(July 16, 2021) The Prison Law Office and our co-counsel ACLU National Prison Project, ACLU of Arizona, and Arizona Center for Disability Law are working to enforce the rights of people in Arizona state prisons in the federal class action lawsuit Parsons v. Shinn. On July 16, 2021, the Court reopened the case and ordered a trial, to start no later than November 1, 2021. The Court’s order found that “Defendants have in the past six years proffered erroneous and unreliable excuses for non-performance, asserted baseless legal arguments, and in essence resisted complying with the obligations they contractually knowingly and voluntarily assumed.”

(Oct. 1, 2020) – On behalf of the thousands of people incarcerated in Contra Costa County Jail now and in the future, the Prison Law Office reached a settlement with Contra Costa County in a class action lawsuit that seeks to end the dangerous and unconstitutional conditions at the jail.

The Prison Law Office is deeply saddened to announce that our co-founder, and first Director, Michael Satris died on July 29, 2020, at the age of 70. Mike and Paul Comiskey founded the Prison Law Office in 1976 after their graduation from UC Davis Law School.  Mike was a tireless advocate for his clients, and without him the office would not exist and many people would still be in prison today.  The San Francisco Chronicle published a tribute to his work on August 21, 2020.

On behalf of the hundreds of people incarcerated in Santa Barbara County Jail, on July 17, 2020, Disability Rights California, Prison Law Office, and King & Spalding LLP reached a groundbreaking settlement with Santa Barbara County and the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Office in a class action lawsuit that seeks to address the dangerous and unconstitutional conditions at the jail.

On July 14, 2020, two judges issued orders in the cases brought by the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Southern California, the Prison Law Office, and the law firm Bird Marella  on behalf of people incarcerated in the Federal Correctional Institutions in Lompoc (Santa Barbara County) and on Terminal Island (Los Angeles County).

In Torres v. Milusnic, a case brought on behalf of people at FCI-Lompoc, District Judge Consuelo Marshall ordered the Federal Bureau of Prisons to develop a process to identify all people held in the prison who are over the age of 50, or who have certain underlying medical conditions that put them at higher risk of complications from COVID-19.  Judge Marshall directed BOP to notify these incarcerated people by July 22, 2020 that they are being considered for release to home confinement or compassionate release, and to provide the court with the criteria for early release by that date, and that BOP complete the evaluation of the vulnerable people by July 28.

In Wilson v. Ponce, a case brought on behalf of people in FCI-Terminal Island, District Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald denied Plaintiffs’ request that he order BOP for a process for immediate evaluation of the incarcerated people for home confinement or compassionate release on the basis that the Prison Litigation Reform Act (“PLRA”) barred such an order.  However, before ruling on the conditions at the prison, he ordered independent medical expert Dr. Michael Rowe conduct an independent site visit of the prison no later than August 3, 2020.