In a communication submitted to the United Nations Humans Right Committee (“UNHRC”), Yvonne M’Boissona asserted that her brother, François Bozize, led a coup d’état in the Central African Republic in 1982. After fleeing the country, he was arrested in July 1989 in Benin, repatriated to the Central African Republic by force, and imprisoned at a …Read more

Mika Miha (M), having twice previously left Equatorial Guinea for asylum abroad, had returned in 1988 to support the activities of an opposition party to which he belonged. Shortly afterwards, he was arrested by members of the security forces. The only explanation given was that his detention had been ordered by the president. For the …Read more

Women inmates in the District of Columbia (D.C.) correctional system alleged that they were being mistreated in a variety of ways, including sexual harassment, failure to provide or inadequate levels of obstetrical and gynecological care, unequal educational and work-related programming  as compared to similarly situated male inmates, uneven recreational and religious time, and general inhumane …Read more

The Appellants brought this challenge to the constitutionality of an Alabama statute which authorized the Alabama Department of Correction’s (DOC) policy of mandatory testing of all present and future Alabama state prisoners for HIV antibodies, as well as the forced segregation of HIV-positive inmates. Two classes were involved in the action: the Appellant class, which …Read more

The applicant, a United Kingdom national who had previously been diagnosed with having a paranoid psychosis, claimed that the United Kingdom unlawfully deprived him of his liberty when authorities forcibly recalled him to a hospital for the criminally insane in which he had completed a prior sentence for a violent crime. At the time of …Read more

This case was an appeal by the State of Colorado (“Colorado”) and Colorado prison officials, challenging an order from the Colorado Federal District Court directing the State of Colorado to close the maximum security unit of the Colorado State Penitentiary at Canon City (“Old Max”). Inmate Fidel Ramos filed a complaint alleging that the conditions …Read more

The Respondent, Gamble, an inmate in a state correctional facility, brought suit challenging the actions of the appellants, medical personnel at the facility, claiming they had subjected him to cruel and unusual punishment for inadequate treatment of a back injury suffered while he was undertaking prison work. After sustaining the injury, Gamble was seen by …Read more

Applicant, a stateless person with a Swedish alien’s passport, was arrested in Scotland on suspicion of committing murder in Ireland. Applicant was taken to Ireland, convicted of murder, and sentenced to penal servitude for life. Applicant claimed that his trial was “rigged and fixed” as a result of a conspiracy between the judge, his own …Read more

Petitioner brought a constitutional challenge to provisions of Oklahoma’s Habitual Criminal Sterilization Act of 1935 (the Act), which permitted sentences of compulsory sterilization for “habitual offenders” in crimes involving “moral turpitude.”  Pursuant to section 195 of the Act, the same sentence did not extend to white-collar crimes, defined as those “offenses arising out of the …Read more