Law Commons^™

Powerless Beings: Solitary Confinement Of Humans And Nonhumans In America, Michael B. Mushlin, David N. Cassuto

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Every day, thousands of humans and millions of nonhumans endure solitary confinement. Human prisoners held this way are confined for twenty-two to twenty-four hours a day for weeks, months, or even years on end in cells the size of a parking space. For these humans, the experience is tortuous. Captive animals held in solitary confinement similarly spend much of their lives locked into tiny spaces, isolated, and deprived of the types of interactions and environment essential to their wellbeing. And, like humans, they are driven mad. In human and nonhuman settings, the agony of solitary is chillingly alike and harmful. …

Human Rights In Hospitals: An End To Routine Shackling, Neil Singh Bedi, Nisha Mathur, Judy D. Wang, Avital Rech, Nancy Gaden, George J. Annas, Sondra S. Crosby

Faculty Scholarship

Medical students (NSB, NM, JDW) spearheaded revision of the policy and clinical practice for shackling incarcerated patients at Boston Medical Center (BMC), the largest safety net hospital in New England. In American hospitals, routine shackling of incarcerated patients with metal restraints is widespread—except for perinatal patients—regardless of consciousness, mobility, illness severity, or age. The modified policy includes individualized assessments and allows incarcerated patients to be unshackled if they meet defined criteria. The students also formed the Stop Shackling Patients Coalition (SSP Coalition) of clinicians, public health practitioners, human rights advocates, and community members determined to humanize the inpatient treatment of …

Conditions Of Confinement In Nova Scotia Jails Designated For Men: East Coast Prison Justice Society Visiting Committee Annual Report 2021-2022, Sheila Wildeman, Harry Critchley, Hanna Garson, Laura Beach, Margaret-Anne Mchugh

Reports & Public Policy Documents

This is the second Annual Report of the East Coast Prison Justice Society (“ECPJS”) Visiting Committee (“VC”).

The purpose of the ECPJS VC is to bring increased accountability and transparency to the Nova Scotia correctional system in light of human rights standards, domestic and international. While the Elizabeth Fry Society of Mainland Nova Scotia provides human rights monitoring of conditions of incarceration experienced by women and non-binary people in federal prisons and provincial jails in the Atlantic region, and the federal Office of Correctional Investigator provides further oversight of conditions in federal prisons, there is no comparable independent oversight of …

Law School News: Should Prison Be Abolished? 10-6-2022, Michael M. Bowden

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Law School News: 'Injustice Dehumanizes Everyone It Touches' 1-31-2020, Michael M. Bowden

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

The 15th Annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration Keynote Address 1-28-2020, Roger Williams University School Of Law, Michael M. Bowden, Andrea Hansen

School of Law Conferences, Lectures & Events

No abstract provided.

Linked Fate: Justice And The Criminal Legal System During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Susan P. Sturm, Faiz Pirani, Hyun Kim, Natalie Behr, Zachary D. Hardwick

Faculty Scholarship

The concept of “linked fate” has taken on new meaning in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. People all over the world – from every walk of life, spanning class, race, gender, and nationality – face a potentially deadly threat requiring cooperation and sacrifice. The plight of the most vulnerable among us affects the capacity of the larger community to cope with, recover, and learn from COVID-19’s devastating impact. COVID-19 makes visible and urgent the need to embrace our linked fate, “develop a sense of commonality and shared circumstances,” and unstick dysfunctional and inequitable political and legal systems.

Nowhere is …

Covid-19 And Prisoners’ Rights, Gregory Bernstein, Stephanie Guzman, Maggie Hadley, Rosalyn M. Huff, Alison Hung, Anita N.H. Yandle, Alexis Hoag, Bernard E. Harcourt

Faculty Scholarship

As COVID-19 continues to spread rapidly across the country, the crowded and unsanitary conditions in prisons, jails, juvenile detention, and immigration detention centers leave incarcerated individuals especially vulnerable. This chapter will discuss potential avenues for detained persons and their lawyers seeking to use the legal system to obtain relief, including potential release, during this extraordinary, unprecedented crisis.

Queer Lockdown: Coming To Terms With The Ongoing Criminalization Of Lgbtq Communities, Ann Cammett

Scholarly Works

The criminal justice system exacts a toll on some Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) communities. The experience of living in poverty and the concomitant exposure to a variety of governmental systems puts all poor, but especially LGBTQ low-income people of color, at risk of incarceration. What typically goes unexamined are the myriad ways that LGBTQ people are drawn into and experience the carceral system because of sexual identities and expression. This negative effect surfaces at every conceivable level: the marginalization and subsequent criminalization of queer youth; anti-gay bias in the judicial system; the rerouting of domestic violence cases …

Reforming, Reclaiming Or Reframing Womanhood: Reflections On Advocacy For Women In Custody, Brenda V. Smith

Project on Addressing Prison Rape - Articles

Brenda V. Smith was asked to present one of the keynote addresses for the symposium, Behind Bars: The Impact of Incarceration on Women and Their Families, sponsored by the Women's Rights Law Reporter at Rutgers University School of Law in Newark. She then wrote the introductory essay for the publication which arose from that symposium. This essay addresses why it is imperative to reclaim the discourse about women in prison and discusses how the other papers that appear in this issue aid in that project.

Bringing Families In: Recommendations Of The Incarceration, Reentry And Family Roundtables, Ann Cammett, Johnna Christian, Nancy Fisherman, Lori Scott-Pickens

Scholarly Works

Building on the findings of the New Jersey Reentry Roundtable and a growing concern around the state about how to improve outcomes for the more than 70,000 individuals expected to return home from prison over the next five years, the roundtable examined the complex role that families – broadly defined – play in the lives of prisoners during incarceration and after their release. This document presents a set of recommendations emerging directly from roundtable sessions and provides a road map for individual and collaborative efforts accepted by a range of key players in New Jersey, including government officials, community and …

Making Work Pay: Promoting Employment And Better Child Support Outcomes For Low-Income And Incarcerated Parents, Ann Cammett

Scholarly Works

The New Jersey Institute for Social Justice prepared this report in response to concerns about child support debt—in particular as it creates a barrier to employment for low-income parents and works at cross-purposes with the goals of the child support program. Drawing on examples from other states, this report identifies a range of policies that inform child support practice in New Jersey and offers administrative, legislative, and programmatic solutions to address child support arrears owed by low-income and incarcerated parents.