On December 6, 2017, several prisoners of the Santa Barbara County Jail (SBCJ) in pre-trial detention filed this class action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. The plaintiffs sued the County of Santa Barbara and the Sheriff's Office under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, claiming violations of Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), 42 U.S.C. §12101 et seq., Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, 29 U.S.C. § 794.6, and state law. The plaintiffs, represented by Disability Rights California, the Prisons Law Office, and private counsel sought declaratory and injunctive relief as well as attorneys’ fees and costs. This case was assigned to District Judge George H. Wu and referred to Magistrate Judge Jean P. Rosenbluth.

The plaintiffs alleged that, in operating a jail that is old and dilapidated, severely overcrowded, and understaffed, the defendants forced prisoners to live in dangerous, unsanitary conditions. The plaintiffs also alleged that the defendants failed to provide adequate health care for prisoners, that they overused solitary confinement as punishment, and that the defendants discriminated against and failed to accommodate people with disabilities.

The plaintiffs sought to enjoin the defendants from continuing the unlawful acts, conditions, and practices described above. The plaintiffs wanted the defendants to provide equal access to programs, services, and activities for people with disabilities, including but not limited to housing people with physical disabilities, appropriate access to assistive devices, housing people with disabilities in the least restrictive and most integrated settings appropriate to their needs, and providing an effective grievance system to contest disability discrimination.

On the day of filing the complaint, the plaintiff filed a notice of related cases. The plaintiff wished that the court would recognize two cases as being related to the present case. These cases were Quinton Gray v. County of Riverside, available in this Clearinghouse here, and George Topete v. County of San Bernardino, also available in this Clearinghouse here.

On March 6, 2018, the plaintiffs filed a motion to certify class that included two classes. They defined the general class as “[a]ll people who are now, or in the future will be, incarcerated in the Santa Barbara County Jail system.” The plaintiffs also defined a subclass (the “Disabilities Subclass”) of “[a]ll people who are now, or in the future will be, incarcerated in the Santa Barbara County Jail system and who are qualified individuals with disabilities, as that term is defined in the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), 42 U.S.C. §12102, the Rehabilitation Act, 29 U.S.C. § 705(9)(B), and California Government Code § 12926(j) and (m).”

This case is ongoing. On April 12, 2018, Judge Wu heard argument on the motion to certify class and ordered that the plaintiff’s motion be continued to May 31, 2018.

Jake Parker - 05/29/2018


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