Updates on Civil Rights Litigation in Response to the COVID-19 Crisis in Jails and Prison

This program, presented by Andrea Woods and Brandon Buskey from the ACLU, will review recent civil rights litigation in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in our nation’s jails and prisons. The program will discuss the public health and constitutional theories raised by this litigation, review the major cases and decisions 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 preventing transmission of COVID-19, and the unique challenges carceral settings pose
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 future iterations of the work as the disease progresses