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ABOUT PLI

ORIGIN OF PRISON LIGHTS, INC.

Prison Lights, Inc. (PLI) had a very modest beginning. The road to PLI began with attorney Parrish Collins and one paralegal at the firm of Collins & Collins, P.C. In 2017, it appeared that there was a full-on assault on civil rights. An assault on civil rights always affects the most vulnerable in society the hardest: the poor, people of color, people with mental illnesses and other disabilities, and those suffering from addiction. They’re not just hit the hardest; they are specifically targeted. This is not a new trend. These vulnerable individuals have always been targets, which explains why they fill the nation’s prisons and jails.


Parrish decided he needed to take on a civil rights case or two to do his part. He attended a continuing legal education seminar on solitary confinement. His initial thoughts centered on how medical personnel onsite in the prisons could allow people already suffering from severe mental illnesses to undergo psychological torture through solitary confinement. To Parrish, solitary confinement epitomized medical abuse. He had found his calling in civil rights work.


The prison medical abuse and neglect practice at Collins & Collins, P.C. started with occasional calls. Parrish and his paralegal, a fervent advocate for criminal justice reform, took the calls, listened, and most importantly, visited the prisons. Each call seemed more shocking than the last. Contrary to the perception that prisoners cannot be trusted to tell the truth, Parrish found that, if anything, prisoners often underestimated the level of medical abuse.


Collins & Collins, P.C. has since spoken with thousands of prisoners and/or their surviving loved ones and listened. Since embarking on the journey to combat prison and jail medical abuse in 2017, Collins & Collins, P.C. has filed over 60 lawsuits. While that number seems high, it’s not enough. The firm has had to turn away hundreds upon hundreds of prisoners with valid complaints of medical neglect. Many were very ill and not receiving the necessary medical care. Some later passed away. Each case serves as a painful reminder of the limitations of the resources at hand.


Parrish hopes that Prison Lights can change this by marshaling the necessary personnel and resources to not only help more prisoners suffering extreme medical neglect and abuse but also to instigate change in correctional medical care nationally—eventually in every jail and prison in the United States. It can and must be done. Here’s how.

MAPPING THE JOURNEY FROM FIRST CALL TO TRIAL

Parrish did not file 60+ lawsuits on his own. By necessity, his staff has grown significantly. Equally important, Collins & Collins, P.C. has co-counseled with other small New Mexico law firms to handle the vast litigation workload associated with prison and jail cases. The co-counsel relationships made the 60+ lawsuits possible. Moreover, Parrish recognizes his own limitations. After all, he had handled only three civil rights cases before 2017. Parrish benefited not only from the labor and resources of co-counsel but also from their expertise. Civil rights cases are challenging and legally intricate.
 
There’s a steep learning curve with many pitfalls. One of PLI’s greatest strengths will be providing a roadmap to success, ensuring that Parrish and other attorneys around the country committed to prison medical reform have a guide. In essence, PLI will prioritize education, ensuring that every step from the first prisoner call to trial is detailed, with potential issues highlighted early on to simplify the learning process for allied attorneys.
 
Then PLI will work with allied attorneys across the country to the degree that resources permit to chip away at the financial incentives that perpetuate the medical atrocities in prisons and jails.
 
PLI BOARD
 
PLI ALLIED ATTORNEYS
 
PUBLIC RECORDS
 
Much of the data needed to thoroughly investigate a case must be extracted from prisons, jails, and their contractors through formal discovery—with constant obstruction and subsequent court hearings. However, much can be gathered before litigation begins.
 
Collins & Collins, P.C. has issued hundreds, if not thousands, of public record requests since mid-2017. The frequency of such requests has lessened, but they remain a crucial tool in uncovering the medical atrocities in our prisons and jails.
 
The beauty of a public records act request is its accessibility: anyone can send one. No law license or special training is required. Furthermore, if the records are withheld, a citizen can file a lawsuit. In many states, there are financial penalties for failing to provide public records upon receiving a valid request. These penalties are typically awarded to the entity or individual who initiated the lawsuit.
 
It’s essential to remember that a public records request must pertain to existing documents. The public body isn’t obligated to generate a new document. The key lies in having the knowledge to identify or hypothesize which documents are available and can be accessed via a public records request. A few essential examples include:
 
  1. Contracts between the public entity and the medical and food contractors from the time when a prisoner suffered due to medical neglect.
  2. The three most recent audits by the American Correctional Association (ACA) and the National Commission on Correctional Health Care (NCCHC).
  3. Organizational charts for the correctional facility and the governing body, such as a state department of corrections.

 

For any lawyer, law firm or citizen wishing to begin investigating and changing prisons, medical and beyond, start with public record request, read the responses and commence digging.