American Civil Liberties Union (National Prison Project)
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a non-profit, multi-issue public interest organization devoted to protecting the basic civil liberties of all people in the United States. The public interest law firm component of the ACLU works in courts, legislatures, and communities around the country to defend the freedoms guaranteed by the United States Constitution and civil rights laws.
Since 1972, the National Prison Project (NPP) of the ACLU Foundation has helped improve the living conditions of persons in United States prisons, jails, juvenile facilities, and immigration detention centers. It is the only organization in the country litigating prison conditions on a national basis. It seeks to reduce prison overcrowding, reduce reliance on incarceration as a criminal justice sanction, create constitutional and human prison conditions, and strengthen prisoner rights through litigation, public education and advocacy.
THE CASE
-
A grant was made related to Rutherford v. Baca, a case challenging severe overcrowding and other unconstitutional conditions at the Los Angeles County jail. One of the main issues in the case is the treatment of prisoners with mental illness. The case has strong potential to act as a catalyst for major policy changes in Los Angeles County and, ultimately, the nation.
CASE UPDATES SINCE GRANT YEAR
-
In the ACLU’s decades-long effort to protect the rights of inmates in Los Angeles County, dozens of leaders and staff from the LA County Jail system and Sheriff’s department were ultimately found guilty of various civil rights abuses in a court of law, as well as by the Department of Justice.
More importantly, by 2014, the ACLU had reached a landmark consent decree in a case supported by the Barbara McDowell Foundation, under which the LASD had to adopt a detailed plan to reform its use of force policies and practices in Men’s Central Jail, Twin Towers Correctional Facility and the Inmate Reception Center. LASD’s implementation of the plan is subject to monitoring by a panel of court appointed experts and federal court enforcement. In 2015 a federal court granted final approval to the settlement.
