Filed Date: Nov. 30, 2018
Case Ongoing
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A woman incarcerated at Pennsylvania’s Berks County Jail filed this lawsuit against the County and several county officials and jail officials. Her complaint, filed November 30, 2018 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, alleged that the jail violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment by discriminating against her on the basis of her sex: her “Trusty” security classification did not qualify her for lower-security housing in the off-site Community Reentry Center, but male inmates with the same security classification did qualify for such off-site housing, with increased freedom of movement, work-release privileges, and expanded educational opportunities. She sued on behalf of herself and others similarly situated. For the entire class, she sought declaratory judgment (under 28 U.S.C. §§2201-2202), as well as injunctive relief requiring the County to give female “Trusty” inmates housing, privileges, and programming comparable to those granted to their male counterparts. Individually, she alleged that jail officials had retaliated against her for filing grievances, and sought monetary damages. She was represented by the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project. The case was assigned to Judge Mark A. Kearney.
In December 2018, the plaintiff twice sought a preliminary injunction and was twice denied. On January 15, 2019, the court granted her third request for a preliminary injunction, 355 F. Supp. 3d 239 (E.D. Pa. 2019). Two days later, the Third Circuit stayed the injunction in part.
The First Amended Complaint, on January 17, joined as plaintiffs two other women incarcerated at the Berks County Jail, similarly unable to qualify for housing and privileges commensurate with their “Trusty” security classification. Together, the three plaintiffs moved for class certification, which the court denied.
In February 2019, the court dissolved the preliminary injunction of January 17; the lead plaintiff and one of her co-plaintiffs had been released from custody, and the third plaintiff had not properly exhausted administrative remedies. 2019 WL 653788.
On April 5, 2019, the court partially granted the County’s motion to dismiss. 2019 WL 1507769. Discovery could proceed on: injunctive relief to prohibit the disparate treatment; the lead plaintiff’s damage claims against the non-immune individual defendants; some of the lead plaintiff’s First Amendment retaliation claims; and the sex discrimination claim under the Pennsylvania Constitution. The court dismissed all other claims.
Two weeks later, the lead plaintiff filed the Second Amended Complaint, replacing the original co-plaintiffs with two other women similarly incarcerated at the Jail. They moved for a preliminary injunction on April 24, and the injunction was granted on May 20. In the meantime, one of the new co-plaintiffs had, without explanation, dismissed all of her claims with prejudice. On June 3, the two remaining plaintiffs moved for class certification. The same day, the court denied the County's motion to stay all proceedings. 2019 WL 2368579.
The court granted class certification on July 8, 2019: “All current and future female inmates committed to the Berks County Jail System who have the Trusty custody-level classification but denied assignment to the Community Reentry Center (“CRC”) and denied access to the privileges and services available to men assigned to the CRC.” 2019 WL 2950171. The same day, the court granted partial summary judgment to the County. While the Fourteenth Amendment claim was allowed to proceed, all other claims were dismissed. Several individual defendants were also dismissed.
On July 11, 2019, the court held Berks County in civil contempt for failure to comply with the May 20 preliminary injunction. 2019 WL 3068991. The lead plaintiff was granted compensatory sanctions and attorneys fees. However, this contempt finding was later reversed by the Third Circuit, which found that the May 20 preliminary injunction had not included an explicit needs-narrowness-intrusiveness finding as required by the Prison Litigation Reform Act. The injunction was thus invalid and could not be a basis for a contempt finding. Throughout the litigation, the County brought a total of 5 interlocutory appeals (Third Circuit docket numbers 19-01329, 19-02193, 19-02648, 19-02695, and 19-03060). Only the appeals regarding the May 20 preliminary injunction and the July 11 contempt order were successful.
On October 17, 2019, the court granted partial summary judgment to the plaintiffs. 2019 WL 5266147. The court found that "Berks County violated [the plaintiffs'] rights when it discriminated against them in disparate treatment as to freedom of mobility, access to privileges, and visitation on the basis of their sex in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution." However, there remained questions of material fact as to whether the County provided equal access to furloughs for female "Trusty" inmates. This question, along with the question of a permanent injunction and the lead plaintiff’s individual damages, would be decided at trial.
The week before the trial, the County announced that the Community Reentry Center had been closed and that all male inmates had been returned to the jail proper.
The 3-phase trial was held from Tuesday, November 12 through Friday, November 15, 2019. In the first phase, the jury found that Berks County had violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment by providing the plaintiffs less access to furloughs than their male counterparts. In the second phase, the jury found that the County’s violation of the Equal Protection Clause had caused the plaintiff emotional pain, and awarded the lead plaintiff $2,800 in damages. The third and final phase was tried without jury; the court ordered a permanent injunction against the County. 2020 WL 236911. {DID IT INCLUDE PLRA FINDINGS?} The court entered judgment on April 7, 2020, and ordered the County to pay approximately $510,000 in costs and attorneys’ fees. 2020 WL 1694600.
As of June 15, 2020, no appeal had been filed.
Summary Authors
Gregory Marsh (6/15/2020)
For PACER's information on parties and their attorneys, see: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/8365639/parties/victory-v-berks-county/
Heffley, Marilyn (Pennsylvania)
Davy, James (Pennsylvania)
Feldman, Matthew A (Pennsylvania)
Connell, Matthew J. (Pennsylvania)
Fiore, Laurie Ann (Pennsylvania)
Heffley, Marilyn (Pennsylvania)
Kearney, Mark A. (Pennsylvania)
See docket on RECAP: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/8365639/victory-v-berks-county/
Last updated March 3, 2024, 3 a.m.
State / Territory: Pennsylvania
Case Type(s):
Special Collection(s):
Key Dates
Filing Date: Nov. 30, 2018
Case Ongoing: Yes
Plaintiffs
Plaintiff Description:
The plaintiffs in this case are a class of women incarcerated in the Berks County (Pennsylvania) Jail. They are classified at the lowest security classification the jail system has, and are thus eligible for lower-security housing. Men housed in the jail system enjoy lower-security housing; however, the women do not.
Plaintiff Type(s):
Attorney Organizations:
Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project
Public Interest Lawyer: Yes
Filed Pro Se: No
Class Action Sought: Yes
Class Action Outcome: Granted
Defendants
Berks County (Reading, Berks), County
Defendant Type(s):
Case Details
Causes of Action:
Declaratory Judgment Act, 28 U.S.C. § 2201
Ex parte Young (federal or state officials)
Constitutional Clause(s):
Available Documents:
Injunctive (or Injunctive-like) Relief
Outcome
Prevailing Party: Mixed
Nature of Relief:
Injunction / Injunctive-like Settlement
Preliminary injunction / Temp. restraining order
Source of Relief:
Amount Defendant Pays: $510,000
Order Duration: 2020 - None
Content of Injunction:
Issues
General:
Jails, Prisons, Detention Centers, and Other Institutions:
Work release or work assignments
Discrimination-area:
Discrimination-basis:
Affected Sex or Gender:
Type of Facility: