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

A federal jail in Philly was blocking kids from seeing their fathers - until now

April 29, 2018 | Samantha Melamed | The Philadelphia Inquirer

Last October, Dayna Walter despaired that her 2-year-old son was beginning to forget who his father was.

“When you’re far away from someone and can’t visit, it puts a strain on everything. You rely a lot on love and hope to get you through. You keep pictures around of him so his son can see his face and recognize when he’s talking on the phone.”

Her son’s father, Keith Campbell, had been prevented from seeing his child by a policy at the Federal Detention Center (FDC) in Philadelphia, where he’s been for the last year awaiting trial. The policy, which bars unaccompanied minor children, also excludes visitors who are not immediate family, including unmarried partners. That meant Walter couldn’t visit; consequently, there was no one to bring her son.

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PAILP's Su Ming Yeh on Strip Searches at Allegheny County Jail: "Completely Inappropriate ... Overreach, Overreaction"

February 2, 2018 | Robert Mangino | KDKA Afternoon News

Attorney at Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project (PAILP), Su Ming Yeh joined Robert to talk about the new strip search policy at the Allegheny County Jail. She said the policy is an overreach that chills inmates’ right to access an attorney, and may be deemed unconstitutional.

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Penn Wood football star's name is cleared, but killer is still at large

January 17, 2018 | Samantha Melamed | The Philadelphia Inquirer

It’s been over a year since someone shot and killed Zion Vaughan, a Penn Wood High School linebacker with aspirations to play college football. Yeadon police have not made any arrests. But last year, they did offer a theory of the case: They told the state’s Victim Compensation Assistance Program they believe Vaughan had been dealing drugs and thereby brought the killing on himself.

Vaughan’s grandfather Thomas Vaughan, who had applied for the victim assistance to help cover funeral expenses, has been fighting to clear his grandson’s name since. This month, a hearing officer for the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency found in his favor: Zion, the officer determined, appeared to be not a criminal but the victim of a robbery gone wrong.

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Inmate allowed to pursue suit over use of restraints because he refused to accept cellmate

July 15, 2016 | John Beauge | PennLive

Sebastian Richardson contends when he refused to accept a cellmate at the Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary out of safety fears that he was held in restraints for nearly a month in 2011.

He filed a federal lawsuit that year alleging officials at Lewisburg violate policy by using restraints to punish inmates who refuse a hostile cellmate.

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