On December 31, 2018, three female pretrial detainees housed at the Santa Rita Jail in Alameda County filed this class action lawsuit on behalf of a class of all women who were, or will be in the future, incarcerated in the Alameda County Jails, in the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of California. The plaintiffs sued Alameda County and the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office under 42 U.S.C. §1983 for violations of their rights under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments and state law. They claimed denial of basic human rights, cruel and unusual punishment, and intentional infliction of emotional stress due to the jail’s practice of interrupting the sleep of the plaintiffs. Represented by a private counsel, they sought monetary, injunctive, and declaratory relief. The case was assigned to Judge James Donato.

Specifically, the plaintiffs alleged that the jail had a policy of keeping lights on at all times and scheduling meals and activities designed to prevent inmates from sleeping for more than five and a half hours per night. The plaintiffs also contended that, in addition to the 24-hour light-on policy, the jail routinely engaged in actions that disrupt the inmates’ sleep, such as repeatedly shining bright white flashlights into prisoners’ eyes, banging keys and flashlights on metal doors, operating machines, and making announcements over the public address system.

On January 31, the court denied the plaintiffs’ ex parte motion for a temporary restraining order, but granted a preliminary injunction on March 27, 2019. In the order granting preliminary injunction, the court instructed the parties to jointly submit a proposal for a detailed version of the preliminary injunction that would meet the health needs of the prisoners while still satisfying the administrative requirements of the jail. The plaintiffs submitted a proposal, and the jail attempted to re-litigate the issuance of the injunction. The court adopted the plaintiffs’ proposed injunction on April 22, 2019. 377 F. Supp. 3d 1027.

On June 27, 2019, the plaintiffs moved for certification of a class on the question of whether the county’s “policies and practices depriving and disrupting women prisoners’ sleep violates plaintiffs’ and class member’s constitutional rights.” The court terminated that motion without prejudice on March 24, 2020.

In September 2019, the parties jointly requested that the case be referred to a magistrate judge for settlement discussions.

As of July 2020, settlement negotiations are in progress.

Lisa Koo - 01/31/2019
Gregory Marsh - 07/07/2020


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