The court provisionally certified a subclass of all immigrant detainees at Otay Mesa Detention Center "who are age 60 or over or who have medical conditions that place them at heightened risk of severe illness or death from COVID-19 as determined by CDC guidelines." The court appointed counsel and declared that the conditions of confinement for subclass members "are unconstitutional under the Fifth Amendment because the conditions of their confinement place subclass members at substantial risk of serious illness or death." The court ordered defendants to immediately review subclass members for release and to provide the court with a list of subclass members and justification for any subclass member who was not released within five days.
Class Certification, Preliminary Injunction (PI), Release, Temporary Restraining Order (TRO)
Type of Court
Federal District Court
Location
California
Type of Case
Class Action
Case Characteristics
Elderly, Immigrant Detention, Post-Conviction Detention [jail or prison], Pre-Existing Health Conditions
Release Granted
Yes
Compassionate Release Case
No
Compassionate Release Specific Characteristics
Only served a small portion of their sentence (less than 33%)
Case Tracking Number
20-cv-0756-DMS
MORE CASE INFORMATION
Court Name
S.D. Cal.
Decision
Motion Granted
Place of Incarceration
Immigrant Detention
Name of Facility
Otay Mesa Detention Center
Legal Authority
Substantive Due Process - Deliberate Indifference (both 14th and 5th Amendments), Substantive Due Process - Punitive Detention (both 14th and 5th Amendments)
Legal Authority
First Step Act Exhaustion, First Step Act, 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A), Other, § 2241 Habeas, 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a)
Release Conditions
Ordered release of "all subclass members suitable for release in the discretion of Defendants" "in a manner that comports with public health guidelines" and "[r]elease plans shall be appropriate to the individual circumstances of each subclass member," without paying a bond.
Case Status
Decision Made But Case Still Pending
Compassionate Release Exhaustion Holdingsin Federal Case
Other, The Bureau of Prisons communicated that because Defendant was not yet in a designated facility there was no one able to process her request. Defendant has effectively exhausted her administrative remedies by petitioning the BOP, giving them notice, and being told she does not have any other administrative remedies.
Pre-Existing Health Conditions
Age, Lung Disease, Other, all "medical conditions that place them at heightened risk of severe illness or death from COVID-19 as determined by CDC guidelines"
Class Action Medically Vulnerable People
"All civil immigration detainees incarcerated at the Otay Mesa Detention Center who are age 60 or over or who have medical conditions that place them at heightened risk of severe illness or death from COVID-19 as determined by CDC guidelines."
COVID-19 Positive or Symptomatic
Not discussed
COVID-19 in Jail Prison or Detention Center
Not Discussed
Organization Legal Filings Templates and Decisions
ACLU Foundation of San Diego & Imperial Counties
Litigation Database
Crowdsourced legal documents from around the country related to COVID-19 and incarceration, organized, collected, and summarized for public defenders, litigators, and other advocates. Created and managed by Bronx Defenders, Columbia Law School’s Center for Institutional and Social Change, UCLA Law COVID-19 Behind Bars Data Project, and Zealous. Mostly federal court opinions, but now expanding to states and legal filings, declarations, and exhibits.
This resource is designed to help lawyers, advocates, researchers, journalists, and others interested in challenging, remedying, or drawing attention to the grave risk that Covid-19 poses to individuals who are detained.