Representing a Louisiana public defender, the SPLC and the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana today filed suit against the City of New Orleans over its refusal to provide a map of the city’s 400 real-time surveillance cameras. Though the cameras themselves are publicly visible, the City of New Orleans has refused to comply with a public records request for a map of their locations.
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey announced today that her administration will seek bids for building three regional prisons for men, at an estimated cost of nearly $1 billion – part of a larger effort to address the state’s dangerous and overcrowded prison system.
In another stunning rebuke of Alabama’s prison system, a federal judge ruled today that the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) violated the Eighth Amendment and that it was “deliberately indifferent” in its failure to adequately monitor the mental health of incarcerated people in solitary confinement.
Following another suicide of a person under the care of the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) this week, victims’ families, their attorney, and representatives from the SPLC met on the steps of the Alabama State Capitol today, urging state officials to address the need for comprehensive criminal justice reform.
The bipartisan passage of the First Step Act across both chambers of Congress today is an important first part of nationwide, comprehensive criminal justice reform.
The Florida Department of Juvenile Justice released new data this week that shows a 20 percent drop from the previous year in the number of juveniles who have been transferred to adult court.
Florida State Sen. Perry Thurston filed a bill this week that seeks to establish a more diverse judiciary in the state by reforming its judicial nomination process.
The state of Louisiana and its law enforcement agencies have failed to comply with Louisiana law requiring data collection and publication on traffic stops, according to a report that the SPLC released today.
If Louisiana were a country, it would have the second-highest incarceration rate in the world, behind only Oklahoma.1
Marijuana prohibition costs the state and its municipalities an estimated $22 million a year, creates a dangerous backlog at the agency that tests forensic evidence in violent crimes, and needlessly ensnares thousands of people – disproportionately African Americans – in the criminal justice system.
