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| Tentative Deal Reached in California Inmates' Suit |
| By Los Angeles Times |
| Published: 08/26/2002 |
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The Ventura County Sheriff's Department has reached a tentative settlement in a federal class-action lawsuit that contends deputies and local police violated the legal rights of dozens of inmates by keeping them in jail too long without filing criminal charges. Lawyers for the Sheriff's Department declined to say how much money 80 former inmates will receive in the settlement, which was reached recently and is expected to be presented to the Board of Supervisors on Sept. 10. But the plaintiffs' lawyer, John Burton of Pasadena, said the value of the settlement is about $250,000, including $52,500 in legal fees. The amount per inmate ranges from about $100 to $5,000, with the inmates who were not convicted of a crime collecting the bulk of the money. 'The problem was, [authorities] were doing an end-run around the law that says we have a right to get in front of a judge in a certain length of time,' Burton said. 'And that's a very important right.' |
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