We won – for the people

We won our case!

A Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) to Protect the Health of People In Miami Jail Ahead of COVID-19 Outbreak!

In Miami, we used our movement lawyering model to protect community members locked in jails and prisons – and won! Metro West Detention Center’s jail population, which is disproportionately Black and Brown, is at greatest risk during the pandemic. In jail, social distancing is impossible. Hand washing is limited. Healthcare is inaccessible. The current public health crisis has further exposed the racial injustices of this country’s criminal legal system, so we took matters into our own hands.

Here’s what happened:

Advancement Project National Office and our partners in justice, Community Justice Project Miami, Civil Rights Corps and Dream Defenders sued Miami Department of Corrections to protect the rights of vulnerable people inside the city’s jail. We argued that Miami’s Metro West Detention Center is risking the lives of everyone inside because of their failure to respond to the threat of COVID-19. 

What we won:

A Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) requiring the Metro West Detention Center to follow the Center for Disease Control's guidelines to protect the health of people locked inside and prevent the spread of COVID-19.

What’s next?

Metro West is now required to provide the defendants a list of all medically vulnerable people in the jail by Friday, April 9, 2020. Once they do, Advancement Project and our partners will do everything in our power to #FreeThemAll.

What can you do?

If you live in one of the cities we are litigating in, you can help put pressure on the powers that be. Join us and Ben & Jerry’s to take action for our community members in Florida, Detroit, St. Louis and East Baton Rouge. Not in those cities? You can still help ensure people are #FreeAndSafe from COVID-19. Call on your state government officials to release people TODAY. Share #FreeThemAll on your social platforms, and spread the word before jails and prisons spread the virus.

Influencers are also joining the movement including our board member, actor and advocate Jesse Williams and activist Brittany Packnett.  

In case you missed it: Check out this commentary published by The Appeal, from our plaintiff, Anthony Swain, a 43-year-old Florida resident with paraplegia and cystic myelomalacia who is incarcerated in a medical unit at Metro West Detention Center. He states: “There are about five people in my cell who are coughing, or otherwise complaining about being sick … even staff are sick … This place is a petri dish for disease. We are in such close quarters. You can stay six feet away from other people on the outside, but for us, we are less than two feet away from other people at all times.”

We filed a similar case with our partners St. Louis last week, and plan to file similar cases in both Detroit, and East Baton Rouge. We’re working in real time to get people out of jails and lessen their risk of contracting COVID-19. The needs on the ground are urgent. Our work and priorities are shifting in real time, much like the communities we support. With your support, we can win again!