Calling the behavior of a Davie condominium association “absurd” and “unreasonable,” a federal judge has ordered a Davie condominium to allow a disabled resident to keep her service dog. The two-year dispute will carry a hefty price tag for the Sabal Palm Condominiums: $300,000. Deborah Fischer, a retired Bro-ward art teacher who was diagnosed with […]
FJI, on behalf of HOPE Fair Housing Center, Files Race Discrimination Housing Lawsuit
Lawyers from the Florida Justice Institute (FJI) have filed a federal lawsuit alleging housing discrimination on the basis of race against a Miami apartment complex. Housing Opportunities Project for Excellence (HOPE), a local fair housing center, sent testers to ask about the availability of apartments. The Black testers were told that no apartments were available, […]
Housing Discrimination Lawsuit Filed
It was like a sting operation: send both black and white people into an apartment building posing as renters; then see if they’re treated differently because of the color of their skin. It resulted in a discrimination lawsuit being filed in federal court. “Discrimination, completely,” said Zipporah Hayes, one of the housing testers who went […]
Using Jailed Migrants as a Pool of Cheap Labor
HOUSTON — The kitchen of the detention center here was bustling as a dozen immigrants boiled beans and grilled hot dogs, preparing lunch for about 900 other detainees. Elsewhere, guards stood sentry and managers took head counts, but the detainees were doing most of the work — mopping bathroom stalls, folding linens, stocking commissary shelves. […]
Fred Grimm: Brutality against mentally ill inmates has become the norm
Dying became Darren Rainey’s revenge. Dying in a scalding prison shower was the perfect act of defiance against his torturers and the institution that abided their cruelties. After all, he wasn’t supposed to die. He was only supposed to suffer the excruciating punishment that guards at Dade Correctional Institution enjoy inflicting on mentally disturbed inmates. […]
Housing group charges racial discrimination at Miami apartment complex
When Zipporah Hayes arrived at Elite River View Apartments to ask about a two-bedroom apartment for rent, the rental manager told her there were no units available, according to a federal lawsuit filed against the apartment complex owner. Two hours later, Alexandra Del Rosario visited the same complex and asked about an apartment. The rental […]
End Mass Incarceration Now
By The Editorial Board For more than a decade, researchers across multiple disciplines have been issuing reports on the widespread societal and economic damage caused by America’s now-40-year experiment in locking up vast numbers of its citizens. If there is any remaining disagreement about the destructiveness of this experiment, it mirrors the so-called debate over […]
Behind bars, a brutal and unexplained death
The purported details of Darren Rainey’s last hour are difficult to read. “I can’t take it no more, I’m sorry. I won’t do it again,’’ he screamed over and over, according to a grievance complaint from a fellow inmate, as Rainey was allegedly locked in a shower with the scalding water turned on full blast. […]
Lawyers for the poor seek hike in bar dues
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Joined by a former state Supreme Court justice, attorneys for the poor are trying to raise annual Florida Bar dues by up to $100 to address what they call a fiscal crisis. The attempt to hike the annual dues, which have not increased since 2001, from the current $265 has sparked an […]
ACLU, Flagler sheriff reach agreement on postcard-only policy at jail
PALM COAST — An old policy of restricting mail sent and received by Flagler County jail inmates officially ended Thursday with an agreement reached between the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office and the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida. The ACLU, along with the Florida Justice Institute, filed a class-action lawsuit in early 2013 against Flagler […]
FJI and ACLU File First Amendment Lawsuit Against Flagler County Jail Over Postcard Poliy
When the Flagler County Jail adopted a policy that required all correspondence sent to inmates to be on postcards—no letters, books, magazines, etc.—FJI, co-counseling with the ACLU of Florida, filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of all persons who have friends or family in the jail and would like to write to them, alleging […]
Florida inmates can’t stomach cold kosher meals
TALLAHASSEE — Peanut butter, sardines and cabbage may be healthy options for some scrupulous dieters. But Florida prison inmates whose kosher meals are comprised primarily of those three staples served cold seven days a week say the chow isn’t just nutritionally inadequate, it’s plain gross. They contend that the peanut butter, sardines and cabbage served […]
ACLU to Defend Partially Paralyzed Prisoner in Prison Abuse Case
A partially paralyzed man is receiving legal help from the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida in an alleged abuse lawsuit against the Santa Rosa Correctional Institution. Richard Allen Jackson, 56, is suing the prison for being denied the use of a wheelchair in his prison cell. Jackson, who cannot walk because of partial paralysis […]
FJI Assists ACLU Attorneys in Defending Historic Pottinger Agreement to Protect Homeless Individuals
The Pottinger Agreement is a consent decree entered in 1998 between the City of Miami and ACLU attorneys after a decade of hard-fought litigation and intense negotiations. The Agreement prevents City of Miami police officers from arresting homeless individuals for committing certain life-sustaining conduct misdemeanors in public if there is no available shelter bed to […]
Petition seeks Bar fees to fund legal aid
A group of Florida lawyers is preparing a petition to the Supreme Court seeking authority to have Bar annual membership fees raised up to $100, with the extra funds earmarked for financially strapped legal aid programs. Bar President Eugene Pettis reported on the effort at the Board of Governors January 31 meeting and said he […]
Fed. jury awards jailed woman’s estate $975,000
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — A federal jury has awarded $975,000 to the estate of a woman who died in a Pinellas County Jail cell. The jury made its decision on Friday in the case of Jennifer DeGraw, 50, who was taken into custody after her husband called the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office because she was […]
Lawsuits against Volusia jail’s private medical provider among thousands nationwide
On his third day in the Volusia County Branch Jail, the pain in Doug Knichel’s foot was torturing him. He wound up in a wheelchair in the medical clinic. “They said it was gout,” he would say later. “I had no idea. I’m not a doctor, so I don’t know.” It wasn’t gout, and Knichel’s […]
Rep. Castor: Make it quicker for felons to regain voting rights
TAMPA — U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor wants Gov. Rick Scott to make it easier for felons to have their voting rights restored after they have paid their to debt to society. The Democratic congresswoman spoke Monday about the issue, which promises to be a focal point of the 2014 governor’s race that’s pitting Scott, a […]