On October 25, 1979, inmates of the Pulaski County Jail in Arkansas filed a class action lawsuit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas challenging the conditions of that facility. In 1985, the parties entered into a consent decree that established population limits for the jail and required the sheriff of Pulaski County to notify the Court if anyone attempted to contravene the agreement.

On November 10, 1988, the sheriff filed notice with the District Court alleging that a state court judge had issued contempt orders when the sheriff refused to accept prisoners in contravention of the agreement. The District Court then reopened the 1985 decree for the limited purposes of dealing with compliance problems and joined the state court judge as a third party defendant for injunctive purposes. The judge then filed for a writ of prohibition in the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, to prevent the District Court from joining him as a party for injunctive relief. The Eighth Circuit (Judge Donald Pomery Lay) denied the writ, finding no extraordinary circumstances to warrant the grant. Lofton v. U.S. Dist. Court for E.D. of Arkansas, 882 F.2d 300 (8th Cir. 1989). In November of 1989, the District Court (Judge George Howard Jr.) granted a motion to modify the consent decree for a temporary period, but the docket does not specify the conditions thereof. Procedural activity continued with respect to jurisdiction of the court, substitution of counsel, etc. and the case was terminated in June of 2000.

Rebecca Bloch - 03/22/2006


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