Thirty-seven current prosecutors and 12 current and retired police chiefs and sheriffs filed an amicus curiae brief Thursday in support medically vulnerable plaintiffs seeking immediate release or transfer from Elkton Federal Correctional Institution (FCI-Elkton) in Ohio. Plaintiffs filed a class action lawsuit last month after at least nine individuals in custody died of COVID-19, and [...]

Judge Cathy Bissoon of the US District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania entered a consent order Wednesday declaring that the Allegheny County jail must put medically vulnerable people within their own cells and keep newly admitted inmates within isolation for two weeks, consistent with Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) orders. Additionally, the [...]

A group of US senators wrote to the US Secretary of Defense Wednesday expressing concern about the potential for a “significant outbreak” of COVID-19 at the Pentagon prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The letter seeks to determine how the military is safeguarding the 40 prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay and the American forces responsible for [...]

Members of the UN Working Group on Discrimination against Women and Girls said Wednesday that certain US states are exploiting the COVID–19 pandemic to restrict abortion rights. The Working Group accused Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama, Iowa, Ohio, Arkansas, Louisiana and Tennessee of committing human rights violations by infringing on reproductive rights and endangering women’s health. “We [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit on Tuesday blocked a lower court’s order that Ohio’s election officials must accept electronically-signed and witnessed petitions. Three individuals and two organizations, who are obtaining signatures in support of initiatives to amend the Ohio Constitution and propose municipal ordinances, allege that COVID-19 and the state’s stay-at-home [...]