Cases
All of 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.
Wheat v. Day
Rights Behind Bars represents Christopher Wheat, a pretrial detainee at Walton County Jail, on appeal for his § 1983 action against Deputy Day, a corrections officer who tasered him from behind as punishment for spilling water in his cell. Day moved for summary judgment following discovery on the basis of qualified immunity, and appealed when his motion was denied.
Tate v. Harmon
Together with MacArthur Justice Center, RBB has filed an amicus brief in a Fourth Circuit case challenging the dismissal of a prisoner’s Eighth Amendment claims against federal prison staff.
Rivas v. Hodgson
RBB acts as counsel on behalf of Moises Rivas who was unlawfully held by the Bristol County Sheriff's Office for three weeks solely because he had an outstanding civil immigration detainer.
Tillman v. City of Saint Louis et al.
Brought in partnership with ArchCity Defenders, MacArthur Justice, and Saint Louis University Law School Clinic, RBB has filed this ADA action on behalf of Anthony Tillman, a paraplegic man detained in St. Louis's City Justice Center.
Cofield et al v. McDonald et al.
Rights Behind Bars acts as counsel in this novel litigation seeking to invalidate Plymouth County Sheriff's Office's 287(g) agreement—a contract with the Department of Homeland Security purportedly authorizing local sheriffs to engage in immigration enforcement activities.
Savino et al. v. Souza
In partnership with Lawyers for Civil Rights, Yale Law School Worker and Immigrant Rights Advocacy Clinic, and WilmerHale, Rights Behind Bars acts as counsel for a facility-wide class action seeking release of all people in immigration detention in Bristol County House of Corrections in Massachusetts because of their conditions of confinement and COVID-19.
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.
RBB wins rare Supreme Court qualified immunity reversal
In an extraordinary win for prisoner’s rights and all who oppose qualified immunity, the Supreme Court reversed the Fifth Circuit in Taylor v. Riojas, emphasizing that “no reasonable correctional officer could have concluded that, under the extreme circumstances of this case, it was constitutionally permissible to house Taylor in such deplorably unsanitary conditions for such an extended period of time.”
Shorter v. United States, et al.
Rights Behind Bars represents Chrissy Shorter, a transgender woman who was sexually assaulted while incarcerated at a federal prison in New Jersey. Shorter brought an 8th Amendment claim pro se against the prison for failing to take preventative actions to protect her from sexual assault even after her request for transfer to a safer institution had been approved.
Melnik v. Dzurenda
Rights Behind Bars, together with O’Melveny & Myers, represent John Melnik, an individual incarcerated at Nevada Desert State Prison who was denied the opportunity to present documentary evidence in his defense for a disciplinary charge. Because he was denied the opportunity to present this evidence, Melnik is currently facing three years in punitive solitary confinement.
Johnson v. Peterson
Chronic hepatitis C disproportionately affects incarcerated individuals—by recent estimates, HCV is 17 to 23 times more prevalent among prisoners than the general population. Less than 1% of the United States population is incarcerated today, but roughly 30% of all Americans with HCV reside in prison. According to a 2017 meta-analysis, Ohio’s prison population has one of the highest reported rates of HCV infection as measured by antibody prevalence, at a rate of 36% compared to the national average of 18%.
Melnik v. Aranas
Chronic hepatitis C (HCV) kills more Americans than every other infectious disease combined, and even though effective treatments that eliminate HCV in 99% of cases have been available for a number of years, some prison systems deny treatment to most or all of their patients with HCV due simply to the cost of the drugs.
Griffith v. Franklin County
Rights Behind Bars, along with MacArthur Center, represent a coalition of prison rights organizations as amici curiae in support of an eighteen-year old pretrial detainee who experienced severe nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and multiple seizures prior to proper medical intervention in a Kentucky jail.
Mammana v. Barben
Rights Behind Bars, along with Covington & Burling, represent a plaintiff on appeal who was forced to endure torture at the hands of prison staff in retaliation for requesting medical care.
Stark v. Lee County
Rights Behind Bars and the National Association for Public Defense filed a brief as amici for a case brought by a detainee who was left in five-point shackles in the backseat of a deputy sheriff’s cruiser returning to jail from a medical appointment when the sheriff chose to respond to a bank robbery and engage in a high-speed chase, causing the detainee to suffer serious injuries.
Herrera v. Cleveland
Rights Behind Bars is amicus counsel for six formerly-incarcerated attorneys with extensive experience litigating prison conditions cases both inside and outside of prison.
Van Wagner v. Faulks
Chronic hepatitis C (HCV) kills more Americans than every other infectious disease combined, and even though effective treatments that eliminate HCV in 99% of cases have been available for a number of years, some prison systems deny treatment to most or all of their patients with HCV due simply to the cost of the drugs.
Hamilton v. Westchester County
Rights Behind Bars is lead counsel representing a formerly pro se detainee who after a serious knee injury did not receive recreation, an accessible shower, a safe housing unit, or a railing to hold onto while being strip-searched.
Ingram v. Kubik
Rights Behind Bars is amicus counsel on behalf of disability rights groups supporting plaintiff who, in midst of a mental health crisis, was body-slammed by a police officer because the officer found him annoying.
Dickinson v. Cochran
Along with the law firm Wilkinson Walsh, Rights Behind Bars represents Joshua Dickinson who was jailed for three days in the midst of a mental health crisis.