The court denied a Temporary Restraining Order for six plaintiffs at high risk for COVID-19. The court held that because there were no current cases of COVID-19 in the prison, there was no need for immediate relief prior to giving the defendants an opportunity to be heard, but ordered an expedited response to the Preliminary Injunction.
Smith v. Hutchinson, No. 20-cv-00100-DPM, Dkt. No. 8 (E.D. Ark. May 22, 2020).
DETAILS
Decision
Date
5/22/2020
Practice Area
Criminal (State Charges)
Relief Requested
Improved Conditions, Release, Temporary Restraining Order (TRO)
Type of Court
Federal District Court
Location
Arkansas
Type of Case
Group
Case Characteristics
Elderly, Immigrant Detention, Post-Conviction Detention [jail or prison], Pre-Existing Health Conditions, Pretrial Detention [jail], Significant Criminal History
Release Granted
No
Compassionate Release Case
No
Compassionate Release Specific Characteristics
Only served a small portion of their sentence (less than 33%)
Case Tracking Number
2:20-cv-00100-DPM
MORE CASE INFORMATION
Court Name
E.D. Ark.
Decision
Motion Denied
Place of Incarceration
State Prison
Name of Facility
East Arkansas Regional Unit of the Arkansas Department of Correction
Legal Authority
Substantive Due Process - Deliberate Indifference (both 14th and 5th Amendments)
Compassionate Release Exhaustion Holdingsin Federal Case
Other, The parties agreed at the May 6, 2020 hearing that the 30-day exhaustion requirement is not an impediment to the court’s deciding the pending merits of the Motion.
Pre-Existing Health Conditions
Age, Asthma, High Cholesterol, Hypertension (high blood pressure), Obesity, Other, Pre-Diabetes, PTSD, Serious and Persistent Mental Illness (SPMI), Tuberculosis, Adjustment Disorder with Depressed Mood
COVID-19 in Jail Prison or Detention Center
No
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.