Month: January 2025

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

The Justice Department today announced that Gina Allery has been appointed to serve as the Director of the Office of Tribal Justice (OTJ). Attorney General Merrick B. Garland swore Allery in to the office on Monday afternoon. In this role, Allery will lead OTJ and serve as the principal advisor on Tribal matters to the Attorney General and other Department leaders.

“Gina Allery’s experience and leadership on Indian law and Tribal issues in a variety of roles across the Justice Department will make her an incredible asset to the Office of Tribal Justice,” said Attorney General Garland. “I am confident that Gina will skillfully lead the Department’s efforts to partner with Tribal Nations in the pursuit of justice and safety for Tribal communities. I am grateful that she has agreed to continue her public service in this important role.”

OTJ was initially formed in 1995 in response to requests from Tribal leaders for a dedicated point of contact for Indian country-specific legal and policy matters. The office was made permanent on July 29, 2010, with the passage of the Tribal Law and Order Act.

OTJ is the program and legal policy advisor to the Attorney General on the treaty and trust relationship between the United States and Indian Tribes. The office also serves as a primary point of contact for federally recognized Tribal governments and Tribal organizations on Department policies and programs, as well as issues relating to public safety and justice in Indian country. OTJ also coordinates with other bureaus, agencies, offices, and divisions within the Justice Department on issues and initiatives that affect Tribes and American Indian and Alaska Native people.

Prior to her appointment, Allery served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Tribal Resources and Land Acquisition Sections of the Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD), beginning in 2022. From 2018-2021, Allery served as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota where she prosecuted violent crimes in Indian country. Previously, she served for six years as Deputy Director of OTJ, where she worked on a variety of legal and policy issues impacting Indian Tribes. Allery began her career with the Justice Department as an attorney in ENRD, where she litigated cases on behalf of Tribes, including land-into-trust, reservation boundary, treaty rights, and gaming cases. She served for three years as ENRD’s Senior Counsel for Indian Affairs, providing legal advice to the Assistant Attorney General on variety of Indian law issues. She is a recipient of the John Marshall Award, the Department’s highest award for attorneys for contributions and excellence in specialized areas of legal performance. Prior to working at the Justice Department, Allery worked in private practice. Allery earned a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from the University of Minnesota and a J.D. from Columbia Law School.

Daron Carreiro, who has been serving as the Acting Director of OTJ since March 2024, will return to his role as Section Chief in ENRD’s Tribal Resources Section.

“Daron Carreiro has been an excellent leader and advisor since beginning as Acting Director of OTJ,” said Attorney General Garland.  “I thank him for his dedicated public service and for his ongoing contributions to the Department’s work alongside our Tribal partners.”

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

The Justice Department announced today that it has entered into a settlement agreement with the Orange County, California, District Attorney on the use of custodial informants at the Orange County jails in California. The agreement resolves the department’s civil investigation finding that custodial informant activity by the Orange County District Attorney’s Office (OCDA) from 2007 through 2016 with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department (OCSD) violated criminal defendants’ right to counsel under the Sixth Amendment and right to due process of law under the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.    

Under the agreement, the District Attorney agrees to continue implementing reforms to protect against misuse of custodial informants at the Orange County jails and to disclose to criminal defendants exculpatory evidence about custodial informants, in accordance with constitutional guarantees to a fair trial and right to counsel. Specifically, the District Attorney agrees to maintain changes to OCDA policies, training, document and information systems and internal audits, as well as to engage with representatives of the Orange County criminal justice system on additional improvements. The department will also have full and direct access to independently validate that the reforms have taken hold at OCDA and are achieving their intended results.

“Under the Sixth Amendment, law enforcement cannot use custodial informants as their agents to elicit incriminating statements from defendants represented by counsel,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “We commend the District Attorney and his staff for initiating corrective action at OCDA to comply with constitutional requirements. The District Attorney’s proactive efforts, together with today’s agreement, will not only protect the constitutional rights of individual defendants; they will also help restore the public’s confidence in the fundamental fairness of the criminal justice system in Orange County.”

The out-of-court agreement is the result of extensive cooperation from the District Attorney and members of OCDA following the release of the department’s investigative findings in October 2022. The agreement is also the result of systemic improvements initiated by the District Attorney, including suspending the use of custodial informants without his express, prior approval in 2016.

The department opened its investigation into OCDA and OCSD in 2016. The evidence uncovered by the department revealed that custodial informants in the Orange County Jail system acted as agents of law enforcement to elicit incriminating statements from defendants represented by counsel and that, for years, Orange County sheriff deputies maintained and concealed systems to track, manage and reward those custodial informants. The evidence also revealed that Orange County prosecutors failed to seek out and disclose exculpatory information regarding custodial informants to defense counsel.

The Civil Rights Division’s Special Litigation Section conducted the investigation pursuant to 34 U.S.C. § 12601. The statute prohibits state and local governments from engaging in a pattern or practice of conduct by law enforcement officers that deprives individuals of rights protected by the Constitution or federal law. The department’s negotiations with the Orange County Sheriff on remedial measures at OCSD are ongoing.

Since January 2021, the division has opened 12 investigations into law enforcement agencies. The section is enforcing 15 agreements with law enforcement agencies and two post-judgment orders. The department also reached a court enforceable agreement with Louisville and Minneapolis to resolve its findings. Both are pending review by the court.

The department’s investigative findings from October 2022 can be found here.

Information about the Civil Rights Division is available at www.justice.gov/crt.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Bollinger Shipyard LLC (Bollinger), a Lockport, Louisiana, based company, has agreed to pay $1,025,000 to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by knowingly billing the U.S. Coast Guard for labor provided by workers who were not eligible to work in the United States.  

Bollinger manufactures ships for the United States, including the Coast Guard’s Fast Response Cutter (FRC). The United States alleged that, from 2015-2020, Bollinger knowingly billed the Coast Guard for labor prohibited under the FRC contracts. Specifically, the United States alleged that Bollinger was contractually required to confirm that its employees were eligible to work in the United States. The United States further alleges that Bollinger failed to comply with this requirement and, as a result, several ineligible employees worked on the contract.  Further, the United States alleged that Bollinger billed the Coast Guard for the labor provided by the ineligible employees and received payment for those bills.

“It is essential to the safety and operational readiness of our fleet that contractors comply with all contractual requirements,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “We will continue to hold accountable those who knowingly disregard their contractual obligations.”

“Companies that conduct business with the United States are required to do so in a legitimate manner,” said U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans for the Eastern District of Louisiana. “The favorable resolution of these False Claims Act allegations illustrates the collaboration and commitment by our federal partners to use all available remedies to address signs of fraud, waste and abuse.”

“Today’s settlement sends a clear message that contractors providing services to DHS programs will be held accountable for breaking the law,” said Inspector General Joseph V. Cuffari Ph.D. of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). “DHS’ Office of Inspector General (DHS OIG) and our law enforcement partners will continue to prioritize protecting our national security from these kinds of schemes.”

“The Coast Guard Investigative Service (CGIS) is committed to continually working with all our law enforcement partners to protect and secure taxpayer funds and aggressively act to fully investigate allegations of false claims involving the Coast Guard,” said Assistant Director William Hicks of CGIS.

Senior Trial Counsel Art J. Coulter of the Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch, Fraud Section, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Sandra Lee Sears for the Eastern District of Louisiana handled the matter.  

DHS OIG and CGIS assisted in the investigation.

The claims resolved by the settlement are allegations only. There has been no determination of liability.

Settlement

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

The Justice Department announced today its findings that conditions of confinement at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center (the Jail) in Columbia, South Carolina, violate the Eighth and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. The department’s report details the findings of a comprehensive investigation of the Jail, which is funded and operated by Richland County through an Administrator and Director. The Jail currently houses approximately 965 people.

The department concluded that the county and Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center violate the constitutional rights of people incarcerated at the Jail. Specifically, the department found that the Jail fails to provide reasonable safety and to protect incarcerated people from serious harm and death by physical violence from other incarcerated people, including assaults with weapons, assaults by multiple people on single victims and sexual assaults. 

“Incarceration in our nation’s jails should not expose a person to severe and pervasive violence like that in the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Most people in the jail have not been convicted of any crime — they are awaiting hearings or trial dates. They have a right to be free of violence, threats and sexual assault. The Jail has a constitutional duty to protect people in its care from the horrific violations we uncovered here. We hope Richland County and the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center will respond to our findings by working with the Justice Department to implement much-needed reforms.”

“The conditions inside the Richland County jail are a matter of life and death. Individuals accused of crimes in Richland County should not face a death sentence before they ever see a court room,” said U.S. Attorney Adair F. Boroughs for the District of South Carolina. “By addressing the remedial measures outlined in our findings, we believe this can change. We hope to work with Richland County and the detention center to make it a safer place for both detainees and staff.”

Systemic problems that have persisted at the Jail for years engender severe violence and avoidable harm. There were at least 60 stabbings in the Jail in 2023. Gangs prey on incarcerated people. Weapons, drugs and contraband cell phones are commonplace and facilitate gang control and violence in the Jail. Inadequate staffing, a deteriorating facility and systemic security lapses, such as deficient prisoner supervision, inadequate internal investigations and lax contraband prevention, yield an ongoing failure to protect incarcerated people from violence. Jail leadership knows about these conditions, and others detailed in the report, which fall far below the constitutional minimum.

The department conducted its investigation of the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center under the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act (CRIPA), which authorizes the Attorney General to file a lawsuit in federal court seeking court-ordered remedies to eliminate a pattern or practice of unlawful conduct. The department provided Richland County and the Jail with written notice of the supporting facts for its conclusions and the minimum remedial measures necessary to address the alleged violations. The department is committed to working with the county and Jail toward a cooperative solution.

The Civil Rights Division’s Special Litigation Section conducted this investigation jointly with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of South Carolina. The findings announced today are the result of the department’s civil investigation and are separate from any criminal cases brought by the Justice Department.    

The Civil Rights Division continues to prioritize unconstitutional conditions and violations of federal law in correctional and juvenile justice facilities. It opened new investigations into prisons and jails in Tennessee, California, South Carolina and juvenile justice facilities across Kentucky. The division also issued findings in its investigations of Mississippi prisons, Texas juvenile justice system’s facilities, the Georgia Department of Corrections and San Luis Obispo County, California, Jail. The division entered into agreements, including consent decrees, covering the Fulton County, Georgia, Jail, Cumberland County, New Jersey, Jail, the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women in New Jersey, the Broad River Road Complex in South Carolina, the Manson Youth Institution in Connecticut and the Massachusetts Department of Correction. The division is also litigating matters related to the constitutionality of conditions in Alabama’s prisons for men and the incarceration of people beyond their release dates in Louisiana prisons.   

For more information about the Civil Rights Division and its Special Litigation Section, please visit www.justice.gov/crt/special-litigation-section. You can also report civil rights violations by completing the complaint form available at civilrights.justice.gov/. To provide information related to the department’s investigation of the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center, please call 1-888-473-3201 or email the department at Community.Glenn@usdoj.gov.