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.
Dan Gelber says Charlie Crist got automatic restoration of felon rights for 1st time in Florida history As former Gov. Charlie Crist tries to gain supporters in his quest to unseat Republican Gov. Rick Scott, he wants to portray himself as the hero of voter access and Scott as a leader who restricted voting. Dan […]
The October issue of Prison Legal News contained one story entitled, “How many inmate deaths is too many?” Another article addressed a Justice Department investigation into widespread sexual abuse in Alabama women’s prisons by male guards, while another took a look at what led to a mentally ill prisoner in Illinois to die on a […]
Miami’s homeless, who since 1998 have benefitted from special life-sustaining privileges not afforded most residents, will lose some of those exceptions if a federal judge signs off on an agreement reached by the city of Miami and the American Civil Liberties Union. No longer will the homeless be allowed to set fires in parks to […]
Imagine being a prisoner in your own home. Stuck in a wheelchair, unable to go outside because you don’t have a wheelchair ramp. Even worse, you cant get one. Why it’s one roadblock after another and it’s why one woman called Help me Howard with Patrick Fraser. WSVN — Some people lead charmed lives. Some […]
A former inmate forced to undergo double hip replacement surgeries will receive $600,000 in a settlement with the U.S. Bureau of Prisons. Beginning in February 2009, Robert Hernandez writhed in pain for eight months before he was allowed to see a licensed physician. The unlicensed medical staff at the Coleman Federal Correctional Complex in Central […]
A quadriplegic attorney from California, forced to use a trash can for a toilet, filed a discrimination suit Monday against a Miami Beach hotel. Jennifer Kern, 47, of Berkeley claims a violation of the Florida Civil Rights Act and seeks damages for mental anguish. Kern planned a trip to Miami Beach on the end of a visit […]
“The Florida prison system’s attempt to stop prisoners from communicating on the Internet has run into a threat of legal action by three inmate-rights advocacy organizations that contend inmates don’t give up their First Amendment rights at the prison gate. The Department of Corrections this month withdrew a proposed administrative rule forbidding inmates to use […]
PENSACOLA, Fla. (WALA) – Federal judge Casey Rodgers signed an order reversing the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s “post card only” mail policy and ordering the jail to again allow inmates to exchange letters through the U.S. mail. It’s the result of a legal challenge to the policy brought by the ACLU of Florida and the […]
ORLANDO–(ENEWSPF)–October 24 – As the result of a lawsuit brought by the ACLU of Florida and the Florida Justice Institute (FJI), today U.S. District Judge Mary Scriven halted enforcement of Florida’s new law mandating drug tests for all applicants for the state’s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. The judge ruled that the compelled drug […]
Hialeah Housing Authority operations will change under a settlement with low-income residents who were denied Section 8 rent subsidies. Read more.
Gov. Charlie Crist and the Cabinet will be wasting their time and our tax dollars when they consider a pardon for the dead Doors frontman Jim Morrison.
The lawsuit against Sheriff Wendell Hall, filed in the federal court in Pensacola on behalf of three inmates, claims that the policy put in place on July 26 violates the inmates’ free-speech and privacy rights and restricts their ability to communicate with their friends and family. In a federal lawsuit in 2008, the ACLU was successful in […]
The Fair Housing Center of the Greater Palm Beaches has filed a federal lawsuit against the Boca Teeca Condominium No. 9 Association. The suit, filed on Monday, accuses the condo complex of violating the federal Fair Housing Act of 1968. The Palm Beach County Office of Equal Opportunity investigated a complaint from real estate agent Margo […]
They called it the “The Texas Jail.” A ramshackle cluster of cells purchased from the Lone Star State, shipped to Key West on a barge and placed by crane on the second floor of the Monroe County Jail. Randall Berg was executive director of the new Florida Justice Institute when he first took an interest […]
