Court Cases

This case challenges the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction for denying Pamela Chambers, an incarcerated woman with diagnosed cataracts, medically necessary care. A cataract is a clouding of the eye that causes visual impairment and eventually blindness, but can be cured with a quick, safe, and inexpensive surgery. In 2022, Chambers was scheduled to have cataracts removed from both of her eyes. However, after the first eye was corrected, her second eye surgery was denied by the prison's medical director due to an apparent policy that only permits one cataract removal surgery per individual during their incarceration, regardless of their medical needs and despite her physician's prescribed treatment. She now suffers from blindness in one eye, double vision, poor depth perception, and an increased risk of falling. The complaint alleges that the NCCIW’s one-eye surgery policy violates the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and Article I, Section 27 of the North Carolina Constitution, which require adequate medical care for people in state custody. The complaint also alleges violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act and Rehabilitation Act.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) is violating the rights of disabled pre-trial detainees in NC jails by failing to ensure timely evaluations and treatment for people who lack capacity to understand the legal proceedings against them, according to a federal lawsuit.

The ACLU of North Carolina and North Carolina Prisoner Legal Services are representing four people who have spent years locked in solitary confinement in North Carolina prisons in a class-action lawsuit. We are challenging the state’s use of the practice in state Superior Court.

The American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina (ACLU-NC) has filed a federal lawsuit challenging multiple provisions of North Carolina’s “Anti-Riot Act”, as recently amended by House Bill 40.l (HB 40).