On January 9, 1981, pretrial detainees confined in the medical and psychiatric wards operated by the New York City Department of Corrections (DOC) filed a class action lawsuit under 42 U.S.C. §1983 against the DOC in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The plaintiffs asked the Court for declaratory and injunctive relief, alleging that their constitutional rights had been violated by inadequate fire safety, poor mental health care, and generally inhumane conditions of confinement.

On October 1, 1990, the District Court (Judge Pierre N. Leval) entered a Consent Decree. The Decree provided for changes in the areas of classification, physical facilities, mental health care, fire safety, emergency medical care, population levels, recreation, physical therapy, exercise, staffing, physical restraints, segregation, administration of medication, record keeping, personal property storage, grievance procedures, law library access, reading materials, mail, religious services, telephone privileges, and visitation procedures.

Defendants moved to terminate the Stipulation and Order in 2008, pursuant to the 1996 Prison Litigation Reform Act, 18 U.S.C. §3636(b). The court denied that motion and allowed Plaintiffs time to pursue discovery related to the motion. After a couple of years of settlement negotiations, the parties entered into a new Stipulation and Order of Settlement on November 23, 2010. The new settlement agreement terminates the previous agreement and is set to expire after 30 months. The agreement covers mental health treatment services, admission and discharge, training and supervision, role of DOC staff, outposted inmate-patients, monitoring, and dispute resolution.

Elizabeth Daligga - 07/23/2012


compress summary