The court denied the Sheriff's request to stay the preliminary injunction and TRO, while also denying the class's request for expedited discovery. The class action was brought by two detainees in pretrial detention at Cook County Jail, on the basis of a § 1983 claim that the jail's conditions amounted to punitive detention in violation of the 14th Amendment. The sheriff's request for a stay of the TRO/PI pending appeal was rejected on the basis that he had not shown a likelihood of success on the merits and because "[s]taying the injunction would permit the Sheriff to lift measures and thereby again place the health of detained persons at serious risk." The court denied the class's expedited recovery request due to the parties' failure to confer under Rule 26(f).
Mays v. Dart, No. 20 C 2134, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 93955 (N.D. Ill. May 29, 2020)
DETAILS
Decision
Date
5/29/2020
Practice Area
Criminal (State Charges)
Relief Requested
Improved Conditions, Preliminary Injunction (PI), Release, Temporary Restraining Order (TRO)
Type of Court
Federal District Court
Location
Illinois
Type of Case
Class Action
Case Characteristics
Elderly, Post-Conviction Detention [jail or prison], Pre-Existing Health Conditions, Pretrial Detention [jail], Significant Criminal History
Compassionate Release Case
No
Compassionate Release Specific Characteristics
Has a disciplinary history, Has a significant criminal history, Only served a small portion of their sentence (less than 33%), Was sentenced as an Armed Career Criminal under the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA)
Case Tracking Number
1:20-cv-02134
MORE CASE INFORMATION
Court Name
N.D. Ill.
Decision
Motion Denied
Place of Incarceration
Local / County Jail
Name of Facility
Cook County Jail
Legal Authority
Substantive Due Process - Punitive Detention (both 14th and 5th Amendments)
The court denied the sheriff's motion to stay the preliminary injunction (which involved making improvements in jail conditions related to Covid-19) and also denied the class's motion for expedited discovery.
Compassionate Release Exhaustion Holdingsin Federal Case
An individual can move for compassionate release after 30 days have passed from the date the application was submitted to the warden, irrespective of whether the warden has granted or denied the request.
Pre-existing conditions of named plaintiffs not specified
Class Action Medically Vulnerable People
In an earlier decision, vulnerable class members are identified as "those over the age of sixty-five or with certain preexisting health conditions" to whom exposure to Covid-19 would "risk severe health consequences, including death."
COVID-19 Positive or Symptomatic
Yes
Charges
Charges not discussed
COVID-19 in Jail Prison or Detention Center
Yes
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.
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