Litigation

Mr. Avila sued California prison officials for violating his Eighth Amendment rights after they failed to treat a series of dangerous eye conditions, resulting in extreme pain and blindness in one eye.  The MacArthur Justice Center, along with UCLA’s Prisoners’ Rights Clinic, took on his case to help secure him the medical care he needed.

People v. Langston considers whether mandatory life without parole (LWOP) for felony murder, absent a showing that the defendant acted with malice or intent to kill, constitutes “cruel or unusual” punishment under the Michigan Constitution.

People v. Taylor and People v. Czarnecki consider whether mandatory life without parole (LWOP) for emerging adults who were convicted of offenses committed at the age of nineteen or twenty constitutes “cruel or unusual” punishment under the Michigan Constitution.

When Mandriez Spivey tried to vindicate his rights to medical care and to be free from the use of excessive force in federal prison, the district court dismissed his claims. The MacArthur Justice Center took his case to fight for him, and people like him in federal prison, to have the opportunity to vindicate their rights in court.

Despite repeatedly pleading for protection, Antonio Ballard was brutally assaulted by another prisoner while incarcerated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons. When Mr. Ballard sued the officer who failed to protect him, the officer sought to block Mr. Ballard from vindicating his rights by denying that he had a cause of action to challenge the officer’s misconduct.

We are representing the Estate of Atatiana Jefferson, who was tragically shot and killed in her own home by a Fort Worth Police Department officer.

As punishment for mental illness and self-harm, William Melendez was subjected to solitary confinement for almost seven years. The MacArthur Justice Center (MJC) is fighting to hold the Florida Department of Corrections (FDC) – and departments of corrections across the country – accountable for its widespread use of solitary confinement as a punitive and cruel response to mental illness.

While Matthew Locke was peacefully protesting, a county sheriff and his chief deputy used extreme and gratuitous “pain compliance” tactics on him, causing him severe pain and neurological injury. The district court threw out Mr. Locke’s excessive-force suit based on the judicially invented doctrine of qualified immunity. The MacArthur Justice Center is fighting to ensure...

Civil plaintiffs have an absolute right to voluntarily withdraw their cases. Yet, when Edward Spencer, an incarcerated plaintiff, did so, a federal district court later punished him by deeming that withdrawal a “strike” under the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA). That was wrong.

Kellie Rehanna, a transgender woman who was brutally raped while in the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ custody, has been blocked from vindicating her rights after the Bureau failed to protect her and threatened her into silence. The MacArthur Justice Center is dedicated to ensuring erroneous interpretations of state law do not prevent prisoners from holding prison officials accountable for their egregious actions.