The Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project (PILP) protects and advances the constitutional and civil rights of people incarcerated in Pennsylvania through litigation, advocacy, and legal advice.
We do not assist with criminal matters, habeas cases, sentencing, or parole issues.
To request assistance for yourself or someone whose civil or constitutional rights may have been violated in a prison, jail or detention center in Pennsylvania, please press the button below to request assistance from our legal team.
The Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project has filed a lawsuit against the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), alleging that corrections officers at the United States Penitentiary (USP) Canaan brutally assaulted, sexually abused, and placed an incarcerated man with known epilepsy for about 40 hours near-naked in restraints, without food or water, and laying in urine and feces, while he had a seizure.
The Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project (PILP) sent an advocacy letter on behalf of our client Christine DiCarlo, a federal pretrial detainee and lifelong resident of Lackawanna County, challenging the prison's blanket policy of denying religious services to any detainee who has a "separation" in place with another incarcerated person.
The Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project has filed a lawsuit against the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), alleging that corrections officers at the United States Penitentiary (USP) Canaan brutally assaulted, sexually abused, and placed an incarcerated man with known epilepsy for about 40 hours near-naked in restraints, without food or water, and laying in urine and feces, while he had a seizure.
The Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project (PILP) filed a federal civil rights complaint against York County and its former medical provider, PrimeCare Medical, Inc., alleging that systemic failures led an incarcerated man, Willie Cunningham, to suffer life-threatening sepsis and permanent internal damage after nursing staff ignored his severe appendicitis symptoms for four days.
The Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project (PILP) has filed a formal complaint under the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) against the Moshannon Valley Processing Center (MVPC), alleging that an immigrant woman detained since November 2024 has been subjected to sexual abuse by the facility chaplain, Mark Melhorn.
Lawyers for the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project have sent an advocacy letter on behalf of Edison McClellan, who has been detained at York County Prison since 2023.
The Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project sent an advocacy letter on behalf of it’s client, Mr. Johnnie McCollum, who experienced racial harassment from staff members while incarcerated at SCI Pine Grove in the fall of 2024.
The American Civil Liberties Union, the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project, and the ACLU of Pennsylvania filed their opening brief in the Third Circuit Court of Appeals seeking to reverse the dismissal of a case challenging the deprival of medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) in the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections.
The Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project (PILP) filed a lawsuit on behalf of Miranda Barbour due to a horrifying pattern of relentless sexual assault, harassment, and stalking against her by a parole agent Kenneth Jones, while Ms. Barbour was incarcerated at the State Correctional Institution at Muncy (“SCI Muncy”). The lawsuit also details numerous times where security and other staff at SCI Muncy failed to intervene or take action to protect Ms. Barbour from the sexual abuse.
The Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project (PILP) announced today that a recent important victory and agreement with the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (DOC) will significantly improve religious meal accommodations for incarcerated Muslims at a Pennsylvania state prison, in time for Eid-al-Fitr at the end of this month. Incarcerated people of multiple religions across the state will also be able to meaningfully observe their religion by having access to essential religious meal accommodations for future religious holidays.
A man with Huntington’s Disease has filed a civil rights lawsuit in federal court, accusing the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (PA DOC) of discriminating against him and ignoring his disabilities, leaving him unable to reliably communicate with staff and other incarcerated people.
Wellpath is the company that provides medical care to people incarcerated in the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (DOC) and a few county jails in Pennsylvania. Jails and prisons have a legal obligation to provide adequate medical care to people in their custody. This is based on the U.S. Constitution and state law. Jails and prison are allowed to contract with a private company to provide this medical care, but the private company must still meet legal standards.
The Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project (PILP) is pleased to announce the release of a new project, “Let Us Live,” highlighting the voices of currently and formerly incarcerated people with Opioid Use Disorder (OUD), as well as an update to their groundbreaking report on access to Medication for Opioid Use Disorder (MOUD) in Pennsylvania jails and prison.
The agreement reached in Howard v. Williams, a class action lawsuit on behalf of people with psychiatric disabilities incarcerated in Allegheny County Jail (ACJ), has been finalized.
Plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit against the Philadelphia Department of Prisons (PDP) filed a motion for contempt for the jails’ failures to comply with a Court-monitored Settlement Agreement – failures that have led to “profound” trauma and suffering for those incarcerated in the Philadelphia jails. Calling for immediate resolution for longstanding issues, the motion also demands that daily fines be imposed, which ultimately would be distributed directly to individuals incarcerated in the Philadelphia Department of Prisons.
An agreement has been reached in Howard v. Williams, a class action lawsuit on behalf of people with psychiatric disabilities incarcerated in Allegheny County Jail (ACJ).
The Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project (PILP) sent an advocacy letter on behalf of its client, Ethan Shaw, who is currently incarcerated at SCI Houtzdale.
PITTSBURGH - People incarcerated at six prisons across Pennsylvania have filed a class action lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of solitary confinement in the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections. The suit is the first of its kind that seeks to end prolonged and indefinite solitary confinement and prohibit all solitary confinement for anyone with a mental health diagnosis. The plaintiffs are represented by the Abolitionist Law Center (ALC), the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project (PILP), and Dechert LLP. The suit was filed in federal court.
Lawyers from the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project (PILP) have sent an advocacy letter on behalf of our client, Eddie Williams, who has been incarcerated in the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (“DOC”) since 2016.
On November 14, 2023, the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project (PILP) filed a lawsuit against Warden Craig Lowe and other staff at the Pike County Correctional Facility (PCCF) on behalf of Damion Davis, who was subjected to excessive force, racist abuse, and retaliation in December 2021, when he was being held at the jail as an immigration detainee. PCCF has a contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain immigrants.
The Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project has sent and advocacy letter to Department of Corrections (DOC) counsel and to the Superintendent of SCI Waymart. The advocacy letter is on behalf of an incarcerated man and his fiancée, who have been trying to get married for over a year and keep getting thwarted by DOC staff, who haven't offered any genuine reason to deny the request.
The Pennsylvania Institutional Law Projects sent an advocacy letter on behalf of Quuan White, a man with serious visual impairments at SCI Greene, regarding medical care and a plethora of ADA accommodation issues.
Lawyers for the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project sent an advocacy letter to the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (DOC) on behalf of James Savage, a legally blind man incarcerated at State Correctional Institution (“SCI”) Phoenix.
A group of people incarcerated at the State Correctional Institution (SCI) Fayette have filed a class action lawsuit seeking to end the unconstitutional solitary confinement being imposed on men in the Security Threat Group Management Unit (STGMU). The men filed the lawsuit from their solitary confinement cells, without the assistance of attorneys, in October 2022, and, at their request, a team of lawyers from the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project (PILP), Abolitionist Law Center (ALC), and Dechert LLP have now entered the case.
Lawyers from the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project have announced that a preliminary injunction has been ordered in a case which sought a return to a Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (DOC) policy allowing for the purchase of optional meals during religious ceremonial holidays or celebrations.
The Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project has filed a lawsuit against the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), alleging that corrections officers at the United States Penitentiary (USP) Canaan brutally assaulted, sexually abused, and placed an incarcerated man with known epilepsy for about 40 hours near-naked in restraints, without food or water, and laying in urine and feces, while he had a seizure.
The Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project has filed a lawsuit against the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), alleging that corrections officers at the United States Penitentiary (USP) Canaan brutally assaulted, sexually abused, and placed an incarcerated man with known epilepsy for about 40 hours near-naked in restraints, without food or water, and laying in urine and feces, while he had a seizure.
The Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project (PILP) filed a federal civil rights complaint against York County and its former medical provider, PrimeCare Medical, Inc., alleging that systemic failures led an incarcerated man, Willie Cunningham, to suffer life-threatening sepsis and permanent internal damage after nursing staff ignored his severe appendicitis symptoms for four days.
PILP’s work challenging solitary confinement and other inhumane prison conditions includes representing individuals in appeals aimed at establishing new precedents that will benefit not only our clients but also other incarcerated people throughout Pennsylvania and beyond.
The Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project filed a lawsuit on behalf of Miranda Barbour due to a horrifying pattern of relentless sexual assault, harassment, and stalking against her by a parole agent Kenneth Jones, while Ms. Barbour was incarcerated at the State Correctional Institution at Muncy (“SCI Muncy”). The lawsuit also details numerous times where security and other staff at SCI Muncy failed to intervene or take action to protect Mr. Barbour from the sexual abuse.
In 2023, the DOC terminated religious accommodation for meals. It replaced it with a policy that required religious celebrants to choose a meal from the DOC’s regular weekly menu for their holiday meal. This menu didn’t include halal meat or other religiously meaningful foods. This legal action restores religious accommodations for meals and expands the options.
PILP brought this lawsuit on behalf of Anthony Happel, who was denied treatment for opioid use disorder when he incarcerated at Venango County Prison.
The Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project, along with Disability Rights Pennsylvania, has filed a lawsuit on behalf of John Topper who is incarcerated in the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections. Mr. Topper is an individual with multiple disabilities, including Huntington’s Disease and psychiatric disabilities which have left him unable to speak or write.
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Photography by Harvey Finkle and illustrations by Gerardo Garduño