Archive

The ACLU filed a class action suit against the U.S. government on behalf of adult immigration detainees, all of whom appear in immigration court shackled at the wrists, waist, and ankles, regardless of their history or capacity for disruption. All adult detainees are shackled for the duration of immigration court proceedings in San Francisco. There are no existing legal channels to challenge appli... Read More

San Francisco – The American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California (ACLU-NC) and The San Francisco Bay Guardian (The Guardian) filed suit late Thursday against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), seeking full disclosure of public documents regarding the federal government's role in overseeing a worldwide scramble by state prison officials to import controlled substances for use in ... Read More

On January 4, 2011, The American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Northern California (ACLU-NC) and The San Francisco Bay Guardian (The Guardian) submitted Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests seeking records related to the federal government’s role in assisting – or failing to oversee – efforts by state corrections agencies to acquire controlled substances. The lethal injection drugs wer... Read More

July 2010 to Present (in reverse chronological order)Aug. 11, 2011 – The ACLU and the SF Bay Guardian filed a Federal Lawsuit, asking the court to order the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to disclose records regarding the worldwide scramble for execution drugs by state prison officials. View court papers.April 28, 2011 – The ACLU and the SF Bay Guardian file a preliminary injunction motion, as... Read More

The ACLU of California supports the striking prisoners' demands to end cruel and inhumane conditions in the Security Housing Unit (SHU) at Pelican Bay State Prison. These conditions include prolonged, solitary confinement in small, windowless concrete boxes with little to no human interaction and other severe physical deprivations.Not only are such conditions inhumane and harmful, but they also je... Read More

Just three death sentences were handed down in California from January to June 2011 compared with the same period last year when there were 13, according to a new report released today by the ACLU of Northern California. This is the lowest number of new death sentences in a six month period since the death penalty was reinstated in 1978. Read More

This report reviews both legal and policy considerations for police practices in immigrant communities – from traffic stops and unnecessary arrests to immigration-based detention in local jails, including vechicle checkpoints and impoundments. Details are included on the financial and human costs of these practices, including several personal stories.The report is accompanied by a summary of cost-... Read More

A Fact Sheet from the ACLU of California, Drug Policy Alliance and The Ella Baker CenterIt's time to reform California's sentencing laws. Californians are fed up with misguided policies that have packed our prisons & jails, drained our state bud­get and led to one of the highest rates of recidivism in the country.The recent Plata v. Brown decision from the U.S. Supreme Court requires the D... Read More

A judicial decision handed down today effectively ends the San Francisco Housing Authority's use of city-wide nuisance injunctions and dismisses all pending criminal cases against alleged violators. The injunctions are unconstitutional, vague, and overly restrictive to the point of infringing on an individual's ability "to exist in San Francisco," wrote the judge in his eight-page decision. Read More

The Federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) released records today which show that Arizona, Nebraska, and other states broke the Federal Controlled Substances Act when they imported sodium thiopental, a dangerous controlled substance commonly used in executions that is no longer available in the U.S. The DEA released all import declarations filed for sodium thiopental from January 1, 2010, t... Read More