Individuals incarcerated at a Texas prison for the elderly and infirm brought a class action challenging, on Eighth Amendment grounds, the sufficiency of the preventive measures in place to prevent spread of COVID-19 among prisoners. The district court granted plantiffs' motion for preliminary injunction and required the officials to immediately implement more drastic preventive measures, but the Fifth Circuit stayed the injunction pending appeal. Plaintiffs then requested that the Supreme Court vacate the stay, and the Court denied the application. In a separate statement, Justice Sotomayor, joined by Justice Ginsburg, wrote to highlight the poor conditions at the prison. Further, the Justice suggested that the plaintiffs could possibly satisfy an exception to the PLRA's exhaustion requirements where they could show that the prison's grievance procedures would be a "dead end."
Valentine v. Collier, 590 U. S. ____, 140 S. Ct. 1598 (May 14, 2020) (Sotomayor, J., statement respecting denial of application to vacate stay)
Elderly, Post-Conviction Detention [jail or prison], Pre-Existing Health Conditions
Compassionate Release Case
No
Case Tracking Number
19-A-1034
MORE CASE INFORMATION
Court Name
U.S.
Decision
Motion Denied
Place of Incarceration
State Prison
Name of Facility
Pack Unit
Legal Authority
Eighth Amendment - Deliberate Indifference
Legal Authority
Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) Exhaustion
Case Status
Decision Made But Case Still Pending
Pre-Existing Health Conditions
Age
Pre-Existing Health Conditions Notes
Age ("elderly and infirm")
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.