Articles

Inmates seek prison release due to COVID-19

Almost immediately after the coronavirus reached the United States, criminal justice advocates sounded the alarm on behalf of the incarcerated. Inmates in county jails, state prisons and federal penitentiaries are at a higher risk of contracting the virus, advocates say, simply because of the nature of their living conditions. The result of release efforts has been a mixed bag.

Read More

ACLU seeks info on COVID-19 risk in jails and prisons

Highlighting new epidemiological models that show as many as 200,000 inmates could die from COVID-19, the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana has joined the ACLU National, the ACLU Foundation and more than 30 affiliates in filing public records requests to get information about coronavirus outbreaks in prisons and jails.

Read More

ACLU sues to block new Indiana panhandling law

A new Indiana law that effectively bans panhandling in downtown areas effective July 1 is being challenged in a federal lawsuit filed Thursday by the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana, which claims that in addition to panhandlers, it and other organizations whose members personally collect donations would be broadly banned from doing so under the new law.

Read More

High court closes courthouse door on slain Mexican teen’s family

The Supreme Court  of the United States ruled 5-4 Tuesday to close the courthouse door on the parents of a Mexican teenager who was shot dead over the border by an American agent. The case tested a half-century-old Supreme Court decision that allows people to sue federal officials for constitutional violations.

Read More

Indiana bus driver sues school district in free speech suit

A central Indiana school bus driver is suing the district that employs him, alleging his First Amendment rights were violated when he was suspended after speaking out against proposed changes that would have forced some children to travel further to attend school. The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana filed the federal lawsuit last month on behalf of Madison-Grant United School Corp. bus driver James “Randy” Sizelove.

Read More