James K. Kahler v. State of Kansas
Country: United StatesYear: 2020
Court: Supreme Court of the United States
Citation: 140 S.Ct. 1021 (2020)
Health Topics: Mental health, Prisons
Human Rights: Freedom from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, Right to due process/fair trial, Right to liberty and security of person
The appellant was charged with four counts of first-degree murder for when he drove to his ex-wife’s grandmother’s house and shot his ex-wife, her grandmother, and his two daughters to death. The murders followed the appellant going through a divorce with the now deceased ex-wife and suffering a job loss which left him distraught. There …Read more
Laddy Curtis Valentine, et al., v Bryan Collier, et al.
Country: United StatesYear: 2020
Court: United States District Court, S.D. Texas, Houston Division
Citation: 455 F.Supp.3d 308 (2020)
Health Topics: Aging, Health care and health services, Infectious diseases, Prisons, Water, sanitation and hygiene
Human Rights: Freedom from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, Right to health, Right to life
Plaintiffs Laddy Curtis Valentine (“Valentine”) and Richard Elvin King (“King”) were inmates at Wallace Pack Unit (“Pack Unit”), a geriatric state prison run by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (“TDCJ”) in Grimes County, Texas. On March 30, 2020, plaintiffs filed a complaint, alleging that the defendants, TDCJ Executive Director Bryan Collier (“Collier”), Pack Unit …Read more
Saribekyan and Balyan v. Azerbaijan
Country: AzerbaijanYear: 2020
Court: European Court of Human Rights
Citation: [2020] ECHR 35746/11
Health Topics: Prisons
Human Rights: Freedom from discrimination, Freedom from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, Right to bodily integrity, Right to life
The applicants, Mamikon Saribekyan and Siranush Balyan, brought an application that their son, Manvel Saribekyan, had been tortured and killed under the detention of the Azerbaijan authorities. Saribekyan, was a resident of the Tutjur village in the Gegharkunik region of Armenia near the border of Azerbaijan. On September 11th, 2010, Saribekyan lost his bearings in …Read more
United States v. Jeremy Rodriguez
Country: United StatesYear: 2020
Court: United States District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
Citation: 451 F.Supp.3d 392 (E.D.Pa. 2020)
Health Topics: Chronic and noncommunicable diseases, Health care and health services, Infectious diseases, Prisons, Water, sanitation and hygiene
Human Rights: Right to health, Right to life
The defendant, Jeremy Rodriguez, was an inmate at FCI Elkton, a federal detention centre in Elkton, Ohio. Rodriguez was serving the seventeenth year of a twenty-one year mandatory minimum sentence for drug distribution and unlawful firearm possession, and was one year away from becoming eligible for home confinement, when the COVID-19 pandemic erupted in the …Read more
British Columbia Civil Liberties Association v Canada (Attorney General)
Country: CanadaYear: 2018
Court: Supreme Court of British Columbia
Citation: 2018 BCSC 62
Health Topics: Mental health, Prisons
Human Rights: Right to bodily integrity, Right to life
The plaintiffs are two non-profit organizations, the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association and the John Howard Society of Canada. The plaintiffs challenged the constitutionality of sections 31-33 and 37 of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act (CCRA), which authorized administrative segregation of inmates in federal prisons. Section 31 provided that the purpose of administrative segregation …Read more
Nelson v. Livermore
Country: CanadaYear: 2017
Court: Ontario Court of Appeal
Citation: 2017 ONCA 712
Health Topics: Health care and health services, Informed consent, Mental health, Prisons, Public safety, Violence
Human Rights: Freedom from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, Right to liberty and security of person
Rodney Nelson sought judicial review of his involuntary admission to a psychiatric hospital under Ontario’s Mental Health Act (“MHA”) and an order for his immediate release due to rights infringements. Nelson had a lengthy history of crimes with many violent offences, including sexual offences against women and children. A psychiatrist completed an application for psychiatric …Read more
Mambu v The Democratic Republic of the Congo
Country: Congo, DRCYear: 2016
Court: United Nations Human Rights Committee
Citation: Communication No. 2465/2014; UN Doc. CCPR/C/118/D/2465/2014
Health Topics: Health care and health services, Hospitals, Prisons, Violence
Human Rights: Freedom from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, Freedom of association, Right of access to information, Right to bodily integrity, Right to due process/fair trial, Right to liberty and security of person, Right to participation
Eugène Diomi Ndongala Nzo Mambu was a national of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and president of the opposition political party in the State, challenging the legitimacy of an election. He alleged that he was abducted in 2012 and held incommunicado for three months and 13 days while being interrogated about his ties with …Read more
Murray v. The Netherlands
Country: NetherlandsYear: 2016
Court: European Court of Human Rights
Citation: [2016] ECHR 10511/10
Health Topics: Health care and health services, Mental health, Prisons
Human Rights: Right to bodily integrity, Right to health, Right to liberty and security of person
In 1980, the Applicant, Mr. James Clifton Murray, was found guilty of the murder of a six year old girl in Aruba. At the time of his conviction, the Netherlands consisted of the Netherlands and the Netherlands Antilles, which included the islands of Aruba and Curaçao. The judgment from the First Instance Court of the …Read more
Wenner v. Germany
Country: GermanyYear: 2016
Court: European Court of Human Rights
Citation: no. 62303/13, § 59, ECHR 2016
Health Topics: Controlled substances, Health care and health services, HIV/AIDS, Infectious diseases, Medicines, Public safety
Human Rights: Right to bodily integrity, Right to health, Right to liberty and security of person, Right to life
The applicant has been a heroin addict since 1973, suffered from hepatitis C since 1975 and been HIV-positive since 1988. Attempts to overcome his heroin addiction through various treatments failed, and from 1991 to 2008 he was treated with drug substitution therapy. In 2008, the applicant was arrested on suspicion of drug trafficking and detained …Read more
Zogo Andela v. Cameroon
Country: CameroonYear: 2016
Court: United Nations Human Rights Committee
Citation: CCPR/C/121/D/2764/2016
Health Topics: Health care and health services, Prisons
Human Rights: Right to due process/fair trial, Right to health
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) is a treaty by which its parties commit to preserving certain human and political rights. The First Optional Protocol of the Covenant allows for individuals to bring complaints, referred to as communications, against state parties to the Protocol that have allegedly violated articles of the ICCPR. …Read more