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MacArthur Justice Center’s Statement on President Biden’s Federal Death Penalty Commutations

We welcome the fulfillment of President Biden’s promise to commute the death sentences of 37 people on federal death row. The federal death penalty – just like state capital punishment systems – is racist, error-prone, drains public resources, and does not deter crime or make our communities safer. We encourage President Biden to finish the...

How The Prison Litigation Reform Act Has Failed For 25 Years

The Appeal

Williams v. Hall

Access to Courts
While incarcerated at a private prison in Tennessee, Daniel Williams became the unlucky recipient of attention from a prison gang. After the gang started threatening Mr. Williams, he repeatedly begged for protection. Unfortunately, his pleas were ignored; at one point, staff even told him to stop talking and “go back to his f***ing cell now!”...

Griffin v. Bryant

Advocating for the Rights of the Incarcerated
In 2015, Matthew Griffin was seriously injured when North Carolina prison officials denied him accommodations for his diagnosed vision impairment, sedated him against his will, left him alone despite his calls for help and denied him much-needed medical attention when he fell to the ground and dislocated his shoulder. Under the Prison Litigation Reform Act...

Ongoing

Simms v. Edwards

Access to Courts
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.

Decided

Buchanan v. Harris

Advocating for the Rights of the Incarcerated
UPDATE: The MacArthur Justice Center secured an important victory in the Fifth Circuit. The court held that the sores that Mr. Buchanan developed on his residual limb satisfy the Prison Litigation Reform Act’s “physical injury” requirement. And it found that Mr. Buchanan can move forward with his lawsuit alleging that the Harris County Jail put...

Hardin v. Hunt

Advocating for the Rights of the Incarcerated
In December 2019, while incarcerated at Tabor Correctional Institution, Charlie Hardin was cornered. A corrections officer had given other prisoners information on Mr. Hardin that put him at immediate risk of attack. Three gangmembers surrounded Mr. Hardin and attacked him with a knife. Not only did prison officials do nothing to help Mr. Hardin, but...

Makell v. Sailor

Prison Litigation Reform Act
When two prisoners began fighting in the doorway of his cell, Jermaine Makell got on his bed, put his back against the wall and his hands in the air, and told officers repeatedly that he wasn’t involved. Nonetheless, a correctional officer pepper sprayed him in the face and later bragged about it. When Mr. Makell...

Johnson v. Reyna

Advocating for the Rights of the Incarcerated
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...

Ongoing

Showers v. Rodgers

Advocating for the Rights of the Incarcerated
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.

Jones v. Florida Department of Corrections, et al.

Advocating for the Rights of the Incarcerated
Dytrell Jones was held by the Florida Department of Corrections in disgusting conditions: His cells were infested with insects and rodents, his toilet was always clogged, his sink had a sickening smell, and mold and mildew had caked up on the walls and in the vents. Mr. Jones’s cell was so gross that he ended...

Eaton v. Blewett

Advocating for the Rights of the Incarcerated
In July 2020, Aaron Eaton, who was sexually abused as a young Boy Scout, had the opportunity to become a plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit against the Boy Scouts of America on behalf of thousands of survivors of abuse. But when legal mail that Mr. Eaton needed to secure his spot as a plaintiff arrived...

Decided

Strizich v. Palmer

Advocating for the Rights of the Incarcerated
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.

Woodson v. McCollum (Tenth Circuit)

Access to Courts
Woodson v. McCollum concluded in an important ruling that paves the way for greater access to courts by prisoners who have been the victim of unlawful conduct. The Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) is the 1996 federal law, which governs how an individual in prison can bring forth constitutional violations within the federal court system....

Smallwood v. Williams

Advocating for the Rights of the Incarcerated
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...

Ongoing

Taylor v. Stevens, et al.

Access to Courts
During July of 2024, medical staff at Marquette Branch Prison gave Mr. Taylor and another man at the prison the wrong medication, causing the other man to overdose and die. When Mr. Taylor sought to report what had happened, officers retaliated against him, and soon after a prison doctor sexually assaulted him while he was handcuffed during a teeth cleaning. Mr. Taylor brought a lawsuit in federal court, seeking relief for these abuses.