On February 8, 1991, inmates in the DeKalb County Jail in Alabama filed a class action lawsuit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama against the county and corrections officials alleging unconstitutional conditions of confinement. The defendants filed a third-party complaint against the Alabama Department of Corrections alleging that they were responsible for the alleged unconstitutional conditions because the jail's inmates were mostly state prisoners. On June 14, 1991, the court (Judge William Acker Jr.) certified the class. On June 30, 1992, the court (Judge Acker) entered a consent decree, agreed to by the inmates and the county defendants -- but not the Alabama Department of Corrections, limiting the jail's population to 38 inmates, and requiring the jail to enhance security and the physical building. The court chose deliberately not to rule upon the third-party claims.

On February 3, 1993, the inmates filed a notice of noncompliance with the consent decree. On June 16, 1993, the court (Judge Acker) approved a settlement for the noncompliance matters.

On July 2, 1997, the Alabama Department of Corrections filed a motion to terminate the consent decree and perspective relief pursuant to the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA). On October 7, 1997, the court (Judge Acker) granted the motion to terminate because no findings had been made that the relief was narrowly drawn or that it was the least intrusive means to correct the violations and the plaintiffs did not make a showing that continued relief was necessary to correct a current violation of a federal right. The court also found that the PLRA was not unconstitutional. The plaintiffs appealed but the appeal was dismissed on February 12, 1998, for failing to pay the filing fee.

Jaclyn Adams - 04/05/2006


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