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.
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.
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.
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.
Garrett v. Commonwealth of Virginia
Mr. Garrett’s case is an example of the pervasive conduct of using patrol dogs to attack prisoners when there is no legitimate justification for doing so in the Virginia Department of Corrections
Jones et al v. City of St. Louis et al.
Our second case challenging conditions at St. Louis City Justice Center, this case seeks damages for our clients who were maced, and also seeks to stop the facility’s punitive practice of shutting off water.
Johnson v. McCowan
Corey Johnson was the victim of a gruesome canine attack as he was lying motionless and face down on the ground with his arms extended outward. Mr. Johnson’s right wrist and arm were mauled, and he was dragged several feet by the dog. The Virginia Department of Corrections continues to allow the use of unmuzzled canines to terrify and attack people in order to ensure their compliance with prison guard orders.
Vette v. Sanders
The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund along with Rights Behind Bars represents Eric Vette, who alleges he was subject to excessive force by the police when even after being restrained by the police he was punched, hit with a dog chain, and bit by a police dog.
McCoy v. Alamu
Rights Behind Bars, along with the MacArthur Justice Center, represents Prince McCoy, an incarcerated man in Texas who was sprayed in the face with mace by a prison guard for no reason other than the guard's frustration with a different person.