Litigation

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.

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.

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...

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.

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.

People incarcerated at Algoa Correctional Center in Missouri – a nearly 100-year-old prison without air conditioning – are forced to suffer through inhumane and dangerously hot conditions every summer in violation of their constitutional rights. The MacArthur Justice Center is fighting for the health and safety of our clients by demanding that Missouri Department of Corrections maintain safe and humane conditions for people confined at Algoa.

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...