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| SC Says No Damages for Jail Inmates |
| By jsonline.com |
| Published: 07/21/2009 |
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Supreme Court says no damages for jail inmates By Marie Rohde of the Journal Sentinel July 21, 2009 Milwaukee County will not have to pay former inmates held in overcrowded conditions at the county jail, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled in a split decision released Tuesday. The ruling overturned the court of appeals decision that could have cost the county as much as $80 million. The high court split 4-3 with Justices David Prosser, Patience Roggensack, Annette Ziegler and Michael Gableman in the majority. Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson wrote a dissent that would have allowed payment to the inmates. The dissent was joined by N. Patrick Crooks and Ann Walsh Bradley. Prosser wrote for the majority that although the county had violated a court agreement aimed at overcrowding and medical issues in the jail for two and a half years, officials were in compliance by the time the case was decided by the circuit court. Abrahamson said the issue was whether the circuit court has the power to ensure compliance with its orders. In 2006, Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Clare Fiorenza found the county in contempt of a previous court order aimed at alleviating jail crowding. The lawsuit was a class action brought on behalf of some 16,000 former inmates who had been arrested but had not gone to court on criminal and misdemeanor charges. By the time Fiorenza ruled, the conditions had been corrected. She did not order monetary compensation for the affected inmates, but an appellate court said such damages had to be considered on a case-by-case basis. Tuesday's high court ruling reversed the appellate decision, saying that since the county had eventually corrected the problems, it could not be punished for the past contempt. The Legal Aid Society of Milwaukee brought the class-action lawsuit on behalf of men and women who were incarcerated in the booking area of the downtown facility between November 2001 and May 2004. The conditions in the booking area were "appalling," according to Fiorenza. According to court documents, as many as 100 inmates at a time - both men and women - were kept in booking area, a room without a bed, mattress or even a blanket for as long as four days. Some had been convicted of serious felonies while others were awaiting trial on misdemeanor or city ordinance violations. The jail opened in 1993 and has a maximum capacity of 798. Nonetheless, the average daily population in 1995 was 1,200 and conditions described in court records were abysmal. One woman said she was crammed into a small cell with 21 other women who slept atop of each other because the room had only a single concrete slab bench. Bologna sandwiches were served three times a day; inmates did not have access to showers, hygiene products or a change of clothes. Read More. |
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