On May 5, 1980, inmates of the Special Housing Unit in the Attica Correctional Facility in New York filed a class action lawsuit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against the New York Department of Corrections in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York. The plaintiffs, represented by the Legal Aid Society and Prisoners' Legal Services of New York, asked the Court for declaratory and injunctive relief and alleged the following constitutional violations: the use of excessive force by prison guards, inhibition of religious exercise, inadequate ventilation, inadequate exercise, inadequate health care, denial of food, lack of sanitation, deprivation of clothing, improper classification, and denial of access to courts.

On January 28, 1988, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York (Judge Michael A. Telesca) granted preliminary injunctive relief to the plaintiffs. The defendants appealed. On June 13, 1988, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (Judge Wilfred Feinberg) affirmed the District Court's decision to grant the preliminary injunction. Eng v. Smith, 849 F.2d 80 (2nd Cir. 1988).

Previously, on October 9, 1985, the prison correctional officers' union (Council 82) asked the District Court to allow them to intervene as defendants in the case. On April 1, 1988, the District Court (Judge Telesca) denied the request for intervention. The would-be interveners appealed. On January 12, 1989, the Second Circuit (Judge Joseph Edward Lumbard) dismissed the appeal. Eng v. Coughlin, 865 F.2d 521 (2nd Cir. 1989).

On November 2, 1992, the parties entered into a partial settlement agreement, which the District Court (Judge William Skretny) entered as a Consent Decree in the case. On February 10, 1995, the court approved a stipulated dismissal of the plaintiffs' claims regarding food, exercise, sanitation, and religion. On March 9, 1998, the District Court approved the voluntarily dismissal of plaintiffs' claims relating to the mental health issue.

Discovery and negotiations continued on the remaining issues for several years.

On April 29, 2002, the District Court approved the plaintiffs' voluntary stipulation of dismissal and dismissed without prejudice the remaining claims of inadequate access to the law library and to legal research materials for monolingual Spanish speaking inmates.

No further substantive action is reflected on the PACER docket.

Kristen Sagar - 11/09/2006


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