October 27, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
media@aclu.org LOS ANGELES -- In
response to the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California's concerns
about severe overcrowding in the Los Angeles County jail system, a federal judge
today ordered that the county immediately end its unconstitutional practices in
the jail's central processing hub.
In a 10-page ruling, U.S.
District Judge Dean D. Pregerson issued a temporary restraining order
prohibiting the county from holding more than 20 inmates for more than 24 hours
in small holding cells in its Inmate Reception Center, located at Men's Central
Jail in Downtown Los Angeles.
In his ruling, Pregerson said that
"inmates, particularly pre-trial detainees who are imbued with presumption of
innocence, deserve better than to be housed in a system which has defaulted to
the lowest permissible standard of care."
"This order means that
the nightmarish conditions in our jails cannot be maintained," said Mark
Rosenbaum, ACLU of Southern California Legal Director. "Inmates should not be
stripped of the bare requisites of dignity and decency."
Judge
Pregerson's decision comes nine days after the ACLU of Southern California filed
a motion requesting a temporary restraining order in its ongoing lawsuit
challenging conditions in the county jail system. The order ensures
constitutional conditions in the IRC, the central processing hub for the
seven-facility county jail system.
According to eyewitness
accounts and more than two dozen statements, hundreds of men arraigned but not
convicted of any offense have been quartered at the Inmate Reception Center for
two, three, or four days at a time in almost "unspeakable conditions."
"Thirty to forty men are being crammed into holding cells so small
that they must take turns lying down on the hard filthy floor," according to the
legal papers. "Without regular meals and with no access to showers, beds
or mattresses, these detainees suffer hunger, illness, extreme fatigue and
conditions that fall far short of basic constitutional standards for detention
and incarceration."
In May, Judge Pregerson toured Men's Central
Jail and called the conditions there "inconsistent with basic human values." The
judge then ordered representatives of the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department and
the Board of Supervisors to meet with the ACLU of Southern California to develop
a comprehensive plan to improve conditions at the jail.
"We're very
pleased. This sends a strong message to the sheriff and the county that they
cannot move the problem of overcrowding around and must instead look at
system-wide fixes," said ACLU of Southern California staff attorney Melinda
Bird.
The decision is available at:
www.aclu-sc.org/attach/i/ircruling.pdf
