COVID-19 in Jails and Prisons: Civil Rights Litigation in Response to the Crisis

This program, presented by Andrea Woods, Staff Attorney with the ACLU Criminal Law Reform Project, will provide an overview of civil rights litigation in response to the COVID-19 disaster in our nation’s jails and prisons. The course will provide an overview of both the public health and constitutional theories raised by this litigation, review of some of the cases and decisions entered to date, and discuss possible steps for the future of the work.

This program will benefit civil rights litigators, criminal defense practitioners, and law clerks.

1. Review the public health guidance around social distancing to prevent transmission of COVID-19 and the unique challenges posed by carceral settings 
2. Identify the constitutional and federal statutory claims that incarcerated people or organizations that work on their behalf can raise in response to the threat of COVID-19
3. Discuss the state of litigation in this area to date, and outcomes in key cases
4. Consider the best applications of this work, and how this litigation may evolve as the pandemic progresses