Incarcerated Individuals
Willkie represents incarcerated individuals in a wide variety of matters, such as criminal appeals, habeas petitions, parole hearings, early release and improved conditions in prisons.
Civil Rights Work
Willkie defends individuals’ civil rights in Section 1983 cases, which provide a cause of action against those who, under the color of state law or custom, violate a person’s Constitutional rights. Some recent matters include Willkie’s representation of:
- a California state prisoner subjected to race-based lockdowns;
- a civil detainee with medical issues who was subjected to unfair confinement conditions;
- a prisoner subjected to excessive force and deliberate indifference to injury; and
- an Illinois state prisoner with Stage 4 cancer who was denied testing and treatment.
Amicus Briefs
Willkie regularly partners with the Innocence Project and others on amicus briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court, as well as in other courts, in support of constitutional and statutory rights of incarcerated individuals.
Other
Willkie attorneys represent incarcerated individuals seeking early release pursuant to DC’s Incarceration Reduction Amendment Act (IRAA) and Second Look Amendment Act in partnership with The Second Look Project and The Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia.
Willkie files motions to secure compassionate release for incarcerated clients referred to us by the Aleph Institute, Federal Defenders of NY, and the Washington Lawyers Committee, among others.
Willkie partners with the Maryland Office of the Public Defender representing indigent defendants with appealing their convictions.
Willkie attorneys advise incarcerated women on family law issues through the Volunteers of Legal Service’s Incarcerated Mothers Law Project.
Willkie attorneys litigated a lawsuit, along with the ACLU against a California County for systematically denying misdemeanor defendants their constitutional rights to counsel and due process.