PRACTITIONER BLOG

Read our analyses of developments in Impact Litigation and stay current on class action law

Forced Labor Suit Leads To Detained Worker Bill of Rights
Immigrant Rights, Worker's Rights Teddy Basham-Witherington Immigrant Rights, Worker's Rights Teddy Basham-Witherington

Forced Labor Suit Leads To Detained Worker Bill of Rights

With no real choice, Mr. Hill Barrientos worked in the kitchen in SDC’s so-called “Voluntary Work Program,” cooking meals for up to 2,000 people daily. He regularly worked eight- to nine-hour shifts, and usually received $4 to $5 per day (or 50 cents per hour). Since SDC did not have outside kitchen staff other than a handful of supervisors, officers usually required Barrientos to work seven days a week, even when he was sick. After filing a grievance for being forced to work while sick, he was put in solitary for over a month.

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Impact Fund Supports Groundbreaking Class Action Litigation For Colorado's Transgender Prisoners
Transgender Prisoners, Human Rights, Class Actions Teddy Basham-Witherington Transgender Prisoners, Human Rights, Class Actions Teddy Basham-Witherington

Impact Fund Supports Groundbreaking Class Action Litigation For Colorado's Transgender Prisoners

In Colorado’s prisons, trans women have been fighting to survive and fighting for their rights for years. Kandice Raven lives with permanent injuries that she sustained in multiple severe beatings carried out by groups of transphobic men. Jane Gallentine has been trafficked, treated as property and repeatedly sexually abused, including by one man who tattooed his name on her neck to convey “ownership,” and by another man employed as a prison guard. Amber Miller has again and again requested officials’ help in escaping her abusers and found that the only way to get a response is to break prison rules or engage in self-harm to keep herself safe. In response to their fearless self-advocacy, the Colorado prisons have responded by transferring Kandice, Jane, and Amber to a series of more and more restrictive—and more and more dangerous—prisons and prison units.

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