On August 10, 1990, inmates at the Florida State Prison in Bradford County, Florida filed a pro se class action lawsuit under 42 U.S.C. §1983 against the Florida Department of Corrections in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida. The plaintiffs alleged that the defendants had violated their constitutional rights by confining them in conditions of administrative segregation, close management, disciplinary confinement, Q-wing, and on the yard suspension list. The plaintiffs further alleged that their living conditions offended "evolving standards of human decency," including 24-hour lockdown, small cells, poor ventilation, spread of disease, unbearable heat, unbearable cold, inadequate mattresses and pillows, human waste overflowing from the plumbing, no laundering of clothes, infestation of insects and vermin, poor lighting, flooding, no hot water, no chairs in cells, stagnant water in showers, inadequate shower time, no communication with other inmates, racial slurs and epithets, poor mental health, physical violence by staff and inmates, sexual assaults by inmates, deprivation of legal materials, and lack of grievance procedures. On the basis of these complaints, the plaintiffs asked the court for declaratory, injunctive, and monetary relief.

On November 5, 1992, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida (Judge Harvey E. Schlesinger) granted the defendants' request to dismiss the case for failure to state a claim and administratively closed the case. The plaintiffs appealed. On January 25, 1993, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit dismissed the appeal for failure to prosecute. On April 26, 1996, the plaintiffs asked the district court for a voluntary dismissal, and the court dismissed the case.

Kristen Sagar - 09/05/2006


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