C&P's Greg Lipper Quoted in CNN Report on Coronavirus in D.C. Jail

Our partner Greg Lipper is quoted in a recent CNN article about outbreaks of coronavirus in the D.C. jail and outbreaks of the virus in jails and prisons more generally. Lipper, who handles both criminal trials and criminal appeals in the District, explains:

Even the best run, most humane, most medically up to date jail is a giant petri dish. You have lots and lots of people living in close quarters. Social distancing is virtually impossible . . . . Most jails, especially city jails, have a lot of people going in and out. DC is no different.

Given these unprecedented risks, Lipper and another partner, Matthew Peed, have filed several emergency motions on behalf of imprisoned clients—and will be filing several more—seeking their immediate release from jail or prison; at least two of our clients have been released from the D.C. jail. Because coronavirus can spread like wildfire in jails and prisons, public-health experts have recognized that coronavirus outbreaks in jails and prisons imperil not only the prisoners held there, but also the broader community: The more prisoners who get critically ill from coronavirus, the faster that hospitals will exhaust their ever-dwindling supplies of ICU beds and ventilators. The individual and collective stakes could not be higher, and we’ll continue to fight to protect the health and safety of our incarcerated clients.

Greg’s practice includes criminal defense, appellate and Supreme Court litigation, and First Amendment and other constitutional cases. In addition to representing individual criminal defendants in trials and appeals, Greg has filed a number of Supreme Court briefs in cases implicating the criminal-justice system. Among others, he filed an amicus brief, on behalf of a group of prison book clubs, detailing the problem of book censorship by state and federal prisons; an amicus brief, on behalf of prisoner-turned-professor Shon Hopwood, addressing how excessive restitution awards undermine both rehabilitation and victims’ rights; and a cert petition challenging the dismissal, under the Rooker-Feldman doctrine, of a lawsuit challenging coercive probation orders issued in Montgomery, Alabama without judicial review or approval.