The American Civil Liberties Union has sued the state of Utah for what it says is a failed public defense system that deprives indigent defendants of their Sixth Amendment right. The class action lawsuit, filed Tuesday, June 21, along with the law firm Holland & Hart, LLP, comes after a state-commissioned report by the Sixth Amendment Center that criticized Utah’s public …
An Alabama man died in jail from an untreated ulcer after going a week without food, medical care or even a court appearance, according to a lawsuit. The son of Phillip David Anderson, 49, filed a federal civil rights suit Monday against Tuscaloosa County over Anderson’s February 2015 death. The father of four and U.S. Army veteran went into custody at Tuscaloosa County Jail because of a missed …
According the the filings in a lawsuit brought by Equal Justice Under Law against Harris County, Texas, 77% of the inmates in Harris County Jail — largest in Texas, third largest in America — are there because they couldn’t make a bail payment of $5,000 or less. Bail in the jail is assessed via video-links during which the accused are instructed not to speak and are not given access to …
The number of residents suing the city for what they claim are unconstitutional municipal fines policies has grown to six as the lawyers seek class action status that could potentially include 5 to 6 thousand plaintiffs. Attorneys for the plaintiffs have stated an interest in resolving the case before it potentially expands its scope dramatically. “There is no reason the city of Amarillo can’t …
A Kansas sheriff’s jail policy allowing inmates to receive and send only postcards through the mail violates the free speech and due process rights of prisoners and their families, civil rights advocates said in a lawsuit filed Thursday. The American Civil Liberties Union and the Social Justice Law Collective are seeking a court order to end the practice. Their lawsuit, which seeks …
No one at Goldman Sachs will go to jail despite the company’s world-destroying, multi-billion-dollar frauds that culminated in its unloading billions’ worth of worthless mortgage-backed securities on its customers just before the crash. Goldman’s settlement requires it to admit that it knowingly committed these frauds for years on end. Again, no one will go to jail.
On February 21, 2015, a man was booked into the Maricopa County Jail, a sprawling complex in Phoenix where the dusty Arizona landscape is interrupted by the occasional palm tree. We’ll call him by his initials: JP. According to JP’s booking report, he was experiencing auditory hallucinations during his intake, and acting “bizarre,” like he was high or drunk.