Right of Prisoner Denied, Charges Cruel Treatment with Racial Discrimination in Dannemora, New York
Press Release
October 15, 1968

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Press Releases, Volume 5. Right of Prisoner Denied, Charges Cruel Treatment with Racial Discrimination in Dannemora, New York, 1968. 2d851110-b992-ee11-be37-00224827e97b. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/9b8bc42a-1682-4c87-a470-c773ee73ec82/right-of-prisoner-denied-charges-cruel-treatment-with-racial-discrimination-in-dannemora-new-york. Accessed July 03, 2025.
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RELEASE - 10/15/68 A prisoner's right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment and to due process of law in a prison disciplinary system will be tried in Federal District Court in Albany, New York, today by attorney William Turner of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF). The case involves an inmate at Clinton Prison at Dannemora, N.Y., who is suing the warden for imposing solitary confinement or punitive segregation arbitrarily and without standards or guidelines, therefore depriving him of his federally protected rights. This case has far-reaching implications in that the limits of the rights of prisoners or deprivations of fundamental rights are being tested. If Judge Foley rules in favor of the plaintiff, a precedent for upholding significant constitutional rights for prisoners would be set. Turner will argue that the imposition of punitive segregation (given the unsanitary and oppressive conditions df the cells and the fact that prisoners automatically lose "good time" earned |to reduce their sentence) denies fundamental rights and interferes with the possible rehabilitation of inmates. Released to: AP, UPI - Albany, N.Y. Fahy sere ee Va 165 | |