Incarceration and the Law

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Covid-19

Prisoners' Rights Webinars

Novel Coronavirus
Videophone visitation, Penn. state prisoners
Parking lot protest, Stateville Prison
Michigan prison medical staff during coronavirus pandemic (2020)
Driveby Protest, Stateville Prison
Donated Sanitation Supplies, Stateville Prison
Prisoner-produced facemasks, Penn. DOC

March 24, 2021, 1–2:30 pm (Eastern)

90 minutes, with CLE-credit.

Logistics of Litigation during COVID-19 and Beyond

For lawyers/advocates representing prisoners, only. Registration required (here). (The sponsors will review your information and send you a confirmation email with information about joining the meeting .)

The webinar will address a range of topics relating to what we have learned from litigating during COVID-19, as well as a discussion of what comes next. Topics include:

  • Logistics of remote deposition and court proceedings
  • How to effectively advocate for prisoners who are on quarantine/lock-down or subject to COVID restrictions
  • Ensuring equitable accessibility for hard of hearing, deaf, and vision impaired clients and witnesses
  • Oral advocacy techniques for remote proceedings
  • Ethical considerations stemming from remote litigation
  • Silver linings – what, if anything, should stay remote?

We strongly encourage audience participation! Certified deaf interpreters will also be present. 

Presenters (full bios in posted materials)

  • Amy Breihan – Director of the St. Louis office, MacArthur Justice Center

  • Michael Freedman – Senior Legal Counsel at Rosen, Bien, Galvan & Grunfield LLP

  • Charles Johnson – Plaintiff in a wrongful conviction damages action, Johnson v. City of Chicago et al. (N.D. Ill.), and client of the MacArthur Justice Center

  • June Prusak – Coordinator, Deaf/ Hard of Hearing Access, Office of Accessibility & Education Outreach, Circuit Court of Cook County

  • Amy Wohlmuth – Supervisor, Deaf/Hard of Hearing Access, Office of Accessibility & Education Outreach / Office of the Chief Judge, Circuit Court of Cook County 

90 minute CLE credit available. (It will be from Illinois, with reciprocity in most or all other states.)

Key documents

  • Handout: Presenter bios, and materials on remote accessibility for people with disabilities

January 7, 2021, 4:45 pm (Eastern)

  • 60 minutes, with CLE-credit.

COVID-related ventilation: engineering and litigation issues

Video recording (Note: it starts in the middle of introductions. Sorry.)

For lawyers/advocates representing prisoners, only. Registration required (here). (The sponsors will review your information and send you a link and password to attend.)

hosting this free webinar–with CLE credit via Northwestern–on the vital issue of COVID-19 ventilation. Engineers Sachin Anand and Brent Stephens will walk attendees through the basics of building ventilation and virus spread, recommendations for reducing risk of this spread in prisons and jails, and how to uncover this vital information during discovery. 

Presenters 

  • Sachin Anand founded dbHMS as a Chicago-based engineering design firm focused on the design of cutting-edge projects in the built environment.  His work includes new and renovation projects along with studies to resolve issues in buildings. Educated as a mechanical engineer in his native India, he earned a graduate degree in mechanical engineering from Oklahoma State University.  A sought-after speaker on innovative building system solutions, he collaborates with industry partners to develop ideas which allow projects to achieve high levels of sustainability, occupant comfort and air quality within the confines of practical budgets. These include a net-zero research building for NASA, super tall high rises, and Illinois’ first LEED Platinum high school.  Currently, Sachin serves as the Sustainability Lead for Chicago’s new O’Hare Global Terminal. 
            Sachin regularly presents at conferences like Green Build, the AIA National Convention, ASHRAE, and SIM Build among others.  The Illinois Green Alliance recognized Sachin with their highest individual award, the Emerald Award for Individual Leadership, and Consulting Specifying Engineer inducted him into their 40 under 40.  

  • Dr. Brent Stephens is a Professor and Department Chair in the Department of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering (CAEE) at Illinois Institute of Technology. He is an expert in indoor air quality (IAQ) and building science, with over 10 years of experience performing energy and IAQ field assessments and developing and applying models for energy use and costs, IAQ, infectious disease transmission, and human health. His work is grounded in practical applications and continues to influence professional practice, standards, and guidelines. Dr. Stephens directs the Built Environment Research Group (BERG) at IIT (www.built-envi.com), which includes undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdoctoral researchers conducting research on energy efficiency and IAQ in buildings.  
            He recently served as the lead technical editor to update the U.S. EPA’s Guide to Air Cleaners in the Home technical summary documents. His work modeling the transmission of COVID-19 aboard the Diamond Princess Cruise Ship was featured in an article in the New York Times in July 2020, and his work has been mentioned in popular and scientific media including The New York Times, Le Monde, Chicago Tribune, The Atlantic, Wired, Today, Fast Company, Popular Mechanics, Telegraph, Daily Mail, Fox News, Discovery News, Discover Magazine, Consumer’s Digest, IEEE Spectrum, Nature, Environmental Health Perspectives, CBS Chicago, NBC Chicago, and IIT Magazine.

  • Andrea Woods, ACLU Staff Attorney 

1 hour CLE credit application pending. (It will be from Illinois, with reciprocity in most or all other states.)

Key documents

October 23, 2020, 4:30 pm (Eastern)

  • 90 minutes for the CLE-credit part, with additional 30 minutes discussion at the end.

Making Black Lives Matter Behind Bars

For lawyers/advocates representing prisoners, only. Registration required (here). (The sponsors will review your information and send you a link and password to attend.)

This webinar will cover strategies for incorporating principles of anti-racism and redressing the racism and racial disparities within the prison system through prisoner’s rights litigation, policy change, and other advocacy strategies. Panelists will reflect on what the current racial justice uprisings mean for prisoners’ rights advocates and propose advocacy strategies for confronting racism behind bars.

Topics to include: 

  • How do prisoner’s rights advocates relate to the current demands for racial justice related to policing? Connections between policing and prison advocacy; COVID-19 and the public health crisis; Economic crisis 

  • What does it mean to incorporate principles of anti-racism into legal work? Intersectional theory and practice; Client centered lawyering behind bars; Using data to tell the truth about race behind bars

  • Legal/Policy Strategies: State law strategies; Administrative complaints; Narrative/Story telling in legal pleadings; Centering De-incarceration

Presenters 

1.5 hours CLE credit application pending. (It will be from Illinois, with reciprocity in most or all other states.)

Key documents

June 5, 2020, 2 pm (Eastern)

  • 90 minutes for the CLE-credit part, with additional 30 minutes discussion at the end.

Habeas Relief in COVID-19 Cases

For lawyers representing prisoners, only. Registration required (here). (The sponsors will review your information and send you a link and password to attend.)

This panel will explain the developing law on the intersection of injunctive and habeas relief in covid-19 cases, and help lawyers sort out the strategic opportunities and pitfalls. Topics to include: 

  • Should you seek both habeas and injunctive relief, or just one or the other?
  • How does habeas exhaustion work? How is it the same or different from PLRA exhaustion?
  • What turns on whether affected prisoners are pretrial or post-conviction?
  • 2241 or 2254?  
  • How to manage the potential preclusion of ordinary habeas relief. 
  • Etc.  

Presenters 

1.5 hours CLE credit application pending. (It will be from Illinois, with reciprocity in most or all other states.)

Key documents

  • Wilson v. WIlliams (FCI Elkson): Case description here; district court opinion here.
  • Money v. Jeffries (/Pritzker) (Illinois DOC): Case description here; district court opinion here.
  • Cameron v. Bouchard (Oakland County jail, MI): Case description here; district court opinion here.

Friday May 15, 2020, 12 pm Eastern

90 minutes for the CLE-credit part, with additional 30 minutes discussion at the end.

Advocacy Strategies:
Organizing, Policy and Movement Lawyering

For lawyers representing prisoners, only. To register, click here.  (The sponsors will review your information and send you a link and password to attend.)

This panel, composed of leading organizers, policy advocates, and lawyers, will explore community-based strategies to decarcerate and/or improve carceral conditions during the Covid-19 pandemic.  Panelists represent a variety of approaches, including traditional organizing (letter-writing campaigns, prayer vigils), policy advocacy (engaging departments of health, mayors, governors), and movement lawyering (bail funds, mass parole petitions, embedded community engagement). During this moderated discussion, panelists will discuss their own work as well as discuss the challenges and opportunities of working alongside prison conditions litigation. 

Presenters 

  • Bruce Reilly, Deputy Director of VOTE, New Orleans

  • Travis Andrews, Director of Equity, Columbia Legal Services, Washington State

  • Sharlyn Grace, Executive Director, Chicago Community Bond Fund

  • Sheila Bedi, Community Justice & Civil Rights Clinic, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law

  • Dena Dickerson, Executive Director, Offender Alumni Association (Alabama)

  • Moderator: Andrea Armstrong, Loyola University, New Orleans College of Law 

1.5 hours CLE credit application pending. (It will be from Illinois, with reciprocity in most or all other states.)

Key documents:

Friday May 1, 2020, 1 pm Eastern

Pending COVID-19 class actions: Legal issues, strategy, etc.

For lawyers representing prisoners, only. To register, click here.  (The sponsors will review your information and send you a link and password to attend.)

Presenters (Our presenters are each counsel in one or more pending COVID-19 cases against a jail or prison.)

1.5 hours CLE credit available. (It’s from Illinois, with reciprocity in most or all other states.)

Information about presenter’s cases; key documents.

Future Webinars

  • Wrap-up, TBA

Other Webinars/Presentations

Other Resources