Atlanta Prison Litigation Attorneys
Strong Advocates for Prisoner Rights in Georgia. Nationwide Legal Representation.
Have you or a loved one experienced mistreatment while in prison or jail? Whether you have been convicted of a crime or not, as a person living in the United States, you are afforded certain civil rights. If you seek to take action with a prison litigation lawsuit, our experienced attorneys can help you build a strong and strategic defense.
At HDR Law, our primary goal as prison litigation lawyers is to ensure that the dignity and self-worth of human beings are upheld and strengthened in both a legal and social context. We take on righteous causes because we are passionate about social justice and our constitutional rights as American citizens and residents of the United States.
If you or a loved one has been victimized by unjust actions or inactions while incarcerated, contact our experienced prison litigation attorneys for a consultationnow.
U.S. Prison Rights
Note that all detainees in the United States, both federal and state prisons, as well as local jails, have the following rights:
- Freedom from sexual harassment and other sexual crimes
- Adequate medical care, including mental health services
- Freedom from racial segregation (unless it is deemed necessary to maintain security)
- Freedom from intentional deprivation of personal property
Prisoners are entitled to First Amendment protections, including:
- The right to practice one's religion
- The right to voice concerns over prison conditions
- The right to access the courts to air complaints
- As well as other aspects of free speech
Types of Prison Litigation Cases We Handle
If you feel any of your rights as a prisoner or detainee have been compromised, you may wish to bring forward a lawsuit.
Major prison litigation cases may include lawsuits in the following categories:
- County jail conditions
- Disability rights
- General conditions
- Immigration detention
- Juvenile facilities
- Lifer parole rights
- Medical and mental health care
- Overcrowding
- Parolee rights
- Use of force
Our attorneys at HDR Law have handled numerous prison litigation cases, both settled and ongoing, and we cannot emphasize enough how passionate we are about fighting for our clients’ rights to justice and fair treatment.
Deliberate Indifference to Adequate Medical Care
Prisoners are people, and they should be treated like human beings. However, we’ve seen that it is unfortunately common for both inmates and detainees to be denied medication. When an incarcerated person is detained while affected with a diagnosed medical condition such as diabetes or seizures, jail medical staff typically fail to provide adequate medical care to treat these illnesses, even when they know of the medical afflictions.
By law, this is called deliberate indifference to a known medical need, and it is unconstitutional.
Inmates and Detainees Have Medical Rights
Incarcerated individuals are protected under the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, as well as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, one of the few human rights treaties that our country has both signed and ratified. We litigate for incarcerated men and women and pre-trial detainees alike under the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Deliberate indifference claims can be complex, and they often require an experienced attorney who is familiar with the underlying state law claims of negligence and medical malpractice. Our team at HDR Law will assess your case from multiple angles and build a strong defense of deliberate indifference.
Prisoner-on-Prisoner Violence and Excessive Force Inside Prisons
Prisoner-on-prisoner violence typically involves a claim of deliberate indifference to a serious and known risk of harm to the inmate. Examples of such situations include permitting a known gang member to cause harm to a rival gang member or housing a transgender inmate in an area known to house rapists. Situations like these may be actionable claims, such as a failure to intervene claim on top of an excessive force claim.
When dealing with any kind of prison litigation, you must have a seasoned attorney who has handled cases like these before. Cases we have handled include Paykina v. Lewin, et al., where we have and are continuing to fight to end the solitary confinement of juveniles who suffer from serious mental illness.
Deliberate Indifference Cases
In another case, Riggleman v. Clarke, et al., we fight the inhumane practice of deliberate indifference to prisoners with untreated chronic Hepatitis C. The policy has changed since HDR Law got involved, and the case is ongoing.
Prison litigation claims are routinely complex and require extensive knowledge of constitutional law. Our clients can expect a passionate and genuine social justice experience with our firm, as we will fight passionately and aggressively for your human rights in and out of prison.
Learn more about your legal options. Contact our team at HDR Law for a confidential consultation. Submit an online formor call us at (404) 341-4434.