On March 15, 2012, a group of juvenile prisoners in Central County Jail in Polk County filed a lawsuit in the Middle District of Florida under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Though plaintiffs amended their complaint twice to include different defendants, the lawsuit proceeded against the Sheriff of Polk County and Corizon Health, Inc., the health care provider retained by the Sheriff to provide medical services for the prisoners. The plaintiffs, represented by the Southern Poverty Law Center, asked the court for preliminary and permanent injunctive relief, claiming that the youths' Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment rights were violated. The plaintiffs also requested class certification.
Specifically, the plaintiffs claimed that, as juveniles, they were housed in an adult correctional facility. The plaintiffs claimed they were left unattended for long periods of time, and punished regularly with chemical agents, isolation and lockdown. The plaintiffs were forced to eat in their cells, and clean their own toilets with the soap provided for personal hygiene. The plaintiffs claimed a complete lack of rehabilitative services and extremely poor educational services.
On May 4, 2012, the Court (Judge Steven D. Merryday) granted the motion to dismiss for two named individual defendants, but denied the overall motion to dismiss the case. On August 13, 2012, the Court issued an order stating that K.G. (the representative of the sub-class of juvenile prisoners needing mental health treatment), as a pre-trial detainee, could only represent other pre-trial detainees, and therefore K.G., and the resulting subclass could not sue under the Eighth Amendment. However, Judge Merryday once again denied the overall motion to dismiss the case.
On November 19, 2012, the complaint was amended to include lack of adequate medical care. The plaintiffs alleged that medication was not provided to juveniles with serious mental and psychiatric problems, or that the medication was given irregularly and not in the way prescribed. The plaintiffs further alleged that no medical or counseling services were offered to children professing suicidal ideations. Instead, such children were put on "suicide watch." "Suicide watch" consists of placing the child in a open cage, with only a hard bench along one side. The children would be left there for at least 23 hours, but often for days. "Suicide watch" was also given to children punitively. Children also had to strip publicly and put on a 'turtle' suit, which left them vulnerable to the chemical agents, which continued to be used against children on "suicide watch."
On April 30, 2013, the Court granted class certification and denied the requested preliminary injunction. The first subclass was defined as: "each person who is under the jurisdiction of the juvenile court (that is, including preadjudicates and excluding direct files) and who is now or in the future incarcerated in the Polk County Jail."
A Second sub-class was compromised as each person: "(1) who is now or in the future incarcerated in the Polk County Jail, (2) who is under eighteen or under the jurisdiction of the juvenile court, and (3) who suffers from a 'mental disorder.' " With a person who suffers from a mental disorder defined as: "diagnosed by a mental health care professional, qualified in Florida both to diagnose mental disorders and to prescribe psychotropic medication, and who is suffering from a 'moderate' or 'severe' 'mental disorder,' as defined in the American Psychiatric Association’s DSM-IV and (2) whose current diagnosis, including any prescription for psychotropic medication, appears in the person’s 'intake' records presented to the Polk County Jail at the time the person is presented to, and accepted by, the Polk County Jail for detention."
On June 12, 2013, Judge Merryday denied defendants' motions for summary judgment, and the parties proceeded to a bench trial, which ran from November 18, 2013 to December 18, 2013. At its close, Judge Merryday ordered both parties to submit proposed finding of facts and conclusions from both the plaintiff and the defendant.
On April 16, 2015, Judge Merryday issued an opinion denying relief to the plaintiffs, holding that the plaintiffs failed to prove that either the Sheriff or Corizon demonstrated deliberate indifference to a substantial risk of serious harm to the plaintiffs and that plaintiffs failed to show that defendants' policies and customs violated their constitutional rights. Judgment was entered for the defendants and against the plaintiffs. On September 1, 2015, Judge Merryday denied the defendant's motion for sanction for insufficient proof of malicious intent by the plaintiff.
The case is now closed.
Kathryn DeLong - 10/23/2014
Sarah Du - 11/12/2018
Lisa Koo - 03/03/2019
compress summary
