Litigation

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...

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.

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.

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.

Officer Xeng Lor shot our client, Xyavier Calliste, twice through the driver’s side door of his car as Mr. Calliste was leaving a parking garage at the Charlotte airport. Recognizing that Lor faced no imminent threat that would justify deadly force, the district court denied Lor summary judgment and qualified immunity. MacArthur Justice Center co-counseled with civil rights attorney Micheal Littlejohn Jr. to represent Mr. Calliste on appeal and ensure that he can go to trial to vindicate his Fourth Amendment rights.

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.

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.

The MacArthur Justice Center, alongside our partners at the Southern Poverty Law Center, have taken up Ms. Jewell’s case on appeal to correct this erroneous and unjust application of the felony murder doctrine and ensure that good and decent people like Ms. Jewell not be branded as murderers for tragic but unintentional accidents.

Darrin Bass had his mattress removed for a month for a dismissed misconduct charge. Without his mattress, he was forced to sleep on a concrete slab with large metal screws sticking out of it. The MacArthur Justice Center took on his case to fight against these inhumane conditions. Officials in Michigan’s Department of Corrections took...

In 2008, Mr. Bowe was convicted of a gun charge under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c) and was sentenced to a mandatory consecutive term of ten years in federal prison. That conviction depended on Section 924(c)’s definition of a “crime of violence.” In 2019, the Supreme Court invalidated a key component of Section 924(c)’s definition, known as the “residual clause,” as unconstitutionally vague.