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Litigation Database

Crowdsourced legal documents from around the country related to COVID-19 and incarceration, organized, collected, and summarized for public defenders, litigators, and other advocates. Created and managed by Bronx Defenders, Columbia Law School’s Center for Institutional and Social Change, UCLA Law COVID-19 Behind Bars Data Project, and Zealous. Mostly federal court opinions, but now expanding to states and legal filings, declarations, and exhibits.

This resource is designed to help lawyers, advocates, researchers, journalists, and others interested in challenging, remedying, or drawing attention to the grave risk that Covid-19 poses to individuals who are detained.

Document Type

Practice Area

Relief Requested

Type of Court

Federal Court

Location

Type of Case

Case Characteristics

Release Granted

COVID-19 Positive/Symptomatic

COVID-19 in Facility

Compassionate Release Case

Compassionate Release: Specific Characteristics

Compassionate Release: Exhaustion Holdings

Decision
Granted release on bond pending sentencing for Defendant who had pled guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances. Although Defendant was required to be detained pending sentencing under the Mandatory Detention Act of 1990, the court found that Defendant fell within a "generalized exception" to the MDA, as he did not pose a threat to the community and his COVID-risk health conditions provided exceptional reasons favoring release. Defendant had several serious health conditions, including hypertension, gout, diabetes, and obesity (BMI of 37.3). Court ordered release even though it "acknowledges that the Spartanburg County Detention Center ("SCDC") appears to be taking this pandemic seriously and is enacting some protocols to prevent Defendant and other inmates from contracting the virus."

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