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Updated - January 7, 2020

Complaint to DOJ Following Deaths in MDOC

Jail and Prison Conditions
As indicated by its track record over the last several years and substantiated by the events of the last ten days, Mississippi is deliberately and systematically subjecting people in its care to a substantial risk of serious harm due to understaffing, in violation of the rights secured and protected by the Eighth Amendment to the...
Updated - January 6, 2020

Attala County NAACP v. Evans

Abusive Policies
In every trial, attorneys receive a certain number of “peremptory strikes” that permit them to remove potential jurors without giving a reason. Since taking office in 1992, Evans and his employees have used peremptory strikes against Black jurors 4.4 times more frequently than white jurors. Even the Mississippi Supreme Court has taken notice, observing that...

Filed - November 18, 2019
Updated - November 13, 2019

Weeks v. City of St. Louis, Missouri

Police Misconduct
Phillip Weeks, a local activist who runs the non-profit news site The Gram, has filed suit against the City of St. Louis for violating the state’s Sunshine Law by refusing to give him information about vehicle stops conducted by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department (SLMPD). In denying Weeks’ request, SLMPD has claimed that the...

Filed - November 13, 2019
Updated - October 11, 2019

Chicagoans for an End to the Gang Database v. City of Chicago

Abusive Policies
The MacArthur Justice Center represents the Chicagoans for an End to the Gang Database, a coalition of individuals and community organizations, in a federal class action lawsuit against the City of Chicago and Chicago Police Department (CPD) targeting the widespread use of an inaccurate, racially discriminatory Gang Database.

Filed - June 19, 2018
Updated - October 2, 2019

Johnson v. Kempter County et al.

Physical and Mental Health
Wayne Johnson was incarcerated at the Kemper Neshoba Regional Correctional Facility for failure to pay fines owed to the Meridian, Mississippi Municipal Court. Despite being sentenced to only two days in jail, Mr. Johnson was detained for more than 50 days. Kemper County, Sheriff James Moore, and five correctional officers have been sued by the...

Filed - September 30, 2019
Updated - August 29, 2019

Caliste v. Cantrell

Cash Bail
The MacArthur Justice Center is pursuing a federal class action lawsuit against Orleans Magistrate Judge Harry E. Cantrell challenging his practice of setting high bail amounts without any consideration of the person’s ability to pay or alternative no-cost conditions of release. Judge Cantrell also insists on using commercial bond companies (rather than cash), which require a non-reimbursable fee, a portion of which goes to the court’s General Fund – revenue Cantrell and other judges’ control.

Filed - June 27, 2017
Updated - August 16, 2019

Warden v. Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department

Abusive Policies
In June 2019, MacArthur Justice Center argued on behalf of Rob Warden (Executive Director Emeritus of the Center on Wrongful Convictions) that the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requires the Chicago Police Department (CPD) to provide photographs of police officers for use by the media. The CPD had denied Rob Warden’s February 2016 request for photographs of nine officers, claiming that “these photos...
Updated - August 14, 2019

Whitt v. City of St. Louis

Rights of Protesters
David Whitt, co-founded the St. Louis CopWatch, after Michael Brown was killed in 2014 by an on-duty police officer and there was no video evidence of the incident. He has provided CopWatch training in communities across the country. In August 2016, he was arrested while recording a video of police activity despite maintaining a reasonable...

Filed - August 7, 2018
Updated - August 8, 2019

Brown v. Precythe

Juvenile Offenders
The MacArthur Justice Center is pursuing a federal class action challenging the Missouri Parole Board’s demonstrated abuse of power, disregard for due process and failure to comply with state and federal law when it comes to youthful offenders previously given mandatory life without parole sentences.

Filed - October 31, 2017
Updated - July 25, 2019

Campbell v. City of Chicago

Abdication of Civil Rights Oversight
The MacArthur Justice Center formed a coalition of attorneys, community organizations and individuals to file a historic class action lawsuit seeking federal court oversight of the Chicago Police Department's (CPD) operations on behalf of thousands of individuals, predominately Blacks and Latinx, who have been subjected to the CPD's policy and practice of using excessive force, sometimes in racially discriminatory and brutal ways.

Filed - June 14, 2017
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