Rights of Women Prisoners

Litigation on Behalf of Incarcerated Women

Every human being deserves basic human rights and dignity.  In 1996, Congress passed a law that made it much more difficult for incarcerated people to challenge prison conditions.  In the name of clamping down on frivolous lawsuits, the Prison Reform Litigation Act (PLRA) barred prisoners from suing prisons staff or officials unless they could show that they had suffered a physical injury. Prison officials have used this requirement to block lawsuits challenging misconduct, including sexual abuse.  

The PLRA also requires inmates to “exhaust their remedies” by filing multiple grievance documents to prison officials before filing a suit. The prisons set the rules for those grievance procedures, often making it impossible for the prisoner to complete the grievance process. 

While the landmine presented by the PLRA creates a seemingly impossible barrier for incarcerated people, “prison walls do not form a barrier separating prison inmates from the protections of the Constitution.”  Turner v. Safley, 482 U.S. 78, 84 (1987). The Eighth Amendment protects incarcerated people against cruel and unusual punishment. This Amendment prevents the government from subjecting prisoners to inhumane treatments. 

A carefully crafted complaint can overcome the hurdles presented by the PLRA. Despite challenges, prisoners have prevailed in difficult civil rights litigation.  Julia Yoo has specialized in civil rights litigation the entire duration of her career.  She has focused her practice particularly on protecting the rights of women prisoners with respect to denial of care to a serious medical need and sexual assault.  She is mindful that litigation of individual claims can also have far reaching consequences for all incarcerated people when Department of Corrections implements policy changes following a lawsuit.  The law firm also takes on cases involving the violation of men's civil rights — whether as prisoners, during the arrest process or while being investigated.

The U.S. Supreme Court expressly acknowledged that "an inmate has a constitutional right to be secure in her bodily integrity and free from attack by prison guards." Hovater v. Robinson, 1 F.3d 1063, 1068 (10th Cir. 1993).   In cases of sexual abuse or rape, "the conduct itself constitutes sufficient evidence that force was used ‘maliciously and sadistically for the very purpose of causing harm.” Giron v. Corrections Corp. of America, 191 F.3d 1281, 1290 (10th Cir. 1999) (quoting Whitley v. Albers, 475 U.S. 312, 320-21 (1986)).