The Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project, along with All Rise Trial & Appellate, sent a letter to the Federal Bureau of Prisons and officials at Federal Correctional Institution Loretto (FCI Loretto) following a reported “severe outbreak” of COVID-19 at the facility.
PILP Sends Letter to DOC Chief Counsel Demanding Universal COVID Testing of Staff and Incarcerated People & More Out-of-Cell Time Amid Virus Surge
PILP Files Lawsuit Against DOC Officials on Behalf of Transgender Woman Denied Healthcare, Surgery
The Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project filed a lawsuit today on behalf of a transgender woman who says she is being denied vital healthcare, including gender affirmation surgery, by the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (DOC). The lawsuit alleges that the plaintiff, a 46-year-old transgender woman currently incarcerated at the State Correctional Institution at Mahanoy, has suffered extreme distress and suicidal ideation, including instances of self-harm, since receiving a diagnosis of gender dysphoria in 1998.
PILP, ALC and ACLUPA send letter to Allegheny County Jail regarding Ban on Purchase of Books by Incarcerated Persons
Prisoners’ Rights Advocates File Lawsuit Against Allegheny County Jail for Sergeant Brutalizing Disabled Women
The Abolitionist Law Center (ALC), Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project (PILP), and K&L Gates filed a lawsuit on Tuesday on behalf of April Walker, LaVonna Dorsey, and Alexus Diggs, three formerly incarcerated women with disabilities, who claim they were brutally assaulted by Sergeant John Raible at the Allegheny County Jail. The complaint describes numerous assaults by Raible against people with disabilities involving the overuse of pepper spray, tasers and placing people with disabilities in a restraint chair for hours without food, water, medicine, or breaks to relieve themselves.
PILP, ALC and ACLU PA send letter to Allegheny County demanding COVID testing and contact tracing of people at ACJ
PILP sends advocacy letter addressing conditions in Dauphin County Prison
Prisoners’ Rights Advocates File Class Action Lawsuit Against Allegheny County Over Failed Mental Health Care System at ACJ.
September 15, 2020
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: William Lukas, Abolitionist Law Center, (508)-340-6507, wjlukas@alcenter.org
Rebecca Susman, PA Institutional Law Project, rsusman@pailp.org, 412-254-4771
PITTSBURGH – The Abolitionist Law Center (ALC), Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project (PILP), and Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis LLP filed a class action lawsuit today on behalf of people with psychiatric disabilities incarcerated in Allegheny County Jail (ACJ). The lawsuit alleges severe and systemic constitutional violations, as well as violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act, for the jail’s failure to provide adequate mental health care and its discriminatory and brutal treatment of people with psychiatric disabilities.