COVID-19 Summary: This is a longstanding class action filed over conditions in the Nebraska state prison system. In addition to the underlying litigation, the plaintiffs filed an emergency motion on April 10, 2020 seeking disclosure of the defendants' plan for the prevention, management, and treatment of the COVID-19 pandemic. The motion was denied on June 8. The case was voluntarily dismissed on December 1, 2020.
On August 15, 2017, eleven prisoners filed a putative class action complaint against the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services (NDCS) and the Nebraska Board of Parole (BOP) in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nebraska under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Represented by the ACLU's National Prison Project, the National Association of the Deaf, and private counsel, the plaintiffs sought injunctive relief and attorneys’ fees, claiming that the prison conditions in Nebraska endangered the health, safety, and lives of prisoners and staff on a daily basis. The complaint alleged chronic overcrowding and under-staffing, a lack of staff training, a flawed parole system, overreliance on isolation, and inadequate health care. In particular, the plaintiffs claimed violations of the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. The case was assigned to Judge Robert F. Rossiter, Jr. and referred to Magistrate Judge Michael Nelson.
On November 6, 2017, the Department of Correctional Services and the Board of Parole moved to dismiss the plaintiffs’ complaint for failure to state a claim and lack of subject matter jurisdiction. They sought to have all claims against the Board dismissed entirely, and to dismiss all §1983 claims against both the Department and the Board. On January 16, 2018, the court denied the motion to dismiss the Board as defendant, but dismissed all §1983 claims, against the Board and the Department, with prejudice.
On July 27, 2018, the defendants moved for partial summary judgment, arguing that the plaintiffs had failed to exhaust administrative remedies as required under the Prison Litigation Reform Act. A few months later, the defendants moved to dismiss an individual plaintiff who had been released from prison, and also moved for summary judgment on the claims against one individual defendant (the Director of Supervision and Services of the Division of Parole Supervision).
The plaintiffs sought class certification on February 19, 2019. They sought to represent a class of "all persons who are now, or will in the future, be subjected to the health care (including medical, mental health and dental care) policies and practices of NDCS [the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services]." They also sought to certify two subclasses: an Isolation Subclass (“all NDCS prisoners who are now, or will in the future be, subject to conditions of confinement that provide limited contact with other prisoners, strictly controlled movement while out of cell, and out-of-cell time of less than twenty-four hours per week") and a Disability Subclass ("“all persons with disabilities who are now, or will in the future be, confined at any NDCS facility”).
On April 18, 2019, the defendants again sought summary judgment. Between November and December 2019, defendants moved to dismiss two other individual plaintiffs who had been released from prison.
Plaintiffs filed an emergency motion on April 10, 2020 seeking disclosure of the defendants' plan for the prevention, management, and treatment of the COVID-19 pandemic. Plaintiffs argued that the discovery request was relevant to the case because their “class action already concerns issues of life and death for incarcerated individuals in NDCS facilities” and the COVID-19 crisis has placed purported class members at “a real and immediate risk of suffering or dying."
On June 8, 2020, the court issued a series of orders. First, the court denied the defendants' motion for partial summary judgment regarding exhaustion of administrative remedies. Second, defendants' motion for partial summary judgment regarding life sentences and Eighth Amendment claims were granted as to some defendants but not others. Third, an individual defendant was dismissed on summary judgment. Fourth, the plaintiff's request for class certification was denied in full. 2020 WL 3047479. The court also stated that discovery about COVID-19 was irrelevant to the plaintiff's claims about the medical care system.
With the case thus narrowed, some discovery disputes proceeded -- but on December 1, the parties filed a joint stipulation of dismissal without prejudice, concluding the case. No settlement terms are public. The court issued a judgment dismissing the case without prejudice.
Chandler Hart-McGonigle - 12/01/2020
Gabriela Hybel - 02/21/2019
Bogyung Lim - 06/27/2020
Tessa McEvoy - 02/26/2021
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