Lawyers of the Year: David Milton and Kayla H. Ghantous

It may go down as the most expensive case of misdirected anger in the history of the Massachusetts prison system.

On Jan. 10, 2020, inmates attacked correction officers at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Lancaster, leaving four seriously injured.

For nearly a month thereafter, officers abused about 160 prisoners who were not involved in the attack. Prisoners were beaten, kicked, had their eyes gouged, their testicles grabbed, and their faces smashed into the ground or wall, they alleged in a federal lawsuit. Officers also deployed stun guns and pepper ball guns and had K-9 dogs bite the prisoners, according to the complaint.

Souza, to this day, remains an extremely restrictive, harsh, punitive environment that is absolutely antithetical to the department’s stated goal of rehabilitation. Ultimately, the culture needs to shift, and no one lawsuit can do that.

— David Milton

To pursue justice for the inmates, Prisoners’ Legal Services of Boston joined forces with a pro bono team from the Boston office of Hogan Lovells.

Read more at Masslawyersweekly.com.