Prisoner Rights and Criminal Justice
When the system fails, the stakes are life and death. These cases reflect our commitment to the constitutional rights of incarcerated people.
Appellate Victory in Rap Lyrics Case
Jenner & Block, in partnership with Appellate Advocates, secured a victory for a pro bono client wrongfully convicted based on his rap lyrics. The client was convicted of facilitating a Brooklyn shooting after prosecutors introduced the lyrics through the expert testimony of a police investigator.
A New York appellate court reversed the conviction, finding the investigator unqualified to testify about the lyrics’ meaning. The opinion—which recognized that rap is a form of art that often contains nonliteral references—reinforces boundaries around creative expression.
Partner Ben Alter briefed and argued the appeal, with support from New York Office Managing Partner Tony Barkow and former associate Adina Hemley-Bronstein. Moot court assistance was provided by Partner Hilary Ledwell, Associates Nikita Lalwani and Anna Windemuth, and former associate Andy Osborne.
Victory on Sanctions Motion in Section 1983 Action
When a man incarcerated at Danville Correctional Center began experiencing severe thumb pain in early 2020, which prison physicians ignored for nearly a year before he was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer requiring partial amputation of the thumb; the disease had since also metastasized to his lungs.
A Jenner & Block team represented a client in a Section 1983 action against Wexford Health Sources, the former medical provider for the Illinois Department of Corrections, and several Wexford employees. After securing a court order compelling production of key financial documents, Wexford continued to defy the Court, producing only minimal, non-responsive materials. The team filed a motion for sanctions, which the Court granted—finding Wexford could not plausibly presume that its responses genuinely complied with prior orders—thereby marking meaningful progress toward a favorable outcome for the client.
The team is led by Partner Lindsey Lusk and Of Counsel Joel Pelz, and includes Associates Vaughn Olson, Rachel Magaziner, Amanda Holme, Ben Love, and Ethan Levy, and Paralegal Kenyon North, with support from Partner Andrew Merrick, former associates Adam Abdel-Mageed, Emma Costello, and Courtney Shier, and former paralegal Sophia Goebel.
Resolution After Fifteen Years of Pro Se Litigation
When the medical staff and prison guards abruptly discontinued a client’s doctor-prescribed pain medication without following proper withdrawal protocols, he suffered severe pain and withdrawal: cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment. For over a decade, the client navigated the courts largely on his own, winning two appeals (one of which was pro se) before Jenner took over his representation on remand in 2022. The team moved to reopen discovery, battled the prison system’s resistance to document production for nearly two years, and ultimately secured a favorable settlement. The prison’s payment of the settlement coincided with his release from prison and will hopefully help facilitate this transition.
The Jenner & Block team on this matter included Partner Julie Ann Shepard, Associates Eric Wolff, Tal Ratner Solovey, and Chloe Law, Paralegal Alonso Ponce, Legal Assistant Aja King, as well as former associates Gregg Washington, Alice Kim, Farryal Siddiqui, and Eddie Crouse.
Justice for a Pretrial Detainee Denied Medical Care
Jenner & Block was appointed to represent Dwayne Cummings in a Section 1983 prisoner civil rights action against medical employees of Cermak Health Services, the medical provider for Cook County Jail, located on the southwest side of Chicago. Mr. Cummings, a pretrial detainee at the jail from 2022 to 2023, alleged that he was denied adequate medical care for deteriorating vision in retaliation for protesting the jail’s COVID-19 response policies.
The case asserted claims of medical negligence and retaliation under federal civil rights law. The matter concluded in 2025 with a favorable result for the client. The team was led by Partners Dean Panos and Chris Tompkins, and Associates Jeff Salvadore and Steven Tinetti, with assistance from Associates Chris LeWarne and Erin Murphy, and paralegal support from Jessica Merkouris.
Jenner & Block Secures Significant Settlement in Prison Healthcare Case
During her incarceration at Decatur Correctional Center, Vikki Paris was denied adequate surveillance testing for bladder cancer. That failure would cost Vikki her life.
Jenner & Block took on Vikki’s case pro bono, representing her husband John Paris—both as administrator of her estate and in his personal capacity—in a Section 1983 deliberate indifference lawsuit against Wexford Health Sources, a Pennsylvania-based company holding an exclusive contract to provide medical services to the Illinois Department of Corrections. The lawsuit alleged that Wexford’s failure to provide proper cancer surveillance during Vikki’s incarceration directly resulted in her death.
The team’s advocacy extended beyond the courtroom. In 2020, they successfully secured clemency for Vikki—a hard-won victory that came too late. She passed away on March 16, 2020, just four days after her release. The family’s fight, however, was far from over.
Over the next four years, the Jenner team logged nearly 5,000 lawyer hours navigating one of the most challenging areas of civil rights litigation. Section 1983 cases alleging deliberate indifference to medical care are notoriously difficult to prove, since plaintiffs must demonstrate not just negligence but conscious disregard of a serious medical need. The bar is high, and private healthcare contractors are well-resourced defendants.
On October 31, 2025, Wexford agreed to a settlement, bringing the matter to a close. The resolution reflects both the strength of the legal case and the team’s sustained commitment to their client across four years of hard-fought litigation.
The outcome carries significance beyond the Paris family. Private prison healthcare contractors wield enormous power over the lives of incarcerated individuals, and accountability is rarely easy to achieve. This settlement underscores the constitutional rights of incarcerated individuals and the obligation of private contractors to meet their duty of care.
The team was led by Special Counsel Ali Alsarraf, under the supervision of Partner Mike Doornweerd, with significant contributions from Associates Elena Olivieri, Kai Luan, Kaela Theut, and Beth Lloyd, and former associates Karolina Bartosik, Emma Costello, Michael Kang, Henry Leaman, Jocelyn Sitton, and Kendall Wharton. The team also received valuable support from Senior Paralegal Albert Peterson and Paralegal Adam Weidman, and former paralegals Kevin Garcia and Sophia Goebe.