DESCRIPTION
Approved for 1 General CLE credit through the Alabama State Bar.
Prison and detention litigation often involves matters of life and death, public policy, and major local, state, and federal expenditures. It is far too common that critical evidence and rulings about such matters are kept from public disclosure via protective orders and orders to seal. In this workshop, facilitators will discuss the scope and predominance of non-public filings in prison litigation; explore the reasons why practitioners often acquiesce to secrecy; offer insight into how such information, if made public, can be useful to movements and the media; and share practical guidance to litigators seeking to maximize transparency. The workshop will highlight recent efforts to unseal court records in a prison conditions case against the federal Bureau of Prisons as a case study (California Coalition for Women Prisoners v. BOP). Written materials will include sample briefs and a model protective order. Finally, workshop participants will practice crafting sample protective order provisions aimed at maximizing access to matters of public interest while fervently protecting litigants' sensitive personal information.
CLE Materials Attached:
- Motion to Intervene in a case California Coalition for Women Prisoners, et al v. Bureau of Prisons, et al (Doc. 316)
- Motion to Unseal court records in the same case (Doc. 317)
- Declaration of correctional expert ISO motion to unseal in same case (Doc. 328)
- Hernandez v. Cnty. of Monterey, No. 13-CV-02354-BLF, 2023 WL 4688522 (N.D. Cal. July 21, 2023) (denying request to seal in their entirety neutral monitor reports in jail conditions case)
- Hernandez v. Cnty. of Monterey, No. 13-CV-02354-BLF, 2023 WL 5418753 (N.D. Cal. Aug. 21, 2023) (granting a motion to intervene by community newspaper, a nonprofit, and family of people who died at the jail for the limited purpose of moving to unseal court records)
- Braggs v. Dunn, No. 14-cv-601, 382 F.Supp.3d 1267 (M.D. Ala. Jan. 2, 2019) (holding those reports showing correctional understaffing in Alabama prisons should be publicly accessible following a five-month period under seal)
- Privacy Act Order and Protective Order in Ortiz, et al v. Orange County, New York, et al
- A model protective order – not specific to prison conditions
SPEAKERS
Jackie Aranda Osorno (she/her) is the Zitrin Anti-Court Secrecy Senior Attorney at Public Justice, where she focuses on increasing public access to court records and proceedings. Jackie has represented advocacy organizations, reporters, and community members in efforts to intervene in litigation to unseal court records or lift confidentiality restrictions. Before joining Public Justice, Jackie litigated class actions challenging unconstitutional conditions in Alabama's prisons and various county jails in California, including Braggs et al. v. Dunn et al., and Murray v. County of Santa Barbara.
CJ Sandley (they/them) is based in Birmingham, Alabama. As a Senior Staff Attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights, and previously at the Southern Poverty Law Center, CJ focuses primarily on prison and detention litigation, including Braggs et al. v. Dunn et al. (mental health care and disability accommodations in Alabama prisons); Ashker v. Governor of California (indefinite solitary confinement in California prisons); Barrientos v. CoreCivic (forced labor at Stewart Detention Center); and Stanley v. Ivey (slavery and involuntary servitude in Alabama prisons). CJ has also litigated dozens of habeas corpus petitions on behalf of detained immigrants.
Beth Shelbourne (she/her) is journalist and writer with more than 25 years of experience. She’s done extensive reporting on Alabama’s prison system with work appearing in The Daily Beast, The Los Angeles Times, The Bitter Southerner and The Appeal. She publishes a newsletter on Substack called Moth to Flame that includes my reporting and essays written at the intersection of justice, injustice and life in Alabama.
DETAILS
DATE/TIME:
Sunday November 3, 2024 3:30pm - 4:30pm CST
LOCATION:
Virtual