On September 8, 1995, inmates at the Erie County Holding Center in Buffalo, New York filed a pro se class action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York under 42 U.S.C. §1983 against the New York State Commission of Corrections and representatives of the jail. The plaintiff class alleged that their constitutional rights had been violated by overcrowding at the jail. The plaintiffs sought declaratory and injunctive relief, as well as monetary damages.

On October 3, 1996, the U.S. District Court for the (Magistrate Judge Leslie G. Foschio) held that the plaintiffs' rights had been violated by overcrowding at the jail, and that the evidence established wantonness by the jail officials. However, the court stayed injunctive relief for 60 days to allow the defendants to come into compliance with the constitutional standards. Zolnowski v. County of Erie, 944 F.Supp. 1096 (W.D.N.Y. 1996). Negotiations between the parties proceeded.

On September 24, 1997, the district court (Judge Foschio) approved a settlement agreement between the parties. The order noted that a number of conditions at the Jail, if left unabated, would violate the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments: lack of beds, cots, bedding or blankets, housing detainees in a overcrowded conditions, housing sentenced prisoners in chapels, resource rooms, etc except in emergency and housing female prisoners or detainees in the atrium area visible to those present in the exercise area. The order imposed reporting and notice requirements. On October 23, 1998, the case was closed.

On October 11, 2005, plaintiffs filed a motion seeking an expedited hearing concerning alleged violations of the court's order governing conditions at the jail. However, this motion was withdrawn two days later. As of November 5, 2014, there has been no further activity.

Kristen Sagar - 10/13/2006
Richard Jolly - 11/14/2014


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