The American Civil Liberties Union and Juvenile Law Center have filed a federal class action lawsuit against the Wisconsin Department of Corrections. The lawsuit stems from allegations of abuse and neglect inside two of the state’s youth correctional facilities. “We hope this lawsuit will force the State of Wisconsin to treat young people in its custody with basic decency,” ACLU Wisconsin …
In one instance, the federal lawsuit alleges, the pregnant woman was placed in solitary confinement for having a library book that had pictures and envelopes inside it. In another instance, a pregnant inmate had three pairs of shoes instead of two. In none of the instances in which five pregnant women were held for up to 22 days in solitary confinement at the Allegheny County Jail were any of …
The decision opens door for “tens of thousands” of federal inmates to get paid for alleged mistreatment Rioux added that segregation — the term the government uses for solitary confinement — is a legally available tool that is used to “manage risk,” either to the inmate or staff, and is not a punitive measure. She said there are ongoing reviews of an inmate’s placement in solitary confinement, …
A new lawsuit by the New York Civil Liberties Union and Legal Services of Central New York is alleging that the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office has been locking up juveniles in solitary confinement for up to 23 hours a day, and sexually harassing and abusing the children, some of whom are mentally ill. “Any time you send a child to solitary confinement, you risk damaging them permanently,” …
A lawsuit claims that Pamela Smart was wrongly put into solitary confinement after a prison guard found a plastic cake knife in her cell. Pame Smart is serving a life sentence in a New York prison for her role in the 1990 murder of her husband, Gregg Smart, in Derry. In a federal lawsuit, Pame Smart alleges that the guard confiscated the knife in 2012, even though she had it for 17 years and it …