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.
In this section you'll find press coverage of our work.
Once costly drugs were produced to cure hepatitis C, the state Corrections Department dragged its feet on treatment with direct-acting antiviral drugs, which are effective 95 percent of the time. The Florida Justice Institute sued on behalf of as many as 20,000 inmates, and U.S. District Judge Mark E. Walker quickly responded. The lawsuit was filed […]
Anthony Vidal was sentenced to 15 years in prison — not to death — for a non-violent robbery in 2006. But he died by the actions of the Florida Department of Corrections anyway, alleges a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the Florida Justice Institute against the department in Miami-Dade circuit court Tuesday morning. Vidal was […]
The morning of April 17, Wilbur Cauley left all of his belongings in their usual place: stacked by a fence under the I-395 overpass at NW First Court and 13th Street. It was in the middle of a four-block area where about 30 homeless Miamians live. That morning, Cauley, an Army veteran in his late […]
By Ted Alcorn March 15, 2018 Any national campaign to eliminate hepatitis C, an insidious virus that kills tens of thousands of Americans a year, would almost certainly involve prisons. One in seven state inmates are believed to be infected, and the regimented environment of a prison has its advantages when it comes to screening and treatment. […]
Yet another bungle by the state’s Department of Corrections may cost taxpayers millions of dollars this year. Florida is being forced to pay attention to a problem it’s been ignoring for years. This time it’ll be a big “oops” for a dysfunctional state department that’s been called on the carpet for years for its treatment […]
Pascual Diaz-Plasencia was arrested on misdemeanor drug possession charges June 29, 2012, after police caught him with less than 20 grams of marijuana. Diaz-Plasencia had recently undergone a kidney transplant and had to take a set of pills twice daily to ensure his body didn’t reject the organ. But after cops picked him up for harmless pot possession, […]
A recent federal court order in Florida may foreshadow a local judicial decision on whether thousands of Tennessee inmates affected by the state’s hepatitis C epidemic will receive medication that could save their lives. U.S. District Judge Mark Walker ruled Nov. 17 that the Florida Department of Corrections failed to meet constitutional requirements of treating inmates suffering […]
THE CAPITAL, TALLAHASSEE, November 17, 2017……… In a scathing ruling issued Friday, a federal judge found that Florida corrections officials have a “long and sordid history” of failing to treat inmates infected with the Hepatitis C virus and ordered the state to immediately come up with a plan to properly provide care. U.S. District Judge […]
The state of Florida may have to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in treatment costs to as many as 20,000 sick inmates after a federal judge ruled Friday that prison officials had failed to properly care for felons infected with the hepatitis C virus. The ruling, by U.S. District Court Judge Mark Walker, requires […]
The Florida Department of Corrections on Wednesday requested over $19 million to treat inmates who have the Hepatitis C virus, even as the state prisons agency is embroiled in a class-action lawsuit over that treatment. The request was made before the House Justice Appropriations Subcommittee, as part of each state agency’s annual legislative budget request. Treatment for Hep C costs […]
Ever heard of the drug, Harvoni? Classified as a “direct acting anti-viral drug,” it’s said to have a high rate of success in treating Hepatitis C. Now, drugs, like Harvoni, are at the center of a lawsuit on behalf of Florida inmates who have the blood borne disease that can attack the liver. And, these […]
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 […]
BY JULIE K. BROWN Thousands of Florida prison inmates who have hepatitis C are not getting adequate medication and treatment — leaving them at risk for liver failure, liver cancer and death, according to a lawsuit filed against the Florida Department of Corrections. The case, brought on behalf of three state prison inmates who have […]
BY MARY ELLEN KLAS TALLAHASSEE. About 1,800 current and former Florida prison inmates who were denied medical care for hernias will be entitled to divide $1.7 million in damages from a class-action lawsuit under a conditional settlement agreed to by the Department of Corrections and its former prison health-care provider, Corizon, and filed in federal […]
Attorneys from the nonprofit Florida Justice Institute teamed with Kozyak Tropin Throckmorton lawyers for a high-profile class-action against the Florida Department of Corrections and its former medical contractor, Corizon LLC. They negotiated a $2.1 million settlement with the defendants, who were accused of denying prisoners hernia operations to save money. Institute executive director Randall Berg […]
The Florida Department of Corrections and former prison health-care provider Corizon have agreed to pay about $2.1 million to settle a class-action lawsuit alleging that the state agency and the company denied hernia operations to inmates to save money. Under the settlement, Corizon agreed to pay $1.7 million to current and former inmates. The Department […]
In a first-of-its kind decision, a federal judge in Tallahassee has ordered that local voting districts in nearby Jefferson County be redrawn, saying their boundaries are unconstitutional because of a system critics call “prison gerrymandering.” U.S. District Judge Mark Walker on Friday ruled against the county on a motion for summary judgment, effectively disposing of the case brought […]
The Federal District Court for Florida’s Northern District ruled Monday that the prison gerrymandering in Florida’s Jefferson County unconstitutionally dilutes the voting power of its residents. By packing inmates who can’t vote into a district, but counting them when drawing electoral maps, District Judge Mark Walker said the county had violated the “one person, one […]