In separate but parallel lawsuits, civil-rights and legal groups are challenging Florida’s use of solitary confinement in prisons and juvenile detention centers – but are facing pushback from state agencies.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, Florida Legal Services and the Florida Justice Institute this year sued the state Department of Corrections and the Department of Juvenile Justice in federal court in Tallahassee, contending the agencies’ practices on isolation are unconstitutionally cruel and unusual punishment.
But the agencies are fighting back against the allegations, with the latest salvo coming last week as the Department of Juvenile Justice filed a motion to dismiss the juvenile detention case and questioned the motives behind the lawsuit.