Cruel, Inhuman, and Degrading Conditions
Jensen v. Thornell
UPDATE: In a thorough and sweeping injunction issued on April 7, 2023, U.S. District Judge Roslyn O. Silver is requiring the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation, and Reentry (“ADCRR”) to make “substantial” changes to staffing and conditions so that medical care and mental healthcare at Arizona prisons comes up to constitutional standards.
Status: Closed (Judgment)
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Learn About Cruel, Inhuman, and Degrading Conditions
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Court Case
Sep 2022
Cruel, Inhuman, and Degrading Conditions
Alex A. v. Edwards
The ACLU National Prison Project and partner civil rights attorneys filed a federal class-action lawsuit to prevent the transfer of children in the custody of Louisiana's Office of Juvenile Justice to the Louisiana State Penitentiary, commonly known as Angola Prison.
Texas
Jul 2021
Cruel, Inhuman, and Degrading Conditions
Criminal Law Reform
Sanchez et al v. Dallas County Sheriff et al
Decarceration has always been an emergency, a life and death proposition, but COVID-19 makes this effort intensely urgent. The ACLU has been working with our partners to litigate for the rights of those who are incarcerated and cannot protect themselves because of the policies of the institutions in which they are jailed.
Mississippi
Mar 2017
Cruel, Inhuman, and Degrading Conditions
Prisoners' Rights
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.
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13 Cruel, Inhuman, and Degrading Conditions Cases
U.S. Supreme Court
Mar 2015
Cruel, Inhuman, and Degrading Conditions
Kingsley v. Hendrickson
Whether the Constitution protects pretrial detainees against the unreasonable use of force regardless of the subjective motivation of the guards using that force.
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U.S. Supreme Court
Mar 2015
Cruel, Inhuman, and Degrading Conditions
Kingsley v. Hendrickson
Whether the Constitution protects pretrial detainees against the unreasonable use of force regardless of the subjective motivation of the guards using that force.
Court Case
Dec 2010
Cruel, Inhuman, and Degrading Conditions
+2 Issues
ACLU comments to European Court of Human Rights in Babar Ahmad and Others v. The United Kingdom
Conditions of confinement in a US "supermax" prison
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Court Case
Dec 2010
Cruel, Inhuman, and Degrading Conditions
+2 Issues
ACLU comments to European Court of Human Rights in Babar Ahmad and Others v. The United Kingdom
Conditions of confinement in a US "supermax" prison
U.S. Supreme Court
Nov 2009
Cruel, Inhuman, and Degrading Conditions
+3 Issues
Davis, et al. v. Canyon County, Idaho, et al.
Six plaintiffs file this action on their own behalf and on behalf of a class of all other persons incarcerated, now or in the future, in the Canyon County Jail in Caldwell, Idaho.
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U.S. Supreme Court
Nov 2009
Cruel, Inhuman, and Degrading Conditions
+3 Issues
Davis, et al. v. Canyon County, Idaho, et al.
Six plaintiffs file this action on their own behalf and on behalf of a class of all other persons incarcerated, now or in the future, in the Canyon County Jail in Caldwell, Idaho.