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National ACLU News

United Nations Special Rapporteur Finds Major Problems with the Capital Punishment System and U.S.-Run Prisons and Detention Facilities

After a two-week visit to the United States, Philip Alston, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, expressed deep concern (PDF) about the way the country carries out capital punishment. During his visit, Alston met with officials in Austin, Texas; Montgomery, Ala.; New York and D.C., including ACLU national and state affiliate staff.

“The visit of the Special Rapporteur is a critical opportunity to shine an international spotlight on the pervasive problem of impunity and lack of accountability for deaths in U.S.-run prisons and detention facilities at home and abroad,” said Jamil Dakwar, Director of the ACLU Human Rights Program. “To claim the high moral ground and assert leadership on the issue of human rights, the U.S. must do more to prevent deaths in custody and prosecute those who are responsible for inhuman and cruel treatment of detainees in U.S. custody.”

Noting his concerns about the poor quality of legal representation received by capital defendants in Alabama and Texas, Alston recommended that the two states establish well-funded, statewide public defender systems. He also stated that the states should establish another method of choosing a judiciary other than elections.

In addition to these recommendations, Alston pointed out that federal court review of constitutional claims—claims based on rights outlined in the Constitution—in death sentences has been sharply curtailed by federal legislation erecting procedural barriers to full review. Alston recommends that Congress pass new legislation that would eliminate these barriers.

Alston recognized that innocent people have been sent to death row and some have been executed. He strongly disapproved of the lack of urgency shown by Alabama and Texas officials to reform the criminal justice system.

The Special Rapporteur also criticized the U.S. government for the lack of fair trials for those incarcerated at Guantánamo Bay. Alston stated that any death sentence that arises from the unfair trials of "alien enemy combatants" would violate international law.

Many of these issues were highlighted in a report by the ACLU’s Human Rights Project and Capital Punishment Project to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

ACLU Human Rights Program

The ACLU Human Rights Program works to ensure that the U.S. government complies with universal human rights principles in addition to the U.S. Constitution. The Program uses human rights strategies to complement existing ACLU advocacy on national security, immigrants' rights, women's rights and racial justice.

Click here to learn more about the ACLU Human Rights Program.

ACLU of Alabama News

International Human Rights Monitors Visit the Southern U.S., Meet with ACLU-AL Staff

Recently, several international human rights monitors have visited the Southern United States and met with officials from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) including the ACLU of Alabama. These monitors have particularly focused on the death penalty, the immigrant detention system and racial discrimination, among other issues.

Last month, Executive Director Olivia Turner and Law Fellow Sam Brooke meet with U.N. Special Rapporteur Philip Alston as he visited the U.S. to review the death penalty system. During this meeting, the ACLU-AL staff also had the opportunity to discuss the immigrant detention system here in Alabama, highlighting the problems of indefinite detention and poor health care faced by many of the foreign-born detainees housed in Alabama facilities.

In May 2008, U.N. Special Rapporteur Doudou Diène was welcomed by Gulf Coast residents and local and national advocates as he visited to document the human rights abuses that continue in the wake of the Hurricane Katrina disaster. During his visit, Mr. Diène toured New Orleans, Biloxi, Miss., and other parts of the Gulf Coast and heard testimony from affected community members and advocates in issue areas ranging from criminal justice, education, the rights of immigrant and African-American low-wage workers, housing, immigration detention and deportation, and environmental justice. Olivia Turner submitted a report to the Special Rapporteur detailing many of these issues as they relate to Alabama citizens.

In the coming weeks, Special Rapporteur Felipe Gonzàlez from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) will also visit with ACLU-AL staff. The IACHR works to promote and protect human rights in the Americas by conducting on-site visits to investigate specific situations and issuing reports and recommendations to government officials. Sam Brooke will meet with the Special Rapporteur to brief him on issues related to due process and poor health care faced by immigrant detainees housed in the Etowah County Detention Center in Gadsden, Alabama. [To read more about immigrant detainees in Alabama, please see our most recent newsletter (PDF).