Case: Becker v. County of Merced

71999 | California state trial court

Filed Date: April 13, 1983

Clearinghouse coding complete

Case Summary

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.

Summary Authors

Christopher Schad (8/15/2012)

People


Attorney for Plaintiff

Brown, Chris (California)

Haden, Robert (California)

Mitchell, Eugenie (California)

Williams, Scott (California)

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Documents in the Clearinghouse

Document

17 Clearinghouse Review 577, 615

No Court

Oct. 1, 1983

Oct. 1, 1983

Press Release

Docket

Last updated Aug. 30, 2023, 1:33 p.m.

Docket sheet not available via the Clearinghouse.

Case Details

State / Territory: California

Case Type(s):

Jail Conditions

Special Collection(s):

California Jail Population Caps

Key Dates

Filing Date: April 13, 1983

Case Ongoing: No reason to think so

Plaintiffs

Plaintiff Description:

Plaintiffs are prisoners at the Merced County Jail

Plaintiff Type(s):

Private Plaintiff

Public Interest Lawyer: Unknown

Filed Pro Se: Unknown

Class Action Sought: Yes

Class Action Outcome: Unknown

Defendants

County of Merced (Merced), County

Defendant Type(s):

Corrections

Case Details

Causes of Action:

42 U.S.C. § 1983

State law

Constitutional Clause(s):

Equal Protection

Cruel and Unusual Punishment

Available Documents:

None of the above

Outcome

Prevailing Party: Unknown

Nature of Relief:

Unknown

Source of Relief:

Unknown

Issues

General:

Access to lawyers or judicial system

Conditions of confinement

Recreation / Exercise

Jails, Prisons, Detention Centers, and Other Institutions:

Administrative segregation

Law library access

Crowding / caseload

Discrimination-basis:

Sex discrimination

Affected Sex or Gender:

Female

Medical/Mental Health:

Medical care, general

Type of Facility:

Government-run