Home : Prisoners' Rights : Medical Care

Inmates With Disabilities Face Discrimination In Los Angeles County Jails (05/29/2008)
LOS ANGELES –People with disabilities face inhumane treatment and illegal discrimination in the Los Angeles County jail system because it routinely fails to accommodatetheir needs. Today, civil and disability rights attorneysare filing suit in U.S. District Court to stop the mistreatment.

ACLU Welcomes Immigration Detention Medical Treatment Legislation (05/05/2008)
WASHINGTON - The American Civil Liberties Union applauds Representative Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) for introducing H.R. 5950, the Detainee Basic Medical Care Act of 2008. This legislation requires the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to develop procedures to ensure adequate medical care for all detainees held by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The legislation also requires ICE to report detainee deaths to the DHS and Department of Justice Offices of Inspector General.

ACLU Lawsuit Charges Grossly Inadequate Medical Care At State Prison In Nevada (03/06/2008)
ELY, NV – The American Civil Liberties Union filed a class-action lawsuit today against the director of Nevada’s Department of Corrections and other top governmental officials in Nevada for failing to rectify a pervasive pattern of grossly inadequate medical care at the Ely State Prison that creates a substantial risk of serious medical harm for each of the prison’s 1,000 inmates. The lawsuit charges that the prison lacks the most basic elements of an adequate prison health care system and deprives prisoners of the minimal civilized measure of life’s necessities.

ACLU Challenges Virginia Law Excluding Prisoners From FOIA (12/06/2007)
RICHMOND, VA – The ACLU of Virginia was in court this morning seeking to overturn a Virginia statute that prevents prisoners from using the state Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to obtain public documents. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit heard oral arguments in the case.

ACLU Calls on Nevada Governor to Address Grossly Inadequate Prison Health Care (12/06/2007)
ELY, NV –The American Civil Liberties Union today called on Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons to investigate deficient medical care at Ely State Prison (ESP), home of Nevada’s death row where, according to a report by a medical expert commissioned by the ACLU, gravely ill prisoners are denied treatment for excruciatingly painful and potentially fatal medical conditions. The ACLU sent the report – along with a letter demanding that the state commit the resources necessary to carry out needed systemic reforms – to Gibbons today after conferring about the problem for several months with Nevada Department of Corrections Director, Howard Skolnik.

ACLU of Arizona Lawsuit Triggers Transfer of TB Patient to Denver Hospital (07/17/2007)
PHOENIX – After spending nearly one year in a Maricopa County jail ward despite never having committed any crime, tuberculosis patient Robert Daniels will be finally transferred on Thursday to the National Jewish Medical and Research Center to receive treatment for his tuberculosis infection, the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona confirmed today.

ACLU Sues U.S. Immigration Officials and For-Profit Corrections Corporation Over Grossly Deficient Health Care (06/13/2007)
SAN DIEGO -- The American Civil Liberties Union today filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of immigrant detainees at San Diego Correctional Facility (SDCF), charging that inadequate medical and mental health care have caused unnecessary suffering and, in several cases, avoidable death.

Judge Rejects Government Efforts to Block Details of Deficient Medical Care in Wisconsin’s Largest Women’s Prison (03/15/2007)
MILWAUKEE — The American Civil Liberties Union announced today that a federal judge has ruled that claims of grossly deficient medical and mental health care for Wisconsin’s women prisoners must be heard. Judge Rudolph Randa denied efforts by prison officials to dismiss these claims of inadequate health care at Taycheedah Correctional Institution (TCI), Wisconsin’s largest women’s prison.

Michigan Judge Threatens $2 Million Fine for Inadequate Prison Health Care (12/08/2006)
KALAMAZOO, MI— The American Civil Liberties Union National Prison Project and two Ann Arbor civil rights attorneys, Patricia Streeter and Michael Barnhart, today lauded a ruling by a Michigan judge calling for improvements to deficient prison health care.

Federal Court to Hear Challenges to Deficient Health Care in Michigan Prisons After Prisoner Dies in Restraints (10/13/2006)
KALAMAZOO, MI- At a hearing tomorrow before U.S. District Court Judge Richard A. Enslen, the American Civil Liberties Union National Prison Project and two Ann Arbor civil rights attorneys will argue that some of the state's oldest and largest prisons do not meet constitutional standards for medical and mental health care, and that Patricia Caruso, Director of the Department of Corrections, should be held in contempt for the Defendants' non-compliance with court orders to improve medical services.

ACLU Fights Virginia Law Barring Prisoners from Obtaining Medical Information (01/19/2006)
BIG STONE GAP, VA -- With help from the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia and the Rutherford Institute, a prisoner suffering from Hepatitis C today filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking to overturn a Virginia statute that prevents him from obtaining a copy of the Department of Corrections policy describing how it is supposed to treat the disease.

ACLU Sues Major Medical Provider Over Deficient Care in Mississippi Prison (06/22/2005)
WASHINGTON, DC -- Citing the extreme health risks faced by nearly 1000 men confined in a Mississippi prison, the American Civil Liberties Union and the law firm Holland & Knight LLP today filed a lawsuit against one of the country's largest for-profit medical providers for prisoners.

ACLU and PJC Urge Maryland Board to Reject Contract with Company Known for Providing Deficient Medical Care in Prisons (06/01/2005)
ANNAPOLIS, MD -- Citing Correctional Medical Services' poor record for dispensing medical care to prisoners, the American Civil Liberties Union and Public Justice Center today urged Maryland's Board of Public Works to reject a proposed contract with the for-profit company.

Lives of HIV Positive Prisoners in Mississippi Saved By Lawsuit, Says the ACLU (04/01/2005)
JACKSON, MS- The American Civil Liberties Union today applauded the dramatic improvements in medical treatment and living conditions for hundreds of HIV positive Mississippi prisoners as a result of litigation that concluded yesterday.

County Jail Failing to Test Prisoners for Tuberculosis as Required by Department of Health, ACLU of Arkansas Charges (10/08/2004)
LITTLE ROCK--The American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas today announced that is charging officials at the Faulkner County Detention Center with endangering the health of prisoners and the public by not performing skin tests for tuberculosis (TB) on prisoners as required by the state health department. The ACLU said the county is also in violation of Arkansas Fire and Life Safety Codes regarding occupancy.

Dangerous Threat of Heat-Related Illness Prompts Appeals Court to Affirm Order to Cool Supermax Prison (07/02/2004)
WASHINGTON - The American Civil Liberties Union today welcomed a ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit that prison officials must cool prisoners' cells at a super-maximum facility where the heat index is known to have reached 125 degrees.

At Hearing on Health Conditions for HIV+ Prisoners, ACLU Says Officials Failed to Prevent Staph Infection Outbreak (06/28/2004)
OXFORD, MS- At a federal court hearing today on health conditions for Mississippi prisoners with HIV, the American Civil Liberties Union presented evidence that prison officials failed to prevent a drug-resistant staphylococcus outbreak within the men's unit for HIV-positive prisoners.

Court Order Ends Discrimination Against HIV+ Prisoners in Mississippi, ACLU Welcomes Hard Fought Reform (06/17/2004)
JACKSON, MS-The American Civil Liberties Union today applauded a federal court order that finally ends all sanctioned discrimination against prisoners with HIV/AIDS who are banned from participation in community work programs because of their illness.

ACLU Applauds Alabama's Move to Open Rehabilitative Programming to HIV+ Prisoners (01/19/2004)
MONTGOMERY, AL- The American Civil Liberties Union commends the reversal of a nearly 20-year-old segregation policy within the Alabama Department of Corrections that led to today's integration of HIV+ prisoners into educational and vocational training programs.

ACLU Blasts Ohio Correction Center for Refusing to Administer HIV Medication to Inmate (01/16/2004)
COLUMBUS, OH - The Franklin County Correction Center is refusing to administer time-sensitive HIV medication to an inmate serving time in the facility, ignoring a letter sent by the American Civil Liberties Union informing administrators at the facility of the inmate's condition and need for the medication, the ACLU said today.