Cases
Rights Behind Bars has won more than 100 cases in the Federal Circuit Courts. Our briefs are linked on their respective case pages. If they are helpful to you as an attorney or pro se litigator, please feel welcome to use them.
Harvell v. Rigney, et al.
Mr. Harvell was incarcerated at a Nevada state prison when correctional officers entered his cell and beat while he was handcuffed. Mr. Harvell filed Eighth Amendment excessive force claims against two officers who beat him and a third who failed to intervene.
Montanez v. Price, et al.
Mr. Montanez collapsed in his cell and lost all sensation from the chest down. Rather than sending him to a hospital, prison staff laughed off his request for emergency care, left him to drag his paralyzed body across his cell floor, and abandoned him for three days before he received an MRI revealing spinal cord stenosis and edema requiring surgery.
Evans v. Smith
Mr. Evans was left in leg restraints for 15 hours after being returned to his cell — with no penological justification whatsoever. He spent the better part of those 15 hours standing at his cell door calling out for help. He sued under the Eight Amendment.
Kinard v. Florida Department of Corrections, et al.
Mr. Kinard was denied adequate medical care and disability accommodations after fracturing his foot. He filed suit, bringing claims under the ADA, Rehabilitation Act, and Eighth Amendment.
Survivors of Sexual Abuse at FCI Dublin
FCI Dublin is facing an avalanche of lawsuits stemming from the systemic staff sexual abuse and misconduct that has long gone unchecked at this facility.
Brown v. Stapleton, et al
While incarcerated at Red Onion State Prison, Demmerick Brown went to the prison barbershop to get a shave and a haircut. Because of the pandemic, he was wearing a face mask, and the barber told him to remove it for the shave. Mr, Brown did. On this basis, a guard filed a disciplinary charge against Brown, Brown was convicted of a rule violation, and he was fined fifteen dollars.
Jane Doe v. Georgia Department of Correction et al
A transgender woman confined in men's prisons for decades, Ms. Doe has endured the GDC's unwarranted denial of gender-affirming surgery despite receiving recommendations for surgery from multiple GDC psychiatrists.
Durham v. G. Kelley, et al
After a diagnosis with lumbar stenosis Mr. Durham has been limited in his ability to ambulate and was prescribed a cane to allow him to walk without extreme pain. Despite this diagnosis and prescription, officials in the Trenton facility ordered Mr. Durham to abandon his cane in his cell when he was transferred to a quarantine unit. They then continued to deny him access to his cane for approximately ten days. They did this despite numerous different requests from Mr. Durham for his cane to nurses, doctors, and correctional officers, and despite his reports of excruciating pain when he was forced to walk without his cane.
Voices of the Experienced (VOTE) et al. v. James LeBlanc et al.
This lawsuit challenges the harsh and unconstitutional conditions of forced agricultural labor at Angola. It is brought Voice of the Experienced (VOTE) and four incarcerated men currently at Angola, who represent all those compelled to work on the so-called “Farm Line.” Angola, once a plantation site, now spans 18,000 acres and forces incarcerated people, primarily Black men, into agricultural labor under oppressive conditions. These individuals toil in extreme heat and humidity, often lacking basic safety gear. This labor serves no legitimate purpose, with men forced to perform grueling tasks like digging and refilling holes or manually picking blades of grass.
Bobo v. Ericsons
Donnie Bobo was incarcerated at a Michigan prison when he began experiencing excruciating dental pain. Over the following months, the prison dentist saw him multiple times but provided no pain medication and did not arrange for him to see a specialist.
Brown v. Meisner, et al.
After injuring his knee in a fall at one Wisconsin prison, Lee Brown was transferred to another facility where his previously granted accommodations—a lower bunk, a wheelchair, and crutches—were not continued. He fell again while climbing to a top bunk, and was told he needed surgery that the prison would not provide.
California Coalition for Women Prisoners, et. al. v. United States of America Federal Bureau of Prisons, et. al.
This case is a putative class action on behalf of all people incarcerated at FCI Dublin, where inadequate systems for preventing, detecting, investigating, and responding to staff sexual abuse put everyone at the facility at risk. The plaintiffs in this case have endured horrific abuse and exploitation at the hands of prison employees, including but not limited to: rape and sexual assault; manipulation and sexual coercion; rampant degrading sexual comments; voyeurism and taking and sharing explicit photos; drugging, groping, and other forms of abuse during medical exams; and targeted abuse towards immigrant women leveraging the threat of deportation.
Hall v. Higgins
Mr. Hall has been paralyzed from the waist down since 2012 and requires a wheelchair for mobility. Jail staff repeatedly refused to assist him in accessing his bed, the toilet, and medical appointments, citing "protocol."
Snowden v. Henning
Seventh Circuit case on behalf of a man who had a DEA agent tackle and punch him in the face during a routine arrest, fracturing his eye socket
Hageman v. Billups
Mr. Hageman was quietly reading his bible in his cell when five correctional officers forcibly removed him from his bunk and took him to segregation, nominally not because he had done anything wrong but for his own protection. Although he was not resisting, they handcuffed him and pulled on the chain, breaking his wrist and cutting his hands.
Parker v. LeBlanc
Our client served 337 days in prison past his mandatory release date. We're proud to have argued the case in the Fifth Circuit, which ruled that this constitutional violation was clearly stablished, overcoming qualified immunity
In re: Tehum Care Services, Inc.
Corizon is one of the nation’s largest providers of correctional health care services. Facing mounting liability, in part due to lawsuits brought by incarcerated people who received substandard care, the company is attempting to exploit a quirk in Texas Corporate law to declare bankruptcy and avoid paying incarcerated plaintiffs the money they are owed.
Washington v. Massachusetts Department of Correction, et al.
RBB represents Derrick Washington in a lawsuit in federal court seeking accountability for brutal assaults that Mr. Washington experienced January through March 2020 at the hands of Souza Baranowski Correctional Complex guards.
Getzen v. Long
Rights Behind Bars and the Legal Defense Fund represented David Getzen in a qualified immunity case after Mr. Getzen was subjected to an unlawful use of force.
Shaw v. Kemper et. al.
Mr. Shaw, a wheelchair user, was unable to access the prison’s only handicapped-accessible toilet on multiple occasions because it was in use. Mr. Shaw’s lawsuit was dismissed by the district court at screening. The court characterized his inability to access a handicapped toilet as a mere "inconvenience" of prison life.