Plaintiffs filed a class action on behalf of themselves and incarcerated individuals in Connecticut Department of Correction facilities who were 50 years and older and those with medical conditions that placed them at heightened risk of severe illness or death from COVID-19. Their pre-existing health conditions include age, prediabetes, HIV, kidney disease, and hepatitis C. Defendants moved to dismiss on the grounds that the court lacked jurisdiction because Plaintiffs have not exhausted their remedies as required by the Prison Litigation Reform Act and habeas petition exhaustion requirements. The court denied Defendants' motion and proceeded to consider Plaintiff's Temporary Restraining Order, as the COVID-19 health emergency made waiting to exhaust all state court remedies futile, especially considering the reduced operations of state courts. Further, under PLRA, the plaintiffs were also excepted from exhaustion because the administrative process had no available remedy to the plaintiffs, since the DOC did not have an emergency review process for grievances which "has rendered DOC's administrative process inadequate to the task of handling Plaintiffs' urgent complaints regarding their health."
McPherson v. Lamont, 457 F. Supp. 3d 67 (D. Conn. 2021)
DETAILS
Decision
Date
05/06/2020
Practice Area
Criminal (State Charges)
Relief Requested
Improved Conditions, Preliminary Injunction (PI), Temporary Restraining Order (TRO)
Type of Court
Federal District Court
Location
Connecticut
Type of Case
Class Action
Case Characteristics
Elderly, Post-Conviction Detention [jail or prison], Pre-Existing Health Conditions, Pretrial Detention [jail]
"The Pre-adjudication Class" are those incarcerated people held while awaiting adjudication of their charges.
"The Post-adjudication Class" are those incarcerated people who are serving a criminal sentence.
Each proposed class contains a medically vulnerable subclass, made up of all individuals 50 and older and those with medical conditions that place them at heightened risk of severe illness or death from COVID-19.
COVID-19 Positive or Symptomatic
Yes
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.
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.