| |  We’re demanding an investigation into ICE’s abuse of of hunger strikers Along with allied groups, the Center for Constitutional Rights filed a federal civil rights complaint on behalf of detained people at the Buffalo Federal Detention Facility (BFDF), New York State’s largest immigrant detention center. The complaint details unlawful retaliation and abuse by ICE officials after a peaceful hunger strike to protest the practice of locking people in their cells for approximately 18 hours per day. The people being detained were also protesting the facility’s recent decision to end free phone calls to family, a critical lifeline. Disregarding the protesters’ constitutional rights and ICE’s own operating standards, officials responded by using physical force against the strikers, placing them in solitary confinement, and denying them access to their jobs, recreational activities, and the law library. “In bold disregard of multiple recent reports highlighting the serious and even deadly effects of solitary confinement in ICE detention, BFDF and ICE have persisted in subjecting entire general population units at BFDF to conditions tantamount to solitary confinement. said CJ Sandley, Senior Staff Attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights. “These conditions at BFDF must change immediately in order to prevent further harm.” For more information, see the press release on our website. | |
| |  Upcoming hearing in our case challenging prison slavery in Alabama! In a hearing on July 29, a judge will consider the state’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by six incarcerated workers seeking to abolish involuntary servitude in Alabma’s prisons. They are asking the court to declare that recently enacted state laws and policies violate the state constitution, which, as of only two years ago, makes slavery and involuntary servitude illegal in prison. The plaintiffs –Trayveka Stanley, Reginald Burrell, Dexter Avery, Charlie Gray, Melvin Pringle, and Ranquel Smith – have all been punished or threatened with punishment for resisting forced work. Until the fall of 2022, Alabama still permitted slavery in prisons, exploiting an infamous loophole in the Alabama Constitution and the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Following a successful strike by incarcerated workers, Alabama voters approved an amendment to the state constitution that expanded the ban on slavery and involuntary servitude to prison. With their lawsuit, the first of its kind, the plaintiffs seek enforcement of the amendment. For more information, visit our case page on our website. | |
| |  New trial date set for Abu Ghraib torture trial Iraqi survivors of torture at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq will get their day in court – again. Following a mistrial in April after the jury deadlocked, the judge in the case recently set a new trial date of October 28th. Our clients – Salah Al-Ejaili, a journalist, Suhail Al Shimari, a middle school principal, and Asa’ad Zuba’e, a fruit vendor – will continue their 16-year struggle for justice. They are seeking damages from CACI Premier Technology Inc., the multi-billion dollar government contractor hired by the U.S. to provide interrogation services at the prison. | |
