The Attorney General of the United States filed a lawsuit on June 5, 1970, under Sections 301(a) and (b) of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000b, in the United States District Court for the District of Kansas. The Attorney General was seeking an injunction against the Wyandotte County Jail regarding an alleged policy of racial segregation within the jail. On May 9, 1972, the district court (Chief Judge Wesley E. Brown) found that there was segregation within the jail but dismissed the complaint and denied relief because it found that the segregation was not intentional and was part of an effort to protect inmates. United States v. Wyandotte County, 343 F.Supp. 1189 (D. Kan. 1972). On appeal, the Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit (per curiam) reversed and remanded for further proceedings because conditions in the jail did not warrant segregation. United States v. Wyandotte County, 480 F.2d 969 (10th Cir. 1973). The court stated that segregation is permissible for the protection of inmates in situations of unusual stress but that the record in this case did not justify segregation in Wyandotte County. The case was remanded for further proceedings.

On January 29, 1974, Judge Brown ordered the defendants permanently enjoined from discriminating against any prisoner in the operation of the Wyandotte County Jail or any other penal facility. He ordered the defendants to implement a standard system of prisoner classification not related to race, religion, or national origin and required defendants to submit a report to the court within thirty days of the complete desegregation of the Wyandotte County Jail. The court retained jurisdiction of the case.

Angela Heverling - 04/10/2006


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