Press Releases
about Prisoners' Rights

Wildfires raging across Greater Los Angeles have revealed that our county and cities are not only under-resourced to combat natural disasters but also ill-prepared to protect people in custody.

The Seventh Amendment gives people a constitutional right to a jury trial in civil cases seeking money damages. The Supreme Court will now decide whether incarcerated plaintiffs have a right to a jury trial on questions of administrative exhaustion under the Prison Litigation Reform Act, when the facts underlying exhaustion would also decide the merits of their case.

This case in the Ohio Supreme Court concerns the scope of the state constitutional right to counsel. The police in this case interrogated the defendant, Isaiah Morris, without mentioning his already-appointed counsel or asking him to waive his right to counsel. This procedural circumstance risks confusing criminal defendants and undermining their state constitutional rights. The ACLU’s State Supreme Court Initiative, alongside the ACLU of Ohio and WilmerHale, filed an amicus brief arguing that merely providing a defendant notice of Miranda rights falls short of the bare minimum requirements for a valid waiver.