In 1976 (according to the docket number), inmates of the Montgomery County Jail in Alabama filed a series of lawsuits under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama against state and county officials for constitutional violations in conditions at the jail, including overcrowding. The suits were consolidated and the parties entered into a consent decree that mostly vindicated the plaintiffs' claims. The district court (Judge Robert E. Varner) found for plaintiffs and awarded them attorneys' fees that were taxed against state defendants alone because the court deemed the state's failure to provide adequate facilities the primary cause of the conditions complained of. (No decision is available). The defendants appealed.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (per curiam) reversed and remanded, finding that the inmates' complaints in the consent decree and pre-trial order referred to numerous violations independent of overcrowding, for which the state could not be held solely responsible. Bibb v. Montgomery County Jail, 622 F.2d 116 (5th. Cir. 1980). In February 1992, the district court (Judge Varner) ordered the case dismissed upon consideration of a Joint Motion to Dismiss, which noted that the overcrowding at the Montgomery County detention facility had decreased considerably, solving the problem. The Justice Department closed its file on the case shortly thereafter.

No further information is provided.

Rebecca Bloch - 03/25/2006


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