On April 13, 1983, prisoners at the Merced County Jail filed a class action lawsuit in the Superior Court of California for the County of Merced against the County. The plaintiffs, represented by Fresno-Merced Counties Legal Services, challenged the County's failure to create a women's minimum security prison when such a facility was provided for men and its failure to allow women to participate in the work furlough program as violations of equal protection under the federal and state constitutions. They also challenged what they alleged were unconstitutional conditions of confinement, citing overcrowding, segregate certain inmates, lack of adequate medical care, inadequate legal materials and inadequate exercise.

Our knowledge of this case is limited to a summary of the complaint in 17 Clearinghouse Review 577, 615; as of the time of this writing, we have no further information on the case.

Christopher Schad - 08/15/2012


compress summary