whether the defendant's failure to file a timely appeal in state court should bar all subsequent federal court review of his death sentence when the reason for the missed deadline was that Alabama officials made no effort to inform him of an adverse decision from the state courts after it was returned unopened by his lawyers' former law firm.
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U.S. Supreme Court
May 2011
Mass Incarceration
+2 Issues
Maples v. Thomas
Whether the defendant's failure to file a timely appeal in state court should bar all subsequent federal court review of his death sentence when the reason for the missed deadline was that Alabama officials made no effort to inform him of an adverse decision from the state courts after it was returned unopened by his lawyers' former law firm.
U.S. Supreme Court
May 2011
Mass Incarceration
Prisoners' Rights
Brown v. Plata
Whether a federal court appropriately exercised its authority by ordering the State of California to reduce the size of its prison population, which was more than double the system’s intended capacity, after dozens of remedial orders had failed for more than a decade to ensure that California prisoners received constitutionally adequate medical and mental health care.
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U.S. Supreme Court
May 2011
Mass Incarceration
Prisoners' Rights
Brown v. Plata
Whether a federal court appropriately exercised its authority by ordering the State of California to reduce the size of its prison population, which was more than double the system’s intended capacity, after dozens of remedial orders had failed for more than a decade to ensure that California prisoners received constitutionally adequate medical and mental health care.
Court Case
May 2011
Mass Incarceration
Capital Punishment
Coble v. Texas
The ACLU has filed a petition for certiorari in the United States Supreme Court on behalf of Billie Wayne Coble. Mr. Coble served on Texas's death row for 18 years between his first and second capital trials. During these 18 years he proved to be a model inmate. He was never once issued a violation notice - a rare feat in prison. He was a positive role model to other inmates and consistently helped other inmates and prison guards.
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Court Case
May 2011
Mass Incarceration
Capital Punishment
Coble v. Texas
The ACLU has filed a petition for certiorari in the United States Supreme Court on behalf of Billie Wayne Coble. Mr. Coble served on Texas's death row for 18 years between his first and second capital trials. During these 18 years he proved to be a model inmate. He was never once issued a violation notice - a rare feat in prison. He was a positive role model to other inmates and consistently helped other inmates and prison guards.
Texas
Apr 2011
Mass Incarceration
Capital Punishment
Estrada v. The State of Texas
Jurors in Estrada's 2007 sentencing trial were incorrectly told by a State's prison expert that if Estrada were given a sentence of life without parole instead of the death penalty, he could be eligible for a classification level that would allow him to leave the prison grounds after 10 years of imprisonment. Two juror notes strongly suggested that the expert's false testimony led to their decision to sentence Estrada to death. Prosecutors' use of false and misleading evidence is a leading cause of wrongful death sentences in Texas and nationwide.
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Texas
Apr 2011
Mass Incarceration
Capital Punishment
Estrada v. The State of Texas
Jurors in Estrada's 2007 sentencing trial were incorrectly told by a State's prison expert that if Estrada were given a sentence of life without parole instead of the death penalty, he could be eligible for a classification level that would allow him to leave the prison grounds after 10 years of imprisonment. Two juror notes strongly suggested that the expert's false testimony led to their decision to sentence Estrada to death. Prosecutors' use of false and misleading evidence is a leading cause of wrongful death sentences in Texas and nationwide.