Law360~~Law360 [PDF] has reported on a recent $600,000 settlement reached between our client Amin Booker and the New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. Mr. Booker was held in solitary confinement for more than five years in a New York state prison, confined to a windowless cell for 23 hours a day while missing visits from his family. Mr. Booker said he was the victim of retaliation for whistleblowing on mistreatment by corrections officers.~~Partner Justine Goeke explained that Mr. Booker’s settlement is one example of many agreements that New York state and the DOCCS have reached with people in solitary confinement. She said that when the attorney general’s office saw the firm was prepared to go to trial, they quickly offered to settle.~~“We have a compelling client that speaks clearly about the abuses of the prison system, we already had a finding of liability by a district court judge on one of the claims — I mean, that set the floor,” Justine said. “When we showed the AG’s office that we were ready to go, they came to the table with a significant settlement offer.”~~In addition to Justine, our team included associates Marc Aaron Takagaki, Kate Goldberg, Teddy Kristek, Sophie White, Dennis Ting, and Apratim Vidyarthi.~~Download PDF~~