In 1981, inmates filed a class action lawsuit against the state of Alaska in state court challenging the conditions of Alaska's correctional facilities. The class consisted of all inmates who were or would be incarcerated in Alaska prisons and Alaska inmates serving sentences in federal facilities. In 1983, the parties entered into settlement agreements and several issues were reserved for trial, which was held in 1984. In 1985, the superior court entered an order setting population caps. An appeal was stayed to allow settlement negotiations. On August 1, 1990, the Final Settlement Agreement was reached and it was subsequently modified after comments from class members.

Prior to the comment period, inmate Sidney Hertz moved to intervene as a plaintiff in the litigation. He also later moved to extend the comment period and filed proposed changes to the settlement agreement. The Superior Court, Third Judicial District in Anchorage (Judge Karen L. Hunt) did not rule on the motion to intervene and treated his other motions as comments. Hertz appealed and the Supreme Court of Alaska (Judge Rabinowitz) held that the superior court did not err in denying Hertz's motion to intervene. Hertz v. Cleary, 835 P.2d 438 (Alaska 1992).

In 1993, defendants moved to modify provisions of the settlement agreement to increase maximum capacity limits due to financial constraints. An expert reported that there had been significant improvements in the prison conditions since the settlement agreement was reached. An order by Judge Hunt dated October 25, 1993 allowed defendants to increase capacity at two prisons but denied any other modifications. Judge Hunt granted plaintiffs' motion to reconsider in late 1993.

Plaintiffs moved for an order holding the defendants in contempt for failure to comply with population caps in the original settlement agreement. On September 9, 1994, Judge Hunt ordered the state of Alaska to pay sanctions for every day that the statewide prison population exceeded capacity agreed upon in the settlement agreement. It also ordered the DOC to provide monthly population reports.

Angela Heverling - 04/07/2006


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