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.
View Case
Learn About Mass Incarceration
All Cases
158 Mass Incarceration Cases
Alabama
Mar 2015
Mass Incarceration
Immigrants' Rights
Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama v. Bentley
The Alabama state legislature passed a draconian anti-immigrant law in June, 2011, the toughest of several state laws modeled after Arizona’s SB 1070. Like the Arizona law, SB 56 authorized police to ask for proof of citizenship or immigration status during a traffic stop based on “reasonable suspicion” that the person was an undocumented immigrant. The law went even further than Arizona’s, with provisions that required public school officials to verify the immigration status of children and their parents, that made it a crime for undocumented immigrants to solicit work, and criminalized Alabamians for ordinary, everyday interactions with undocumented individuals like renting a mobile home or offering a ride.
Explore case
Alabama
Mar 2015
Mass Incarceration
Immigrants' Rights
Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama v. Bentley
The Alabama state legislature passed a draconian anti-immigrant law in June, 2011, the toughest of several state laws modeled after Arizona’s SB 1070. Like the Arizona law, SB 56 authorized police to ask for proof of citizenship or immigration status during a traffic stop based on “reasonable suspicion” that the person was an undocumented immigrant. The law went even further than Arizona’s, with provisions that required public school officials to verify the immigration status of children and their parents, that made it a crime for undocumented immigrants to solicit work, and criminalized Alabamians for ordinary, everyday interactions with undocumented individuals like renting a mobile home or offering a ride.
Michigan
Feb 2015
Mass Incarceration
Criminal Law Reform
Casias v. Wal-Mart
For more than a decade, Joseph Casias of Battle Creek, Mich. has endured the painful symptoms of an inoperable brain tumor and cancer.
Explore case
Michigan
Feb 2015
Mass Incarceration
Criminal Law Reform
Casias v. Wal-Mart
For more than a decade, Joseph Casias of Battle Creek, Mich. has endured the painful symptoms of an inoperable brain tumor and cancer.
Texas
Oct 2014
Mass Incarceration
Capital Punishment
Manuel Velez v. The State of Texas
Manuel Velez, an innocent man, was released from a Texas prison today after almost nine years behind bars, four on death row. Rather than risk a new trial that could be plagued with the same problems that sent him to death row, Velez, an ACLU client, pleaded no contest to a lesser charge.
Explore case
Texas
Oct 2014
Mass Incarceration
Capital Punishment
Manuel Velez v. The State of Texas
Manuel Velez, an innocent man, was released from a Texas prison today after almost nine years behind bars, four on death row. Rather than risk a new trial that could be plagued with the same problems that sent him to death row, Velez, an ACLU client, pleaded no contest to a lesser charge.
U.S. Supreme Court
Jun 2014
Mass Incarceration
Criminal Law Reform
Heien v. North Carolina
Whether a traffic stop based on a police officer’s mistaken understanding of the traffic laws violates the Fourth Amendment.
Explore case
U.S. Supreme Court
Jun 2014
Mass Incarceration
Criminal Law Reform
Heien v. North Carolina
Whether a traffic stop based on a police officer’s mistaken understanding of the traffic laws violates the Fourth Amendment.
Missouri
Jun 2014
Mass Incarceration
Capital Punishment
ACLU Petition to IACHR on Missouri Execution That Will Cause Irreparable Harm
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a request for precautionary measures with the Organization of American States' Inter-American Commission on Human Rights showing that the execution of John Winfield, scheduled for June 18, 2014 in the state of Missouri, will cause irreparable harm should it go forward. The ACLU asks that the executions be stayed until the IACHR can review and rule on the ACLU's petition that alleges Mr. Winfield's death sentence violates international law. On June 6, 2014, the IACHR granted ACLU request for precautionary measures against the United States and requested that "the Government of the United States to abstain from executing John Winfield until the IACHR has ruled on the merits of the individual petition filed on his behalf."
Explore case
Missouri
Jun 2014
Mass Incarceration
Capital Punishment
ACLU Petition to IACHR on Missouri Execution That Will Cause Irreparable Harm
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a request for precautionary measures with the Organization of American States' Inter-American Commission on Human Rights showing that the execution of John Winfield, scheduled for June 18, 2014 in the state of Missouri, will cause irreparable harm should it go forward. The ACLU asks that the executions be stayed until the IACHR can review and rule on the ACLU's petition that alleges Mr. Winfield's death sentence violates international law. On June 6, 2014, the IACHR granted ACLU request for precautionary measures against the United States and requested that "the Government of the United States to abstain from executing John Winfield until the IACHR has ruled on the merits of the individual petition filed on his behalf."