News & Commentary
Jun 18, 2015
Shackle a pregnant woman, risk a foreseeable tragedy
The news on Mother’s Day left her elated: she was pregnant with her first child. But Monserrat Ruiz Cuevas’ celebration was short lived.When she learned she was pregnant, she was in custody at the Mesa Verde Detention Center, an immigration facility in Bakersfield operated by GEO Group, Inc. Within days Monserrat became ill and was taken to a hospital for urgent medical care.
By Katie Traverso
Jun 15, 2015
There’s no “transgender” exception to medically necessary care
There is no “transgender exception” to the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution—the provision that prohibits “cruel and unusual” punishment. That prohibition obligates prisons to treat inmates’ serious medical needs regardless of their sexual orientation. And that treatment
By Melissa Goodman
Jun 14, 2015
And the award goes to Transparent
By Melissa Goodman and Zara Lockshin
By Melissa Goodman
Jun 12, 2015
Match L.A.’s historic wage hike with paid sick days
The Los Angeles City Council is to be congratulated on passing an ordinance raising the minimum wage in the city to $15 by 2020. That historic action is an important step in achieving economic justice for so many workers who are forced to hold down two jobs or more and even then find it increasingly difficult to make ends meet. A living wage is a basic economic right, and it is inextricably linked to the full exercise of civil rights and liberties. No one working a full-time job should be paid a wage that leaves them living in poverty.
By Ruth Dawson
May 28, 2015
Soaring caseloads, flat funding crush dependency system
Imagine having the moral and legal responsibility to represent over 500 individual children in complex legal proceedings and protect their best interests. These are the impossible circumstances that currently face dependency attorneys in California, as documented in “System on the Brink,” a white paper issued today by the ACLU of California.
By Michael Kaufman
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