Gilbert and Washington Lawyers’ Committee Represent Inmates Alleging Violence at Federal Prison

December 23, 2024

Gilbert LLP and the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs (WLC) called attention today to a powerful article published on December 17 by the Marshall Project and NPR that highlights the “culture of violence” aimed at prisoners in a federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) facility in Virginia.

Gilbert has partnered with WLC since July 2023 to represent a growing number of incarcerated individuals housed at the U.S. Penitentiary Lee (USP Lee) in western Virginia.  These individuals have suffered beatings, inhumane restraints, racial and psychological abuse, and the withholding of prescribed medications by the staff at USP Lee.

The violence at USP Lee has not abated despite federal officials’ pledge to curtail inmate mistreatment across all BOP facilities.

Gilbert and WLC have filed nine federal lawsuits in the Western District of Virginia on behalf of USP Lee residents in the past five years.  In addition to holding those responsible for the violence accountable, the lawsuits seek to improve conditions at USP Lee and to ensure that all residents at the facility are treated with dignity, humanity, and are provided with proper health care, as required by the United States Constitution.

“These cases shine a light on horrific abuses at USP Lee,” said Ryan Downer, legal director at the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs. “Being incarcerated doesn’t end your right to basic humane treatment.  Our clients are fighting to vindicate that right.”

“The abuses suffered by our clients at the hands of those entrusted with their safety and care are horrifying,” said Hunter Winstead, Gilbert’s lead attorney on the lawsuits.  “Our clients have been tortured, plain and simple.  And it must stop.  These men have been brave in coming forward in filing their lawsuits, at great risk to their safety and welfare.  And we will not stop until the defendants who have violated the constitutional and basic human rights of our clients are held accountable.”