Lawsuit: ‘Conditions in the jail have worsened’
On behalf of hundreds of “medically vulnerable” men awaiting trial at the Shelby County jail in Downtown Memphis, a consortium of civil rights attorneys filed an amended complaint in federal court Tuesday.
Building on a class-action law suit that initially requested the release of around 300 detainees who are over 65 and/or have certain chronic conditions, the complaint alleges Shelby County has not remedied jail conditions rife with the risk of infection — as ordered by Federal Court Judge Sheryl Lipman in early August.
“Defendants have utterly failed to remediate the unconstitutional conditions at the jail,” the amended complaint, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and other lawyers, states. “If anything, conditions in the Jail have worsened.”
Practices that continue to perpetuate COVID-19 exposure risk, according to the complaint, include “wholly ineffective” quarantine practices; non-testing of new arrestees; and the failure to “seriously pursue” social distancing in sleeping quarters and during meals, pill calls, and while detainees use the phone.
Capt. Anthony Buckner, spokesperson for the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office, said he could not comment Tuesday, because the litigation is pending, regarding whether practices have been implemented at the jail to mitigate COVID-19 exposure risk since Lipman’s ruling.
In early August, Buckner said, “Our focus from Day 1 has been trying to protect our staff and detainees and we’ll just continue listening to our public health officials, locally, state and federal. And we’ll make adjustments as we are able to do so as time goes on.”
Joseph J. Bial, lead counsel for the law firm Paul, Weiss, said despite that sentiment, “The sheriff has not adequately fixed these problems. This complaint seeks to make him do so.”
Bial’s New York-based law firm joined the American Civil Liberties Union; Memphis advocacy group Just City; and local attorneys Steve Mulroy and Brice Moffatt Timmons in filing the suit in May.
Their first complaint requested Lipman order the release of detainees deemed medically vulnerable to COVID-19 from the Shelby County men’s jail Downtown, commonly known by its address, 201 Poplar.
Will the county set affordable bond, offer ankle monitoring for those at risk?
Quarantine and social distancing issues could quickly be remedied by the county, Lipman wrote in an Aug. 7 ruling that denied the release of medically vulnerable detainees — en masse.