EJA News

EJA News

Hirah Gained Insight with Incarceration Process and Criminal Law

August 24, 2022

By Hirah Ahmed
Northeastern University School of Law, 2L

This past summer I spent my time at Prisoners’ Legal Services of Massachusetts (PLS), which is the only organization of its kind in the entire state. It offers a central office for incarcerated people to contact and seek help for various civil legal issues that involves their incarceration experience. 

PLS focuses on five target projects that fuels their client intake: access to healthcare, assaults by correctional staff, conditions of confinement, abolishing solitary confinement, and racial equity in corrections. The attorneys and staff all work together to be advocates for their clients in whatever capacity they can, whether it be an issue related to their five target projects or something they can be a liaison for to provide further assistance and resources. 

The first-year law school experience primarily involves doctrinal courses about civil legal issues. As someone who has always been passionate about the criminal side of the law but had a stronger foundational knowledge of civil law, this internship was a great starting point for me to combine my passion and knowledge in a ‘real world’ setting.

Also interested in the intersection between human rights and criminal law, prisoners’ rights work felt the natural course to trek this summer. Working at PLS exposed me to their many different teams and projects, which interacted with the prison system in different capacities. I sat in on client calls that acted as status check-ins for their litigation against the Massachusetts Department of Corrections for their buildings and systems being inaccessible for their deaf and hard of hearing inmates. I was given the opportunity to give my opinions on brutality case reports and their strengths for greater potential class action lawsuits. 

For the entire summer, I was a part of the litigation team suing the Souza-Baranowksi Correctional Center for racially charged brutality against inmates pre-Covid, a team combating ICE detention in the last ICE facility in Massachusetts, and the Racial Equity in Corrections Initiative (REICI). I conducted research and read case files that opened my eyes to what really happens to people behind bars in the name of incarceration.

I said this often to friends and family this summer, so I’ll say it again as my time at PLS will wrap up in the next few weeks: I thought I knew, but I really didn’tAs exciting as this summer was, it reminded me of how much goes on in the underbelly of the legal field that doctrinals, and many legal careers, will never touch on or experience. 

It taught me the importance of strength and self-reflection in the field I want to pursue in the future. Hearing the first-hand experience of the abuse ex-ICE detainees faced, reading about how often the Massachusetts judicial system ruled gouged eyes, stomped faces, broken limbs as “valid penological means” reminded me of the importance of working for these communities. 

My innate drive towards abolition and pursuit towards Equal Justice America’s mission to meet the legal needs of underrepresented communities was strengthened during my time here. Although I don’t think I’ll pursue prisoners’ rights work immediately after school, the knowledge I gained from this internship will definitely inform my future work in criminal law, in whatever capacity I choose to explore. 

By Hirah Ahmed
Northeastern University School of Law, 2L

This past summer I spent my time at Prisoners’ Legal Services of Massachusetts (PLS), which is the only organization of its kind in the entire state. It offers a central office for incarcerated people to contact and seek help for various civil legal issues that involves their incarceration experience. 

PLS focuses on five target projects that fuels their client intake: access to healthcare, assaults by correctional staff, conditions of confinement, abolishing solitary confinement, and racial equity in corrections. The attorneys and staff all work together to be advocates for their clients in whatever capacity they can, whether it be an issue related to their five target projects or something they can be a liaison for to provide further assistance and resources. 

The first-year law school experience primarily involves doctrinal courses about civil legal issues. As someone who has always been passionate about the criminal side of the law but had a stronger foundational knowledge of civil law, this internship was a great starting point for me to combine my passion and knowledge in a ‘real world’ setting.

Also interested in the intersection between human rights and criminal law, prisoners’ rights work felt the natural course to trek this summer. Working at PLS exposed me to their many different teams and projects, which interacted with the prison system in different capacities. I sat in on client calls that acted as status check-ins for their litigation against the Massachusetts Department of Corrections for their buildings and systems being inaccessible for their deaf and hard of hearing inmates. I was given the opportunity to give my opinions on brutality case reports and their strengths for greater potential class action lawsuits. 

For the entire summer, I was a part of the litigation team suing the Souza-Baranowksi Correctional Center for racially charged brutality against inmates pre-Covid, a team combating ICE detention in the last ICE facility in Massachusetts, and the Racial Equity in Corrections Initiative (REICI). I conducted research and read case files that opened my eyes to what really happens to people behind bars in the name of incarceration.

I said this often to friends and family this summer, so I’ll say it again as my time at PLS will wrap up in the next few weeks: I thought I knew, but I really didn’tAs exciting as this summer was, it reminded me of how much goes on in the underbelly of the legal field that doctrinals, and many legal careers, will never touch on or experience. 

It taught me the importance of strength and self-reflection in the field I want to pursue in the future. Hearing the first-hand experience of the abuse ex-ICE detainees faced, reading about how often the Massachusetts judicial system ruled gouged eyes, stomped faces, broken limbs as “valid penological means” reminded me of the importance of working for these communities. 

My innate drive towards abolition and pursuit towards Equal Justice America’s mission to meet the legal needs of underrepresented communities was strengthened during my time here. Although I don’t think I’ll pursue prisoners’ rights work immediately after school, the knowledge I gained from this internship will definitely inform my future work in criminal law, in whatever capacity I choose to explore.