While we have no documents from this case, we do have descriptions in Ellen Barry, River Ginchild & Doreen Lee, Legal Issues for Prisoners with Children, in Children of Incarcerated Parents 147, 160 (Katherine Gabel & Denise Johnston eds., 1995), and Wayne N. Welsh, Counties in Court: Jail Overcrowding and Court-Ordered Reform (1995). They provide the following information:

In 1987, male and female prisoners at the San Bernardino County Jail filed a class action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California against San Bernardino County. The plaintiffs challenged the constitutionality of their conditions of confinement, alleging overcrowding, inappropriate diet and exercise, and inadequate visitation opportunities.

The parties reached a settlement in the same year, and the District Court approved it. Under the terms of the settlement, guidelines for proper procedure and adequate pregnancy care were established; the Court also specified a jail population cap. The cap was temporarily raised in 1988 pending completion of a planned 960-bed pretrial jail facility, but the Court retained jurisdiction for at least the next eight years to monitor jail populations and conditions.

Christopher Schad - 08/16/2012


compress summary