Home : Prisoners' Rights

ACLU of Texas Applauds Passage of Prison Rape Elimination Bill (05/22/2007)
AUSTIN, TX – The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas cheers the passage of House Bill 1944, a measure that seeks to eliminate sexual assault in Texas Prisons, which cleared the Texas Senate yesterday. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Garnet Coleman (D-Houston), also garnered support from the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault (TAASA), Stop Prison Rape, and the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME).

ACLU Seeks Release of Gulf War Vet Illegally Detained for Three Years (05/22/2007)
NEW YORK – The American Civil Liberties Union today filed a habeas petition seeking the release of Warren Joseph, a Gulf War veteran and immigrant from Trinidad who is a permanent resident of the United States. Joseph has been illegally locked up for more than three years in immigration custody in a New Jersey prison.

ACLU of Ohio Demands Department of Justice Investigate Deaths at Butler County Jail (04/10/2007)
HAMILTON, OH - The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio today sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice and Butler County Commissioners urging them to launch an immediate and thorough investigation into a string of suicides at the Butler County Jail. On Sunday, Timothy James Hughes, 19, was found dead in his cell after committing suicide, making him the fourth inmate at Butler County Jail to die in similar circumstances in under a year.

Court Says ACLU Likely to Prevail on Claims Regarding Immigrant Children Detained at Hutto Facility in Texas (04/10/2007)
AUSTIN, TX - In a ruling issued late Monday, a Texas federal court found that the American Civil Liberties Union is “highly likely to prevail” at trial on its claims that the detention of immigrant children at the T. Don Hutto facility in Taylor, Texas is an abuse of discretion by federal officials and violates applicable legal standards.

Judge Rejects Government Efforts to Block Details of Deficient Medical Care in Wisconsin’s Largest Women’s Prison (03/15/2007)
MILWAUKEE — The American Civil Liberties Union announced today that a federal judge has ruled that claims of grossly deficient medical and mental health care for Wisconsin’s women prisoners must be heard. Judge Rudolph Randa denied efforts by prison officials to dismiss these claims of inadequate health care at Taycheedah Correctional Institution (TCI), Wisconsin’s largest women’s prison.

U.S. Virgin Islands Governor and Attorney General Held in Contempt Over Deficient Care for Mentally Ill Prisoners (03/01/2007)
ST. THOMAS, VI - The American Civil Liberties Union today welcomed a federal judge’s ruling finding Virgin Islands government officials in contempt for failing to provide court-ordered mental health care and appropriate housing for mentally ill Virgin Islands prisoners.

Solitary Confinement Called "Inappropriate" for Mentally Ill Prisoners in Indiana (01/30/2007)
INDIANAPOLIS-The American Civil Liberties Union National Prison Project and the ACLU of Indiana announced today that, as a result of a lawsuit filed by the ACLU, the Indiana Department of Correction has agreed to move all mentally ill prisoners out of the Secured Housing Unit (SHU), a "Supermax" unit where prisoners are forced to live in extreme isolation and sensory deprivation for months or even years.

ACLU Sues U.S. Immigration Officials and For-Profit Corrections Corporation Over Dangerous and Inhumane Housing of Detainees (01/24/2007)
SAN DIEGO - The American Civil Liberties Union today joined a lawsuit on behalf of immigration detainees at San Diego Correctional Facility, charging that chronically severe overcrowding places detainees’ health and safety at risk and is unconstitutional.

Supreme Court Decision Overturns Draconian Limitations on Prisoner Litigation Imposed by the Sixth Circuit (01/22/2007)
WASHINGTON — The American Civil Liberties Union today welcomed a unanimous Supreme Court decision striking down a series of barriers to prisoner litigation imposed by the Sixth Circuit. Today’s decision in Jones v. Bock overturned the strict requirements imposed by the Sixth Circuit in the provision of the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) that mandates that prisoners “exhaust” administrative remedies.

Michigan Judge Threatens $2 Million Fine for Inadequate Prison Health Care (12/08/2006)
KALAMAZOO, MI— The American Civil Liberties Union National Prison Project and two Ann Arbor civil rights attorneys, Patricia Streeter and Michael Barnhart, today lauded a ruling by a Michigan judge calling for improvements to deficient prison health care.

Autopsy Confirms Michigan Prisoner Died Due to Deficient Care (11/20/2006)
JACKSON COUNTY, MI- The American Civil Liberties Union’s National Prison Project announced today the results of the autopsy of a Michigan prisoner who spent four days in restraints before his death in August 2006. The report confirmed that the 21-year-old, who has a history of mental illness, died of hyperthermia and dehydration after spending days shackled to a metal slab in an unbearably hot cell.

ACLU Urges Connecticut Officials to End Use of Attack Dogs to Control Prisoners (11/17/2006)
HARTFORD, CT -- The American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut and the ACLU's National Prison Project is urging Governor M. Jodi Rell to end the use of canines to control prisoners, a barbaric practice that calls to mind the notorious photos of snarling dogs used against prisoners at Abu Ghraib.