Litigation

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Ongoing

The GEO Group, Inc. v. Menocal

Advocating for the Rights of the Incarcerated
The MacArthur Justice Center is fighting to ensure that private contractors can’t slow down urgent cases with immediate, mid-litigation appeals.

Decided

Lauria v. Lieb, et al.

Access to Courts
When Christian Lauria, a pro se prisoner-plaintiff, attempted to obtain legal relief through the Western District of Pennsylvania for a violent assault by corrections officers, the court threw out his case on a technicality—one he had never even been told existed in the first place. The MacArthur Justice Center is fighting to ensure that pro se prisoners like Mr. Lauria get their day in court when they seek to hold corrections officers accountable for wrongdoing.

Decided

McGuire-Mollica v. Griffin, et al.

Access to Courts
Terri McGuire-Mollica, proceeding pro se, sued federal prison officials for their years-long failure to treat a painful uterine fibroid that caused severe bleeding and other complications. Although she did everything Bureau of Prisons (BOP) regulations required of her to pursue her claim, the district court wrongly dismissed her case under the Prison Litigation Reform Act’s...

Decided

Cintron v. Bibeault

Advocating for the Rights of the Incarcerated
Jerry Cintron spent two and a half years in a room no bigger than a parking spot as punishment for a disease that affects millions of Americans: opioid use disorder (OUD). The MacArthur Justice Center is fighting alongside Mr. Cintron to advocate for the ending of solitary confinement—particularly in response to mental and physical health crises—a horrific practice that all but ensures poor, and sometimes deadly, outcomes for incarcerated people.

Ongoing

Sanabria v. Brackett

Health and Safety
When Ricky Sanabria, Jr. told a jail officer that he feared an attack by his increasingly aggressive cellmate, the officer moved him—but less than two hours later, the officer locked Mr. Sanabria back in with the cellmate. The very next day, the furious cellmate bit off Mr. Sanabria’s ear. After Mr. Sanabria sued, the district...

Ongoing

Williams v. Moberly Correctional Center

Access to Courts
Calvin Williams, a person incarcerated in Missouri, tried to file a lawsuit to vindicate his rights—but a court wrongly dismissed his civil rights case under a misapplication of the Prison Litigation Reform Act’s “three-strikes” rule. The MacArthur Justice Center is fighting to ensure that courts don’t erroneously deny people in prison access to the courts.

Ongoing

Washington v. Commissioner

Advocating for the Rights of the Incarcerated
After Charlie Washington was sentenced to death, it came to light that his trial attorneys had failed to investigate and present an avalanche of mitigating evidence that made a powerful case for life. Nonetheless, Alabama courts rejected Mr. Washington’s claim that he had received ineffective assistance of counsel, relying on egregious misunderstandings of how capital jurors process evidence. The MacArthur Justice Center, representing eight leading scholars, is urging a federal appellate court to heed the research on jury decisionmaking and vacate Mr. Washington’s death sentence.

Ongoing

Minor v. Florida 

Access to Courts
Our client was criminally tried before a jury of only 6 of his peers, despite the fact that for hundreds of years the common law practice—and the practice in a vast majority of states and in the federal system—is a jury of 12. The MacArthur Justice Center is urging the Supreme Court to overturn its wrong and outdated precedent that allows for this practice, in violation of individuals’ Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial.

Ongoing

Simms v. Edwards

Access to Courts
While incarcerated at a prison in Northern California, Mr. Simms received nasal surgery at a nearby hospital. Although he was lethargic and disoriented following the surgery, two prison officers rushed Mr. Simms back to the prison—ignoring his complaints that he was having difficulty breathing, coughing up blood and experiencing severe pain—so that they could get off work on time.

Ongoing

Vidal v. State of New York, et al.

Solitary Confinement
Joseph Vidal sued New York prison officials for violating his procedural due process rights after he was unable to introduce key witness testimony during the disciplinary hearing that resulted in his placement in solitary confinement for nearly nine months.