A group of Wisconsin inmates who filed a federal lawsuit alleging that they endured a 30-hour ride on an unheated bus with no bathroom while being transferred to a private prison in Oklahoma can proceed with the action, a judge has ruled.
The 39 inmates claim they were transported from Wisconsin to a Corrections Corporation of America prison in Sayre, Okla., last January in a bus that lacked heat and toilet facilities.
When the guards on board the bus realized the toilet was not working they stopped, purchased a gas can and a funnel and told the prisoners to use it, said Frank Lettenberger, an attorney for the inmates.
The inoperative toilet overflowed and the floor of the bus was awash in urine and feces, Lettenberger said.
The prisoners were shackled together in pairs and were issued only jumpsuits to make the overnight trip. The windows on the unheated bus frosted and several prisoners complained of frostbite and hypothermia when they arrived, Lettenberger said.
The bus also had a defective muffler which leaked exhaust and carbon monoxide into the passenger area, he said. Combined with the stench of the improperly disposed of urine and excrement, caused some prisoners to vomit.
The inmates sued Prison Realty, CCA and the state Department of Corrections last fall. On December 27, U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb dismissed the state from the lawsuit, saying it had immunity against the prisoners' allegations of cruel and unusual punishment and negligence.
However, she ruled that the lawsuit had sufficient enough facts to allow it to continue against Prison Realty and CCA, which agreed to formally respond to the allegations by Jan. 22.
Lettenberger said Prison Realty is hired by CCA to transport inmates to several of its institutions.