Florida Justice Institute

A nonprofit public interest law firm that conducts civil rights litigation and advocacy in the areas of prisoners’ rights, housing discrimination, disability discrimination, and other areas that impact the lives of Florida’s poor and disenfranchised.

New Lawsuit Challenges Use of Solitary Confinement for Children in Florida

Case Filed by Southern Poverty Law Center, Florida Justice Institute, and Florida Legal Services

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. –Citing scientific, medical and mental health evidence likening solitary confinement to torture and demonstrating its dangers to the development and rehabilitation of children, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), Florida Legal Services (FLS), and the Florida Justice Institute (FJI) have filed a federal class action lawsuit against Florida’s Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) […]

Class Action Lawsuit Challenges Massive Overuse of Solitary Confinement in Florida Prisons

Case Filed by Southern Poverty Law Center, Florida Justice Institute, and Florida Legal Services

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Admire Harvard has spent nearly 10 years locked up in solitary confinement in the Florida prison system. Harvard, a 28-year-old black transgender woman, has been subjected to solitary confinement in a men’s prison since September 2009. Due to conditions in solitary confinement, she suffers from depression, anxiety and auditory hallucinations, and has […]

Court Issues Final Order in Prison Class Action Requiring Treatment for All Incarcerated People with Hepatitis C

On April 18, 2019, Judge Mark Walker of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida issued a final order in the Florida Justice Institute’s (FJI) prison class action, granting the plaintiffs’ request to require the Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC) to provide treatment to all incarcerated people with Hepatitis C (HCV), including […]

Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against Florida Department of Corrections For Unlawfully Confiscating Millions of Dollars of Digital Music and Books

MIAMI/TALLAHASSEE – Today, the Florida Justice Institute (FJI) and the Social Justice Law Collective (SJLC) announced the filing of a federal class action lawsuit against the Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC) for confiscating the lawfully purchased digital music and books of thousands of Florida prisoners.  After years of selling digital music and books to Florida prisoners […]

FJI Helps Secure First Amendment Victory for Individuals on Sex Offender Registry

FJI attorneys, along with attorneys Valerie Jonas and Beth Weitzner, have secured an important First Amendment victory for individuals on the sex offender registry.  As a result of our lawsuit over a law requiring registrants to report their Internet identifiers to the state, a federal judge has issued an Order prohibiting the state from associating […]

Advocates File Lawsuit Over Threat to Eject and Arrest People Left Homeless by Miami-Dade Residence Restrictions

Legal Services of Greater Miami, Florida Justice Institute, and ACLU of Florida Greater Miami Chapter seek court order to prevent evictions and arrests of individuals forced to live in encampment in Hialeah due to onerous residence restrictions

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – May 7, 2018 CONTACT:  ACLU of Florida Media Office, media@aclufl.org, (786) 363-2737 MIAMI, FL – Attorneys from Legal Services of Greater Miami, Florida Justice Institute, and the ACLU of Florida’s Greater Miami Chapter have filed a lawsuit on behalf of a group of homeless individuals encamped at NW 71st Street and NW 36th Avenue, challenging […]

Court Enters Preliminary Injunction Requiring Evaluation and Treatment of Prisoners with Hepatitis C

Judge Mark Walker of the Northern District of Florida has entered a Preliminary Injunction requiring the Florida Department of Corrections to evaluate and treat prisoners with Hepatitis C with life-saving medications called direct-acting antiviral drugs.  The Order also imposes deadlines for those evaluations and the initiation of treatment.  The Court had previously granted Plaintiffs’ Motion […]

Florida Justice Institute and Freidin Brown Reach $730,000 Settlement with Miami-Dade County for Man Who Suffered Kidney Failure Because of Deficient Jail Medical Care

The Florida Justice Institute, Inc. (FJI) and the law firm Freidin Brown, P.A., have reached a settlement with Miami-Dade County and the Public Health Trust (PHT) for $730,000, resolving claims that deficiencies in the Miami-Dade Jail’s medical system caused an incarcerated man to suffer kidney failure and eventual loss of his kidney.  The Plaintiff, Pascual […]

Court Orders Treatment for Incarcerated People with Hepatitis C, Granting Preliminary Injunction Motion

Court Also Grants Class Certification to Class of Florida Prisoners With Hepatitis C

In a 32 page order, U.S. District Court Judge Mark Walker in Tallahassee granted Plaintiffs’ Motion for Preliminary Injunction and ordered the Florida Department of Corrections (FDC) to submit a plan to treat incarcerated people with Hepatitis C, with Direct-Acting Antiviral (DAA) medications.    The Court noted “that Defendant must move with ‘alacrity.’ This Court will […]

FJI Settles Landmark Lawsuit Against Florida Department of Corrections for Systemic Violations of Disability Laws

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 […]

FJI Files Class Action Lawsuit Against Florida Department of Corrections for Not Providing Hepatitis C Treatment

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 […]

Judge Preliminarily Approves Settlement with Fla. Dept. of Corrections and Corizon Over Failure to Provide Hernia Surgeries

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 […]

FJI and JALA File Lawsuit Against Three Apartment Complexes for Failing to Be Wheelchair Accessible

JACKSONVILLE – Disability Rights Florida, Inc., the Protection and Advocacy Agency for the State of Florida, with the assistance of attorneys from the Florida Justice Institute, Jacksonville Area Legal Aid, today filed a civil rights lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida against three Surfside Apartment complexes in Jacksonville Beach, […]

FJI & ACLU Succeed in Having Prison Gerrymandering in Jefferson County Declared Unconstitutional

After a year of litigation, a federal court has ruled that district maps for elected offices in Jefferson County, Florida, which included state prisoners, unconstitutionally diluted the voting power of voters in the other districts. In an order issued in a lawsuit filed on behalf of residents of Jefferson County by the American Civil Liberties Union […]

FJI, on behalf of Disability Rights Florida, Sues Florida Department of Corrections for Systemic Violations of Disability Laws

January 26, 2016 – Disability Rights Florida, Florida’s federally-funded Protection and Advocacy organization for individuals with disabilities, has filed a federal lawsuit against the Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC) over its systemic failure to comply with federal measures intended to protect individuals with disabilities incarcerated throughout the state. The suit, filed with the assistance of the Florida Justice Institute […]

Prison Legal News Files Opening Brief in Appeal of Censorship Case Against Florida Department of Corrections

PLN has filed its Opening Brief to the Eleventh Circuit.  The brief was authored by former U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement, a partner at Washington, D.C.-based Bancroft PLLC.  On appeal, Clement noted that Florida, “alone among the fifty States, the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), and every county jail in the country, is violating Prison Legal […]

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