On 2/13/1991, inmates in the Washoe County Detention Center filed a Section 1983 class action suit in the District of Nevada, pro se, against officials of the Nevada Department of Prisons. The court appointed private counsel for the plaintiffs and certified the class as 'all prisoners who are or will be incarcerated at Washoe County Jail.'

Following discovery, both plaintiffs and defendants moved for summary judgment. In a March 1993 order, the court granted plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment on the issue of the inadequacy of the access to the court provided by defendants for the purpose of filing state and federal petitions for writ of habeas corpus. The court denied plaintiffs' and defendants' motions for summary judgment on all other issues.

Two months later, the court referred this case to Judge James M. Burns for the purpose of conducting a settlement conference. In October 1993, the parties had reached an agreement and the court entered a consent decree finding the plaintiffs as the prevailing party and awarding attorney's fees. The court retained jurisdiction for two years to ensure compliance.

The case file contains only a copy of the docket, so the specifics of the case are unavailable. In the last entry the court denied plaintiffs' motion for contempt for defendants' failure to adhere to the consent decree, dated September 29, 1999.

Note: In April 1993, the court ordered that this case be consolidated with Witherow v. Sweeney, CV-N-91-65-ECR. Both dockets are included in this file.

Eoghan Keenan - 06/10/2005


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