Litigation

After a correctional officer filed a retaliatory false report against Jory Strizich that placed him in solitary confinement for eight months, Mr. Strizich attempted to get relief but was unable to access the prison’s convoluted grievance process. The MacArthur Justice Center is fighting for prisoners like Mr. Strizich, who are prevented from getting their day in court because of erroneous interpretations of the Prison Litigation Reform Act’s exhaustion provision.

The district court prevented Reginald Clark from holding several prison officials accountable for their profound neglect of his medical emergency, despite evidence that their inaction resulted in permanent injury. The MacArthur Justice is advocating for prisoners like Mr. Clark, whose serious medical needs are systematically categorized as non-emergencies and disregarded by the lower courts, ensuring their inability to hold prison officials accountable for their neglect.

After four prisoners filed a joint lawsuit, the district court erroneously dismissed three of the prisoners’ complaints based on the false assertion that the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) categorically bars prisoners from joining together in one lawsuit. The MacArthur Justice Center is fighting to correct that atextual interpretation of the PLRA and ensure prisoners, an already marginalized group, can split a single filing fee, pool their legal knowledge, and share resources – critical abilities to ensure access to the courts.

When Alex Adamowicz challenged his life-without-parole sentence he received as a struggling 21-year-old, arguing that it violated the Michigan Constitution’s ban on cruel or unusual punishment, the Court of Appeals chastised him for even attempting. Joining Mr. Adamowicz’s fight as amici, the MacArthur Justice Center is urging states with expansive Eighth Amendment analogues, like Michigan, to lead the charge in ensuring humane sentencing for youth and for all that offers meaningful opportunities for rehabilitation and release.

When Russell Showers attempted to vindicate his rights after experiencing over five years of chronic and debilitating pain due to inadequate and delayed treatment, the district court shut the courthouse doors based on an erroneous interpretation of the Prison Litigation Reform Act’s exhaustion provision. The MacArthur Justice Center is fighting to ensure that courts give a fair shake to meritorious claims made by incarcerated people, like Mr. Showers, who represent themselves.

When Darrell Woods filed a lawsuit against corrections officers based on their retaliatory conduct against him, he was denied in forma pauperis status due to the three-strikes rule in the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA), effectively shutting him out of court. The MacArthur Justice Center is fighting to ensure that the PLRA is not weaponized to deny incarcerated people, like Mr. Woods, access to the courts to vindicate their rights simply because they cannot afford it.

Prison officials prevented Danyale Tubbs from accessing a rehabilitative self-help book authored by his sister because of a sweeping, unreasonable application of a prison censorship policy. MJC is fighting to ensure sweeping prison policies do not violate prisoners’ First and Fourteenth Amendment rights to receive reading materials that are not harmful or threatening.

Tremonti Perry was left with paralysis and end-stage kidney failure after he was repeatedly neglected by prison officials and two prison health care companies during a medical emergency, but the district court blocked his ability to hold them accountable in court based on the PLRA. The MacArthur Justice Center is fighting to ensure erroneous interpretations of the PLRA do not prevail and deprive incarcerated people the ability to vindicate their rights behind bars.

After being brutally attacked by police officers in the Loudon County Jail, Devin McGuire was prevented from holding them accountable in court because of a small technical misstep in his complaint form. The MacArthur Justice Center is fighting to ensure that complicated and confusing complaint forms do not prevent prisoners—particularly those without lawyers—from having their day in court to vindicate their rights.

Despite Jason Smith voluntarily dismissing his lawsuit, the district court still erroneously ensured he would receive a strike under the PLRA, leading him closer to being unable to file a suit without paying hundreds of dollars in fees up front. MJC joins Mr. Smith's fight to ensure the PLRA is not used to snuff out prisoners’ rights to access the courts because they are unable to afford it.