News/ Press

LAWSUIT FILED AGAINST ANGOLA PRISON AND LOUISIANA DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY AND CORRECTIONS OVER UNCONSTITUTIONAL AND DEFICIENT MEDICAL CARE

NEW ORLEANS – Prisoners at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola (Angola) filed a

lawsuit today alleging that they needlessly suffer from chronic pain, permanent injury, and

preventable sickness and death as a result of prison officials’ failure to provide constitutionally

adequate medical care.

The Promise of Justice Initiative (PJI), the law firm Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC

(Cohen Milstein), the Advocacy Center (AC), and the American Civil Liberties Union

Foundation of Louisiana (ACLU-La) filed a complaint against the Louisiana Department of

Public Safety and Corrections (DOC) and Angola’s wardens alleging violations of the Cruel and

Unusual Punishment clause of the Eighth Amendment and federal disability statutes. The

complaint, titled Lewis et al. v. Cain et al., was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle

District of Louisiana. In challenging the inadequate medical care, the complaint alleges that the

prison’s more than 6,000 prisoners are all at risk of serious harm, while scores of men have already experienced unnecessary injury, suffering and death.

Attachments:
2015.05.20 PJI Press Release

PJI to Participate in GiveNOLA Day!

The Promise of Justice Initiative is participating in GiveNOLA Day- the community's online giving event hosted by the Greater New Orleans Foundation- on May 5th. Click HERE or on the banner below on May 5th to donate to our GiveNOLA campaign!

PJI's "Justice League" Team Runs the Crescent City Classic to Raise Money for Clients and Families

For the third year in a row, staff, friends, and family members at The Justice Center and The Promise of Justice Initiative ran to support The Client and Family Assistance Project connecting families with loved ones in prison. The twelve person team raised $4,616.00. Thank you to all of our runners and those who donated. Your support works directly to reduce the harmful effects of incarceration on the families and communities left behind by Louisiana's high incarceration rate.

PJI in the Community: Eiffel Society Pay It Forward Event

The Eiffel Society hosted a Pay It Forward Event, which contributed 20% of sales to The Promise of Justice Initiative's Client and Family Assistance Project.

PJI Files Amicus Brief in Glossip v. Gross

The Promise of Justice Initiative filed an amicus brief in Glossip v. Gross on the broad national consensus against the use of midazolam in lethal injection. There is a broad national consensus against the use of midazolam as part of a state’s execution protocol. Only four states have experimented with the use of midazolam. The experiment has resulted in a number of botched executions. The vast majority of jurisdictions have either abolished the death penalty legislatively, suspended its use by moratorium, or in practice stopped making the determination who should live and who should die. The PJI brief asks the court to take note of this broad consensus, and to ensure that capital punishment, where it is still administered, is done so in a manner that reflects on the dignity both of the state imposing capital punishment and the condemned defendant.

Attachments:
PJI Amicus Brief: Glossip v. Gross

Promise of Justice Initiative