On March 28, 1990, inmates of the Modular Facility in the District of Columbia filed a class action lawsuit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against the District of Columbia Department of Corrections in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The plaintiffs alleged that the defendants had violated their constitutional rights by depriving them of mental health care and medical care.

Following a bench trial, the parties entered into a consent decree, which was adopted by the District Court (Judge June L. Green) on December 14, 1990. The District Court then terminated the litigation. On September 13, 1991, the plaintiffs asked the District Court to hold the defendants in contempt of the Court's decree and to impose sanctions against them. Three weeks later, the parties again filed a consent order, which was adopted by the District Court. On March 5, 1992, the District Court (Judge Green) found the defendants to be in contempt and imposed sanctions against them.

The defendants asked the Court to reconsider the imposition of monetary sanctions, and on June 2, 1992, the District Court (Judge Green) ordered the defendants to pay $102,500.00 in fines. On June 8, 1993, the District Court adopted another consent order, which had been filed jointly by the parties to the case. One month later, the plaintiffs again asked the Court to hold the defendants in contempt and to impose fines on them for disobeying the Court's order. On November 24, 1993, the District Court again granted the plaintiffs' motion for contempt fines, awarding them $56,000 for the defendants' violations of the consent order.

On August 16, 1994, the defendants asked the Court to modify the consent decree, and one week later, the District Court granted the request.

We have no further information in this case.

Kristen Sagar - 09/24/2007


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