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;
- an Illinois state prisoner with severe spinal injuries who received substandard medical care;
- an individual suing the City of Yonkers, New York, and several police officers for using excessive force during a mental health crisis;
- 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
Together with The Legal Aid Society, Willkie recently filed a lawsuit in New York state court, Catala et al. v. City of New York, against the City of New York and the Department of Corrections for violations of New York law related to the use of solitary confinement on Rikers Island.
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 also routinely files motions to secure compassionate release and sentence reduction for incarcerated clients through Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM), Last Prisoner Project, and the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs.
Willkie partners with the Appellate Division of the Maryland Office of the Public Defender to represent 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.