Press Coverage

Prompted by complaints that the needs of deaf, blind, and wheelchair-bound inmates are being routinely ignored, lawyers for a group of prisoners filed suit against the Florida Department of Corrections on Tuesday, claiming a litany of abuses. The lawsuit, filed by the Florida Justice Institute on behalf of Disability Rights Florida, includes accounts from 32 […]

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – ​A federal court in the state Capitol is considering what could be a landmark case when it comes to who represents you in local government. The case boils down to whether it’s fair to count state prisoners when creating local districts. The county told the judge that if he rules against them, […]

(CN) – Prison Legal News asked the 11th Circuit to revive its challenge to a ban on its magazine from Florida jails and prisons. Prison Legal News, a monthly publication of the Human Rights Defense Center, is written by and for prisoners. The muckraking 72-page magazine features articles about abuses inside prisons and jails, and […]

A coalition of 14 human rights groups on Thursday called for a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into Florida state prisons, contending that “immediate intervention” is necessary to stop the widespread abuse, neglect, torture and deaths of inmates in the Florida Department of Corrections. Read the full article. 

Three inmates are suing the Florida Department of Corrections and medical contractor Corizon, alleging Corizon refused to provide medically necessary surgical procedures in an effort to keep costs down. The class-action lawsuit, which cites several other cases of alleged inadequate care, accuses Corizon of violating prisoners’ Eighth Amendment right against cruel and unusual punishment. Corizon […]

There will be no José Milton Way in Miami-Dade County — at least not for now. Miami-Dade commissioners backed away from the previously approved street naming on Wednesday, two days after the Milton family’s real estate businesses were again sued for racial discrimination. “Until the court renders an opinion over that, I feel that it […]

Earlier this month, when Miami-Dade Commissioners named a street after real estate developer José Milton, they brushed aside the fact that Milton’s company had been previously accused in court of racial discrimination, saying the allegations had been settled decades ago. Milton had donated money to county parks and other charitable causes since the days of […]

A divided Florida Supreme Court refused Thursday to authorize Florida Bar leaders to raise attorney dues to fund legal aid. In a last batch of decisions before its summer hiatus, the court ruled 4-3 to turn down the request from a coalition of 522 Florida Bar members. The lawyers asked the high court to allow […]

TALLAHASSEE (CBSMiami/NSF) – Florida taxpayers are on the hook for more than $1.5 million in legal fees — including nearly $1 million to civil-rights lawyers — because of Gov. Rick Scott’s failed push to force welfare applicants and tens of thousands of state workers to submit to suspicionless drug tests. The state agreed earlier this […]

Op-Ed by FJI Executive Director Randy Berg: On Aug. 2, 2011, Miami Mayor Tomás Regalado wrote then-U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder requesting Department of Justice’s (DOJ) assistance after seven black men had been killed by Miami Police Department (MPD) officers over eight months in 2010-2011. Travis McNeil was one of those black men unjustifiably killed. […]