Our Impact
FJI Settles Landmark Lawsuit Against Florida Department of Corrections for Systemic Violations of Disability Laws (7/10/2017) - Disability Rights Florida, Florida’s federally-funded Protection and Advocacy organization for individuals with disabilities, has settled an historic federal lawsuit against the Florida Department of Corrections (FDC) over its systemic failure to comply with federal measures intended to protect individuals with physical disabilities incarcerated throughout Florida’s prisons. The suit was brought with the assistance of attorneys ... Continue Reading
FJI Files Class Action Lawsuit Against Florida Department of Corrections for Not Providing Hepatitis C Treatment (5/11/2017) - The Florida Justice Institute (FJI) has filed a class action lawsuit against the Florida Department of Corrections (FDC) for failing to provide incarcerated people with life-saving medications for hepatitis C, resulting in thousands being left at risk for liver failure, liver cancer, and a very painful death. The case is brought on behalf of three prisoners—Carl ... Continue Reading
Judge Preliminarily Approves Settlement with Fla. Dept. of Corrections and Corizon Over Failure to Provide Hernia Surgeries (9/20/2016) - TALLAHASSEE. On September 22, 2016, U.S. District Court Judge Robert L. Hinkle preliminarily approved a class action settlement between a class of incarcerated people and the Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC) and its former medical contractor Corizon, LLC, resolving claims that the Defendants had a policy and practice of unlawfully denying medically necessary hernia surgeries ... Continue Reading
Latest News
Why Many Deaf Prisoners Can’t Call Home From the Marshall Project (9/19/2017) - Calling home from prison is cumbersome and expensive. For deaf people behind bars, it’s even tougher, sometimes impossible. The technology provided to deaf people in most US prisons is a teletypewriter, a machine developed in the 1960s that requires users to type their messages. The system is rife with problems. Most deaf households have switched ... Continue Reading
Prison wrong place for Darren Rainey, others with mental illness From the Miami Herald Op-Ed Section (5/12/2017) - BY HOWARD L. SIMON It is only because of dogged investigative reporting by the Miami Herald that people know of the horrific 2012 death of Florida prison inmate Darren Rainey. Rainey, incarcerated at the Dade Correctional Institution (DCI), was locked by guards in a shower stall for two hours under a torrent of scalding water ... Continue Reading
Lawsuit Says State Refuses to Treat Prisoners for Hepatitis C, Letting Some Die From the Miami New Times (5/12/2017) - BY JERRY IANNELLI Hepatitis C is not all that difficult to treat. A class of drug called direct-acting antivirals, or DAAs, has been proven at least 90 percent effective in curing the condition. Just 1 percent of the U.S. population typically lives with hep C — but that rate is far higher, up to 17 ... Continue Reading
