May 15, 2009, New York, New York – In response to President Obama’s announcement of his plans to revive the military commissions at Guantanamo, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR...
December 10, 2007, Washington, DC – Today, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) argued the appeal of CCR’s class-action civil case charging a former Israeli official with war crimes and...
Case to Be Heard by High Court This Spring February 5, 2020, Washington, D.C. – Today, Muslim men who were placed or kept on the No-Fly List in retaliation for refusing to spy on their communities...
Updated: March 7, 2008
Join us on Saturday, December 8th, 2018 at OutSummit for a riveting panel discussing on advancing LGBTI rights through the courts featuring Center for Constitutional Rights Staff Attorney, Chinyere...
Updated: December 6, 2018
Tomorrow is the one-year anniversary of President Obama’s announcement to close the prison at Guantánamo Bay. The Obama administration has already said it will miss the deadline, and CCR...
Marsha Scaggs is 56 years old and is currently imprisoned at the State Correctional Institution at Cambridge Springs in Pennsylvania. Marsha is serving a Death By Incarceration sentence (more commonly known as Life Without Parole) after being convicted of felony murder. Marsha was prosecuted after an altercation with the victim in her case resulted in her co-defendant killing the victim; she was not responsible for the killing nor did she have any intention for that to happen. She was 23 years old at the time. Marsha has been incarcerated since 1987 and has spent over 30 years—more than half of her life—in prison. She is a plaintiff in Scott v. Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole, a lawsuit that argues that Pennsylvania's mandatory life sentences without the eligibility for parole for felony murder are unconstitutional.
When asked what she wants the outside world to know about people serving life sentences, she said, "We are human beings who have made mistakes but we are not defined by those mistakes. There are lifers that have taken the necessary steps to redeem ourselves and if given the opportunity, we will rise to the occasion and be role models."
Marsha wants to be released from prison. She wants the chance to use the certification and degree that she worked so hard to get while incarcerated. During her incarceration, she has lost loved ones on the outside. She wants to be free to be able to spend time with friends and family outside of the prison walls. Marsha says she also wants the chance to do things that many people on the outside take for granted. She wants to get a job, pay bills, and do her taxes.
Marsha says that aging in prison is, "no picnic...you do not get the proper medical attention that is needed, and the more you age, you can see and feel your body deteriorate. It's like a loss of life emotionally, physically, mentally, and spiritually."
CCR and The New School are delighted to co-host acclaimed Palestinian filmmaker Mai Masri for a screening of her new award-winning film 3000 Nights on Monday April 16 at 6:30pm. Mai Masri’s...
Updated: April 16, 2018
March 1, 2011, New York and Charlottesville, VA – Today, t he Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) announced a settlement in their lawsuit in the Western...
April 2013The United States has carried out dozens of operations in Yemen as part of an expanding program of “targeted killing.” While the government deployed cruise missiles in the strike in al-Majalah in...
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