Press Release: Man Held in Solitary Confinement for Refusing to Cut Off Dreadlocks Sues Lebanon County

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 19, 2020

Press contact:
Rebecca Susman, Communications Manager, Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project Email: rsusman@pailp.org
Phone: 412-254-4771

PHILADELPHIA, PA – The Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project (PILP) filed a motion for preliminary injunction today on behalf of Eric S. McGill, Jr., a pretrial detainee at Lebanon County Correctional Facility (LCCF) who has been held in solitary confinement for over a year solely because he refuses to cut off his dreadlocks. Lebanon County’s practice of punishing people who refuse to cut their dreadlocks, without allowing for religious exemptions, violates Mr. McGill’s rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA).

In compliance with his Rastafarian faith, Mr. McGill does not cut his hair and has not for several years. Mr. McGill believes that his spirit lives through his dreadlocks and to cut them off would be to lose his strength and essence needed for the afterlife. Lebanon County’s own rules and regulations allow incarcerated people to have long hair if it is tied up or in a single ponytail. Despite Mr. McGill offering to tie his hair up in a ponytail, Lebanon County continues to detain him in solitary confinement.

“Mr. McGill has endured solitary confinement for over a year, conditions internationally recognized as torture, for adhering to his faith and refusing to cut his dreadlocks. This flies in the face of RLUIPA, passed by Congress to ensure that incarcerated people have the same religious liberty as all Americans,” stated Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project Managing Attorney Alexandra Morgan-Kurtz.

Mr. McGill has been in solitary confinement since January 19, 2019. He is only allowed out of his cell for at most one hour per day, five days per week, between midnight and 2:00AM. This is also the only time he is permitted to make calls to his family. These conditions have exacerbated his PTSD and caused him frequent panic attacks and additional psychological trauma. In today’s filing, the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project asked the Court to order Lebanon County to transfer Mr. McGill from solitary confinement to general population.

“Contrary to what Lebanon County prison staff have asserted, dreadlocks do not present a security or cleanliness concern. Dozens of jail and prison systems across the United States permit prisoners to have dreadlocks. Lebanon County’s placement of Mr. McGill in solitary confinement is purely punitive and serves no legitimate purpose,” said Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project staff attorney Matthew A. Feldman. “It is not lost on us or Mr. McGill that Lebanon County is singling out a Black hairstyle and a Black religion for this discriminatory, inhumane, and illegal treatment.”

The Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project is representing Eric McGill, Jr. in the case Eric S. McGill, Jr. v. Clements, et al., Case No. 19-cv-01712, filed in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

Read the press release pdf here

Case documents
Amended Complaint
Motion for Preliminary Injunction

Press Release: PA Institutional Law Project Files Lawsuit Against the PA DOC for Denying Transgender Medical Care and Disclosing Client’s Gender Identity to Other Prisoners Without Consent.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 10, 2020

Press contact:
Rebecca Susman, Communications Manager, Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project Email: rsusman@pailp.org
Phone: 412-254-4771

ERIE, PA – The Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project (PILP) filed a lawsuit against the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (PA DOC) on behalf of Sam Doe (they/them), a non- binary person incarcerated at the State Correctional Institution at Cambridge Springs, one of two women’s state prisons in Pennsylvania. Doe has been denied necessary medical care, including access to a doctor specializing in transgender health and gender affirming surgery, in violation of the Eighth Amendment.

Despite numerous requests, Doe has been denied vital medical care endorsed by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health’s Standards of Care. Due to the lack of on-site medical expertise for treating transgender and non-binary individuals, Doe has been required to repeatedly educate the medical staff on these nationally recognized guidelines. The failure of the PA DOC to provide consistent hormone therapy, necessary transition care, and accommodations for Doe’s safety and social transition lead to a serious act of self-harm.

Doe has been unable to obtain further essential medical care as PA DOC policy requires that treatment decisions can only be authorized by a state-wide administrative committee, located a five hour drive from Cambridge Springs in Mechanicsburg, PA. This committee does not include any medical professionals directly involved in Doe’s care.

“Rather than providing Doe with access to knowledgeable specialists, and training the on-site providers for this crucial and life-saving medical need, PA DOC has decided to single out transgender healthcare for a lengthy administrative process that disregards medical judgement,” said Alexandra Morgan-Kurtz, PILP Managing Attorney, “Healthcare should not be decided by an administrative committee.”

In addition to advocating for medical care, PILP seeks to ensure that Doe has access to safe housing and to other necessary accommodations. Previously, PA DOC staff severely jeopardized Doe’s safety when they revealed Doe’s gender identity and history of self-harm. This instigated harassment and threats of violence causing Doe to fear even walking to meals alone. To this day, Doe continues to experience severe psychological distress as a result of being outed without their consent and PA DOC’s refusal to provide them with adequate medical care.

“Prisons have a duty to provide essential medical care and safe accommodations to all incarcerated people, regardless of gender identity. Unfortunately, the PA Department of Corrections and its staff’s bureaucratic hurdles and severe violations of privacy have led to physical and mental harm and caused unnecessary suffering,” stated PILP Interim Executive Director Su Ming Yeh.

The Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project is representing Sam Doe in the case Doe v. Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, et al., 1:20-cv-0023 (W.D. Pa.).

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Read the press release pdf here
Case Documents:
Complaint

Su Ming Yeh appointed Interim Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project

January 10, 2020

The Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project Board of Directors is proud to announce that Deputy Director Su Ming Yeh has been appointed as Interim Executive Director, following the departure of founding Executive Director Angus Love.

Since joining the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project in 2006, Ms. Yeh has proven a strong leader and integral member of the organization. She has served as PILP’s Deputy Director for several years and, prior to this role, as the Managing Attorney, both litigating and advising staff on the full breadth of prisoner’s rights cases arising out of Pennsylvania’s prisons, jails, and ICE facilities.

Su Ming brings extensive experience to the position. She has litigated dozens of prisoners’ rights cases, including a successful class action lawsuit, which resulted in over 5,000 incarcerated people in Pennsylvania state prisons receiving life-saving Hepatitis C treatment. She has also successfully argued before both the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. She earned her law degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School cum laude, where she is currently an adjunct professor.

Ms. Yeh is looking forward to serving in this critical role. “I am excited for this opportunity to continue with PILP in providing integral legal representation, advocacy, and resources for incarcerated people in Pennsylvania. I look forward to working in collaboration with the board, staff, and community in our exciting new phase of organizational growth.”

The Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project Board of Directors is pleased that Su Ming Yeh has agreed to serve in this capacity as it continues implementing a transition plan to fill a permanent executive staff leader. PILP is committed to building upon our recent successes and continuing to provide excellent, free legal advocacy and resources to the over 14,000 people incarcerated in Pennsylvania who seek PILP’s assistance each year.

PILP thanks all of its partners, friends, and supporters, and looks forward to continuing its fight for justice together as it moves on to a great new chapter.

Read and download the pdf announcement here

2019 Annual Report from the frontlines of the fight for prisoner's rights

2019 was an exceptional year for the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project. We are on the frontlines every day working to ensure that people behind bars are afforded their constitutional rights and we challenge the system when these rights are violated. In 2019 year alone PILP won a groundbreaking ruling for immigrants’ rights at ICE facilities, secured settlements and policy change for women who were sexually abused, held an institution accountable for inhumane, punitive solitary confinement, and won a class action gender discrimination case.

Read more about our work safeguarding prisoners’ rights, our dedicated staff, and how you can get involved HERE

Now hiring: Executive Director in the Philadelphia Office

COME WORK WITH US!
POSITION: EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

We are currently seeking a strong, far-sighted, full-time Executive Director, with a passion for representing those incarcerated or institutionalized individuals whose rights have been violated. PILP will accept applications on a rolling basis until the position has been filled. However, candidates are highly encouraged to submit their application by Wednesday, January 31, 2020 for consideration for first round interviews. More information about the position and application instructions can be found HERE.

Opportunity: Now accepting Legal Internship applications

October 28, 2019

The Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project is currently accepting legal internship applications. Please see below for more information about the position and application process:

SUMMER INTERNSHIP AND SEMESTER EXTERNSHIP OPENINGS

The Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project (PILP) seeks to ensure equal access to justice for indigent institutionalized persons in Pennsylvania. PILP provides civil legal services to over 100,000 persons housed in jails, prisons, state hospitals and state centers. There are three offices, located in Philadelphia, Lewisburg and Pittsburgh, PA. We engage in direct representation, legislative and administrative advocacy, as well as providing institutionalized persons with legal reference materials and referrals. Our litigation is primarily in the federal courts.

PILP’s litigation docket includes cases involving physical and sexual assault, disability rights, transgender rights, women’s issues, freedom of religion, mental health and medical care, and other conditions of confinement. PILP is currently involved in class actions relating to a deteriorating nineteenth century county jail and the placement of individuals with serious mental illness in solitary confinement at one of the most secure federal prisons in the country. Other currently active cases involve women in a county jail who receive less out-of-cell time and access to programming than similarly situated men, a man who was retaliated against for receiving mail from an LGBTQ advocacy organization, denial of transgender healthcare, and denial of disability accommodations to individuals with mobility and visual impairments.

Position Description:

The Philadelphia and Pittsburgh offices of PILP welcome law student interns/externs for full-time summer positions and part-time semester-long positions.

Law student interns will be responsible for legal research and writing, reviewing and answering intake, case development and investigation, assisting with discovery, and other related duties. The intern will be supervised by one of the staff attorneys and taken to client meetings, depositions, and court whenever appropriate. The Pittsburgh office accepts applications for both part-time and full time summer interns.

PILP is unable to offer paid internships. PILP encourages students to seek outside funding through work study, law school, or foundation public interest fellowships or similar programs. PILP has previously been an approved site for credit-based externships at some law schools.

Application Process:

To apply, please submit a cover letter, resume, and writing sample (preferably not from a legal writing course, if possible). Applicants should submit their materials to Matthew A. Feldman, mfeldman@pailp.org (Philadelphia) or Alexandra Morgan-Kurtz, amorgan- kurtz@pailp.org (Pittsburgh). Applicants willing to work in either office should submit their materials in a single email to both offices and note any preference in office. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, with a preferred application deadline of Feb 14, 2020.

Board Announces PILP Leadership Change

August 2, 2019

The Board of the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project announced that Angus Love will be stepping down as Executive Director at the end of 2019 after many years of leadership and service. Angus will stay on in a consulting role during 2020 to assist the Project with the transition to a new Executive Director to ensure that the mission to serve clients with nowhere else to turn continues without interruption.

Mike Carroll
Board Chair 

ATTORNEY INFORMATION re the new PA DOC Legal Mail protocols

PA DOC LEGAL MAIL: ATTORNEY INFO

Beginning April 6, 2019, the DOC will not copy legal mail.

Attorneys should send all legal correspondence to the prison, NOT Smart Communications. That mail will be opened in their presence and they will be given the original.

If your client received legal mail while the DOC was copying and confiscating legal mail, the DOC will be contacting them to decide whether to immediately destroy or return that mail.

Visit the DOC’s website (www.cor.pa.gov) and sign up for a new attorney control number. Include a valid email address as the DOC will be emailing you a WEEKLY code in addition to your control number.

When sending mail:
1. Place the attorney control number on a removable sticker on the outside of the envelope.
2. Place a second removable sticker on the outside of the envelope with the current weekly code.

ALL LEGAL MAIL WITHOUT A VALID ATTORNEY CONTROL NUMBER WILL BE RETURNED TO SENDER. If the mail has a valid control number, but not a valid weekly code, the DOC will contact you via phone and/or email to verify that you sent the mail before delivering.

Under the new policy, attorneys can no longer send any documents that were not printed/copied in their offices. This means attorneys cannot return original documents (grievances, etc) to people in DOC custody. Attorneys have until July 7, 2019, to return any originals currently in their possession. After that, if there are extenuating circumstances, attorneys can contact the business office of the prison, or the Office of Chief Counsel to make arrangements.

If you experience any issues or have any concerns with your legal mail under this new policy, please contact Alexandra Morgan-Kurtz, staff attorney in the Pittsburgh office of PILP via email (amorgan-kurtz@pailp.org).

Please click HERE for a printable version of this document.