CT-REQ-2995 Advancing Racial Justice Pro Bono Report 01 TW V3 - Flipbook - Page 8
Improving prison conditions
We filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of all death
row inmates in Texas, alleging the conditions under
which they have been confined violate their state and
federal constitutional rights. Nearly three-quarters
of individuals affected by this prison policy are
people of color. For more than two decades, Texas
has subjected all male death row inmates to a policy
of mandatory and indefinite solitary confinement.
The blanket policy, which results in the restriction
of these individuals to their 8-by-12-foot cells for 22
to 24 hours a day, is psychologically and physically
damaging.
In recent years, we successfully challenged
mandatory and indefinite solitary confinement
policies in prison systems in both Louisiana and
Virginia, and we continue to advocate for humane
conditions for all.
In Massachusetts, we filed a class action lawsuit
against state Department of Corrections (DOC)
officials responsible for overseeing Souza-Baranowski
Correctional Center during a campaign of systematic,
extreme, and unconstitutional violence against more
than a hundred prisoners in early 2020.
In Pennsylvania, we achieved a significant win for a
former prisoner who was targeted by three prison
guards in a racially charged incident while the
client was being transported to and from a court
appearance. We negotiated a monetary settlement
for the client that included an agreement by DOC
to implement additional training programs for its
corrections officers responsible for transporting
inmates by bus.
