the law was unenforceable. The Secretary of State’s office amended its training of poll workers and polling signs to ensure that polling locations were notified before the 2020 election to allow voters their choice of assistance as provided by the Voting Rights Act.
LOUSENE HOPPE
JACOB BAER
JACOB LEVINE
CHARLES URENA
Fredrikson has teamed up with Abolish Private Prisons, a nonprofit corporation, to file a class-action lawsuit in the federal District Court of Arizona. The purpose of the lawsuit is to end the practice of incarcerating human beings for profit. The private prison industry treats inmates like commodities, entering contracts with states like Arizona under which the corporations are often paid daily rates per prisoner incarcerated in their facilities. The industry promises to provide the things state-run facilities provide, such as effective rehabilitation and education programs, decent food service and healthcare for a lower cost. In reality, deficiencies exist in training, staffing, food quality, the availability of medical services and the other necessities to provide incarcerated persons with adequate care. The model also reduces the ability for the facility to provide needed rehabilitation to allow inmates to pursue lives outside of prison when their sentences conclude. The Arizona suit alleges that incarcerating people for private profit violates the constitutional guarantees against slavery, cruel and unusual punishment, due process and equal protection. The suit maintains that there cannot be a profit motive to incarcerating people and holding them behind bars as it creates bias and unfairness in favor of incarceration. Fredrikson’s clients, the named plaintiffs in the lawsuit, are five men incarcerated in private facilities in Arizona. The Arizona Chapter of the NAACP is also a plaintiff. Fredrikson’s partner, Abolish Private Prisons, is a group of lawyers, professors and community advocates who learned 27
