On December 17, 2013, prisoners currently or previously incarcerated in solitary confinement at Colorado State Penitentiary ("CSP") filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of Colorado under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against the State of Colorado. The plaintiffs, represented by the Civil Rights Education and Enforcement Center and student attorneys from the Civil Rights Clinic at the University of Denver College of Law, asked the Court to declare that CSP conditions violated the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments. Specifically, the plaintiffs requested that the Court issue an injunction ordering the state to provide solitary confinement prisoners with regular access to outdoor exercise.
At the time the case was bought, prisoners in administrative segregation at CSP spent a minimum of 23 hours per day alone in a cell. The prisoners in administrative segregation had access to a recreation room for a maximum of one hour per day, five days per week. The exercise area was essentially another cell and was not outdoors. The small room contained only a pull-up bar and there was no opportunity for inmates to run. Plaintiffs alleged that they had suffered mental and physical harm as a result of being denied access to outdoor exercise.
On July 10, 2014, Judge William Martinez granted the plaintiffs' motion for class certification, certifying a class of "[a]ll inmates who are now or will in the future be housed in administrative segregation at the Colorado State Penitentiary and who are now or will in the future be subjected to the policy and practice of refusing to provide such inmates access to outdoor exercise." In the same order, the Court denied the plaintiffs' motion to consolidate this class action with a prior-filed pro se damage action. 2014 WL 3373670, 304 F.R.D. 683 (D. Colo. 2014).
The Court granted the plaintiffs' motion to redefine their class by excluding the limitation of administrative segregation housing in April 2015.
On October 2, 2015, the parties filed a stipulated notice of settlement agreement. After a fairness hearing, on July 6, 2016, the court approved the settlement agreement and granted the plaintiffs' motion for attorneys' fees. The settlement agreement provided that inmates would be transferred from CSP to Sterling Correctional Facility, where there were outdoor cages available for exercise that had at least 180 square feet of space. These inmates would be permitted to use this space for one hour per day, three days per week. Further, pending the completion of new outdoor yards at CSP, inmates would be able to exercise in these yards for one hour per day, three days per week. The parties also laid out a dispute resolution process, whereby they agreed to attempt informal resolutions first before seeking out judicial resolution. The agreement also included a provision requiring that notice be provided to class members of the settlement. Further, the agreement provided a process for concluding the case: This case was to be administratively closed once the settlement was approved, and upon completion and inspection of the agreement's requirements, the parties were to file a stipulation to dismiss the case. The plaintiffs were awarded $410,000 in attorneys' fees.
The settlement agreement provided for an October 2016 checkpoint if it appeared construction would not be completed by December 2016. The defendants were to file a status report with the court. However, the docket shows no activity after the settlement agreement.
The case is now administratively closed, though the court retained jurisdiction to resolve disputes arising under the agreement. According to news articles,
Colorado ended long-term solitary confinement in October 2017. Nate West - 09/24/2014
Virginia Weeks - 09/13/2017
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