Sometime in 1993, two pretrial detainees incarcerated at the Saipan Detention Center in the Northern Mariana Islands filed a lawsuit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against the United States Marshals prison officials in the U.S. District Court for the District of the Northern Mariana Islands. The plaintiffs, represented by private counsel, alleged that the conditions under which they were held at the detention center violated their constitutional rights under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments. Specifically, the plaintiffs complained that they were denied opportunities to exercise, to wash clothes and take care of personal hygiene. They also claimed that their cells lacked beds and adequate lighting and that they were confined in an area with a convict serving a sentence.

Both parties moved for Summary Judgment. The court (Judge Alex R. Munson), on May 11, 1994, denied the defendant's motion on the issues of qualified immunity and the statute of limitations as it applied to this case. The portion of the plaintiffs' motion based on the merits of the case was granted on the issues of denial of a mattress, blanket and pillow; ability to wash clothes; denial of exercise; inadequate lighting; and inadequate plumbing. The court denied the plaintiffs' motion concerning their ability to brush their teeth daily, cell size, and confinement in an area with prisoners serving sentences. Finally, the court denied the plaintiffs' motion as to the defendant's liability under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The case was dismissed on June 14, 1994. Seed v. Hudson, 1994 U.S. Dist. Lexis 6777 *18 (D. N. Mar. I. May 11, 1994).

Laura Uberti - 06/08/2006
Abigail DeHart - 10/21/2016


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