Just because you have been incarcerated doesn’t mean you no longer have rights. When it seems like the correction’s system is abusing its power or is negligent in ensuring the proper care of inmates, Attorney Sally Roberts is here to stand up for you. She will fight all cases of corrections misconduct to ensure that you receive equal protection under the law. When local, state and federal corrections authorities overstep their bounds and you are harmed in the process, she should be the first place you turn! She is experienced in such civil rights matters and can provide you with representation that is geared to obtain results. In a matter of proving wrongdoing corrections officers and facilities, the experience and skill of your attorney means everything. These are often very difficult cases, but she has the expertise required to win them. This includes excessive force, failure to protect inmates, jail and prison suicides, sexual abuse and harassment, as well jail and prison strip searches and prison rapes. 

Excessive Force in Prison – Corrections officers have a duty to protect prisoners awaiting trial or serving prison terms. Under the law, they have a responsibility to refrain from using excessive force or in using cruel and unlawful treatment when disciplining prisoners. The use of excessive force may not only be in violation of the United States and Connecticut Constitutions, giving rise to civil lawsuit for money damages, but may also be illegal resulting in criminal prosecution.  

Failure to Protect Inmates – Corrections officers and prison officials have a duty to protect prisoners from other prisoners. This includes protection from assaults from other prisoners, including prison rapes and wrongful deaths. Corrections and jail officials must also provide adequate housing facilities and not subject prisoners to overcrowding. They must also provide access to proper medical care, and respect a prisoner’s right to observe his or her religion. Failure to provide adequate protection from other prisoners or in maintaining adequate prison conditions may be the basis of a lawsuit to pursue money damages.

Jail/Prison Suicide – Being arrested or convicted of a crime is often a traumatic and emotional event that can often trigger thoughts of suicide. For this reason, corrections, police and other law enforcement officials have been charged with a duty to protect those in their care from taking their own lives. This includes providing timely psychological evaluations and placing inmates on suicide watches. Most, if not all, jail and prison suicides can be prevented.
 

Sexual Abuse or Harassment – Corrections officers are trusted with the care of prisoners awaiting trial or serving prison terms. However, just because you’ve been accused of a crime or have been convicted doesn’t mean you don’t have rights. At times, corrections officers may abuse the power that they have been trusted with to subject those under their care to excessive frisks or un-needed strip searches. Corrections Officers may also use their power to engage in sexual harassment or to pursue sexual favors in exchange for special treatment.  

Jail/Prison Strip Searches – Every citizen, even those who have been incarcerated, are deserving of their basic civil rights. But common procedures like prison strip searches can create confusion about where the law's protection starts and stops. Searches can be more than humiliating; they can be completely illegal given the right conditions.

Jail/Prison Rapes – The law is in place to protect you no matter where you are within the United States. This includes harm done within prison walls, such as prison rapes and unnecessary force at the hands of guards and other employees. Incidents of prison rapes and abuses of prisoners' rights need not be tolerated. Attorney Sally Roberts is committed to making sure violations like these do not go unnoticed or unpunished. 

Malicious Prosecutions & Wrongful Convictions – If you feel that you were wrongly accused of a crime and that the basis of the charges against you was the result of police or prosecution wrongdoing, then you may be able to pursue a claim for malicious prosecution or wrongful conviction. Criminal prosecutions can be devastating experiences. You may have been arrested and spent time in jail. Pursuing your innocence likely took a great deal of your time and cost you attorney fees. The accusations against you may have resulted in a loss of your job or income, damaged your reputation and may be impacting your ability to find a job. This is all on top of the emotional strain you may have suffered. For this reason, we hold police and prosecutors to high standards to ensure that prosecutions are pursued only with probable cause. Some examples of police or prosecutor wrongdoing that may result in a malicious prosecution or wrongful conviction claim, include the pursuit of false charges, concealment of exonerating evidence, bringing charges based on falsified evidence, pursuing charges against you for a crime that was committed by someone else, as well as coercing a witness to give false testimony, including a police informant that may have been pressured by police in exchange for leniency.