Posts Tagged ‘American Civil Liberties Union’

20
Nov

Suit: Pregnant woman denied necessary medication, put in solitary confinement, while in Montana jail on traffic offenses

   Posted by: admin    in Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, Health



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Bethany Cajune is a young woman in western Montana who sought treatment from the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal Health Clinic Behavioral Health Program for an addiction to the painkillers she was given following a surgery. She made good progress there. As part of that recovery, Cajune – who was five months’ pregnant – sought to complete an outstanding sentence at the Lake County Jail. That’s when things began to go downhill. The Missoulian’s Vince Devlin tells her story here:

POLSON – A Ronan woman who says she was repeatedly denied a prescribed medication while pregnant and serving time in the Lake County Detention Facility for traffic violations has sued the county, Sheriff Lucky Larson, chief detention officer Luke Mathias and Dr. Stephen Irwin, the jail’s medical doctor.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Montana announced the lawsuit in a news release issued Thursday, shortly after the suit was filed in Missoula District Court.

It says that over the course of nine days in jail last spring, Bethany Cajune, 25, experienced constant vomiting, diarrhea, rapid weight loss, dehydration and other symptoms, all “extremely dangerous” to her fetus.

Rather than receiving the necessary medical care, it says, she was instead placed in solitary confinement.

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1
Oct

ACLU: Voting discrimination in Indian Country an ongoing problem

   Posted by: admin    in Indian Country, Voting, discrimination

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American Indians continue to face discriminatory policies and actions that deny them their constitutional right to vote, according to this report released today by the American Civil Liberties Union.

The report gives a historic overview of discrimination against Indian people that limits their participation in local, state and national elections. And it focuses on the ACLU’s legal challenges on behalf of Indians to unlawful election practices in five western states: Colorado, Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming.

“Every American deserves an equal voice in the political process,” says Laughlin McDonald, Director of the ACLU Voting Rights Project and one of the principal authors of the report. “The effects of discrimination against Indians continue and so must the fight for the fundamental right to vote. Compliance with the Voting Rights Act is not optional.”

Gwen Florio

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