question / pregunta:
On Dec 3, 1975, there was a class-action suit filed by women incarcerated in North Carolina. How would I find the name of the suit and more details about it?
On Jan 16, 1976, the National Conference on Black Lawyers and Prisoners' Rights to Organized Defense introduced a $25 million class action suit on behalf of women incarcerated in North Carolina. How would I find out more information about that suit and its relation (if any) to the December 1975 class-action suit?
ANSWER: more info on 1975 & 1976 class-action suits by NC women
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill had a clip file of newspaper and magazine articles clipped prior to 1975 on the Prison System in North Carolina. The Index is here:
http://www.lib.unc.edu/ncc/ref/clip/prison.html">
You might contact them and see if they have any information on your topic.
According to Nancy Kurshan in this article
http://www.prisonactivist.org/archive/women/women-and-imprisonment.html">
it occurred in North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women
The North Carolina Prison Website mentions a riot in June of 1975 on their web page here:
http://www.doc.state.nc.us/dop/prisons/ncciw.htm
but there is no mention of a class action suit. This incident is related to the suit according to
Fugitive thought: prison movements, race, and the meaning of justice
By Michael Roy Hames-Garcia
RESISTANCE BEHIND BARS The Struggles of Incarcerated Women
by Victoria Law also discusses this riot.
The National Conference of Black Lawyers website doesn't have any information about this suit.
I searched on legal databases and found a case against NORTH CAROLINA CORRECTIONAL CENTER by women of the prison but it from 1980. I dont think it is the same suit you are speaking of but the issues are the same.
Karen Lynn BATTON et al., Plaintiffs, v. The STATE GOVERNMENT OF NORTH CAROLINA, EXECUTIVE BRANCH, et al., Defendants
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF NORTH CAROLINA, RALEIGH DIVISION
501 F. Supp. 1173