On November 8, 1993, the County of Wayne, Michigan and the Wayne County Youth Home, filed a lawsuit against the Probate Court in the Circuit Court for the County of Wayne pursuant to Michigan state law. The plaintiffs, represented by corporate counsel for the county, operated and funded the Wayne County Juvenile Detention Facility (JDF) and alleged that the manner in which the Probate Court operated the JDF created severe overcrowding. The complaint requested that the court issue a writ of superintending control/prohibition giving plaintiffs discretion to control the population of the JDF.

In April of 1994, the U.S. Department of Justice sent a team of experts to review the conditions at the JDF pursuant to the Civil Rights of Incarcerated Persons Act (CRIPA). On April 26, 1994, following the visit by the DOJ, the parties signed an agreement to control the population of the facility. In December 1994, the DOJ released a report of their visit and cited numerous constitutional violations with overcrowding listed as the main problem.

On June 16, 1995, Wayne County and the Wayne County Youth Home filed for a second writ of superintending control over the Probate Court. Plaintiffs filed for this second writ because the population limits set in the agreement were never followed, and the probate court consistently took longer than the agreed upon time to process paperwork for either releasing juveniles or for transferring them to state custody. Plaintiffs requested that the court declare that the director of the JDF had the exclusive power to establish and maintain the maximum capacity of the facility and that the Probate Court be required to involve the director in all decisions to admit juveniles.

On June 21, 1995 the parties entered into a preliminary agreement to cap the JDF's population at 175. The agreement specifically detailed the procedures that would be followed to ensure that the population stays under this number. The agreement also provided for fifty electronic monitors to be used for lower risk juveniles that were released to meet population limits. We do not have any further information about the case.

Emilee Baker - 05/16/2006


compress summary