Litigation

Lynn Hamlet is an elderly, diabetic man with glaucoma and cataracts who is the victim of a retaliation campaign by Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC) officials that nearly resulted in the loss of his life.

After lights out at an Oklahoma jail, Officer Byers – the only jailer on duty – ordered 19-year-old Savanaha Works to leave her cell and go to the laundry room. There, he directed her to pull down her pants. Feeling powerless to resist the orders of an officer, Ms. Works complied, and Officer Byers sexually...

Darnell Martin was prevented from challenging his conviction because he was no longer in state custody despite still facing the consequences of having a criminal record from the conviction. The MacArthur Justice Center, alongside the ACLU of Delaware and the Innocence Network, filed an amicus brief outlining the long-standing and disenfranchising consequences of conviction outside of incarceration.

In February 2023, the Missouri Circuit Court issued a judgement that served as a clear denouncement of the use of waiting lists for indigent public defense.

Howard Smallwood, who has a documented mental impairment, was left seriously injured and traumatized after several prison guards used physical violence to force his compliance with an unnecessary blood-draw and then sexually abused him. Instead of offering him appropriate medical care after those appalling acts, prison officials threw Mr. Smallwood into segregation. The Prison Litigation...

The Eleventh Circuit unanimously agreed that Mr. Jeremy Wells, who sought relief after prison officials did nothing to prevent a violent attack on him, should not have received a strike for a case dismissed for failure to exhaust administrative remedies under the Prison Litigation Reform Act.

Michael Politte was only 14 years old when police investigators targeted him hours after his mother’s murder as the primary suspect, leading to him being falsely charged, convicted, and imprisoned for over 20 years. The MacArthur Justice Center is dedicated to litigating innocence claims for defendants like Michael, who lose huge swaths of their lives to wrongful convictions.

When Jabari Johnson asked to speak with a prison administrator about his administrative grievances, Colorado Department of Corrections officers physically assaulted him, stepping on his already-injured foot, pushing him into a flight of stairs while handcuffed and slamming his already-broken jaw. Mr. Johnson attempted to sue to vindicate his rights, but a district court decided...

The district court granted qualified immunity to a prison captain who threatened to move Christopher Harbridge away from his family to deter him from complaining – a clear violation of Mr. Harbridge’s First Amendment rights. The MacArthur Justice Center is fighting to ensure jail and prison officials are held accountable for their misconduct instead of shielding it behind the qualified immunity doctrine.

When Sonjia Mack arrived at the High Desert State Prison in Nevada to visit her boyfriend, corrections officers escorted her to an administrative building where they ordered her to remove all of her clothing and strip-searched her. The officers never told her that she could refuse the strip search and leave the facility. Although nothing...