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15 cases, 151 documents
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CRIMINAL JUSTICE (OTHER)
Cheek v. Massachusetts Parole Board

SJ-2021-0430 | Massachusetts state supreme court

Filed Date: Nov. 29, 2021

Case Ongoing

In 2021, ten people on parole sued the Massachusetts Parole Board, alleging that the board violated state law by denying termination of parole in virtually all cases. As a result, people were arbitrarily kept on parole for years or, in some cases, decades. Plaintiffs filed their complaint in the Supreme Judicial Court for Suffolk County and were represented by Prison Legal Services and Swomley & Tennen, LLP. In 1955, Massachusetts passed GL c 127 § 130A, allowing the state to terminate an indiv…
PRISON CONDITIONS
Diggs v. Mici

4:22-cv-40003 | U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts

Filed Date: Jan. 10, 2022

Case Ongoing

This is a case about prison officials who allegedly inflicted weeks of unprovoked violence on prisoners, particularly prisoners of color. On January 10, 2022, nine Black and Latino men incarcerated at Massachusetts' Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center (SBCC) filed this putative class action suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts against the Massachusetts Department of Corrections . The plaintiffs sued state officials under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for violations of the Eight…
JAIL CONDITIONS
Pearson v. Hodgson

1:18-cv-11130 | U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts

Filed Date: May 30, 2018

Case Ongoing

This case is about the price of phone calls made from Bristol County, Massachusetts correctional facilities, which a group of incarcerated individuals and their loved ones alleged were nearly doubled by an illegal kickback scheme orchestrated by the Bristol County Sheriff's Office (BCSO). On May 2, 2018, the plaintiffs filed a class-action suit in Massachusetts state court against the Bristol County Sheriff in his individual and official capacities, the BCSO, and Securus Technologies, the telec…
PRISON CONDITIONS
Briggs v. Mass. Dept. of Corrections

1:15-cv-40162 | U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts

Filed Date: Nov. 24, 2015

Case Ongoing

On November 24, 2015, several inmates with hearing disabilities filed this class action in the District Court for the District of Massachusetts. The plaintiffs sued the Massachusetts Department of Correction and the Massachusetts Partnership for Correctional Healthcare under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Rehabilitation Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for violations of the First and Fourteenth Amendment rights, and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA). Represe…
PRISON CONDITIONS
Doe v. Massachusetts Department of Corrections

1:17-cv-12255 | U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts

Filed Date: Nov. 15, 2017

Closed Date: July 8, 2019

The plaintiff in this case is a trans woman who was housed in a men's prison in Massachusetts for a nonviolent drug possession charge. Because of her gender presentation and identity, she faced degrading sexual harassment from both staff and other prisoners. She was forced to use communal showers and bathrooms without locks, and was subject to strip searches conducted by male staff in front of other prisoners. The living conditions and repeated sexual harassment during her time there prompted h…
PRISON CONDITIONS
Cantell v. Commissioner of Correction et al.

1284-cv-0250 | Massachusetts state trial court

Filed Date: Jan. 20, 2012

Closed Date: March 30, 2022

On January 20, 2012, prisoners incarcerated in Massachusetts administrative segregation filed this class action in state court in Massachusetts. Represented by the Prisoners Legal Services of Massachusetts, the plaintiffs sued the Commissioner of Correction and superintendents of various correctional facilities for violations of their federal and state due process rights. Specifically, the plaintiffs alleged that the prison held the plaintiffs in segregation without informing them of a release …
PRISON CONDITIONS
Foster v. Commissioner of Corrections

20-12935 | Massachusetts state trial court

Filed Date: April 20, 2020

Case Ongoing

COVID-19 Summary: Prisoners represented by Prisoners Legal Services of Massachusetts filed this class action for prisoners with underlying medical conditions and old age, and prisoners incarcerated for alcohol and drug abuse, seeking release to decrease the population of prisoners and enable proper social distancing. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court denied the preliminary injunctive relief, but remanded to the Superior Court to adjudicate the merits of Eighth Amendment and Fourteenth Am…
JAIL CONDITIONS
Kelley v. Hodgson

98-03083 | Massachusetts state trial court

Filed Date: 1998

Case Ongoing

In 1998, inmates in the Bristol County Jail filed a class action suit on behalf of all present and future inmates challenging the overcrowded conditions at the jail. The Superior Court of Massachusetts for Suffolk County (Judge John C. Cratsley) enjoined defendant from using port-a-bunks, which allowed inmates to sleep on common areas floors, and from triple-bunking any cell. This preliminary injunction would last until November 16, 1998, when the new unit of the jail was scheduled for completi…
CRIMINAL JUSTICE (OTHER)
Committee for Public Counsel Services v. Chief Justice of the Trial Court

20-12926 | Massachusetts state trial court

Filed Date: March 24, 2020

Case Ongoing

COVID-19 Summary: This is an emergency petition to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court seeking, among other responses, releases of many prisoners. On April 3, the court held that certain detainees were entitled a rebuttable presumption of release and to an expedited hearing within two business days on their motions for reconsideration of bail and required weekly reporting. The plaintiffs sought reconsideration, asking the court for further measures, but the Supreme Judicial Court affirmed …
PRISON CONDITIONS
Disability Law Center v. Massachusetts Department of Correction

1:07-cv-10463 | U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts

Filed Date: March 8, 2007

Closed Date: 2017

On March 8, 2007, the Disability Law Center ("DLC") filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, the Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. §12131, and § 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. §794 against the Massachusetts Department of Correction ("DOC"). The DLC is the agency designated by the Protection and Advocacy for Individuals with Mental Illness Act, 42 U.S.C. §§10801 et seq. to pursue legal, administrative, and oth…