Florida Justice Institute

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Florida Justice Institute is a public interest law firm in Miami, Florida. It was established in 1978 by Randall Berg. The institute has been dedicated to improving conditions in Florida's prison system and has initiated numerous class action lawsuits toward this end. Randall Berg is past president of the Florida ACLU. Berg also served on Governor Lawton Chiles' Transition Criminal Justice Task Force and is the past Chairman of the Corrections Committee.

In 2007 the institute settled the Parilla v. Eslinger strip search class action lawsuit [1]. This was a major victory for the victims of illegal strip searches [2]. In 2001 the institute collaborated with the Florida ACLU to protect the voting rights of Florida's poor and disenfranchised [3]. In 1996 the institute advocated for Blacks and Hispanics who were being discriminated against in the housing market [4]. In 2000 the institute was instrumental in eliminating Florida's Amendment 2, which would have enshrined the death penalty in the state's Consitution [5]. The Florida Justice Institute regularly collaborates with Writeaprisoner.com and Prison Legal News to advocate for prisoners' rights.