The Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse is committed to making information about civil rights lawsuits public, accessible, and free. If you use our--recently revamped--website and the posted documents and information, would you consider a donation? Our small but mighty team relies principally on grant funding and donations. Can you help?
The Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse is committed to making information about civil rights lawsuits public, accessible, and free. If you use our--recently revamped--website and the posted documents and information, would you consider a donation? Our small but mighty team relies principally on grant funding and donations. Can you help?
Thank you!
Filed Date: May 1, 2013
Case Ongoing
Clearinghouse coding complete
On May 1, 2013, the U.S. Department of Justice, on behalf of inmates from the Miami-Dade County Corrections and Rehabilitation Department Jail (MDRC), filed a suit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida against officials from Miami-Dade County for alleged violation of the inmates' Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment rights. The suit alleged that the defendants failed to provide suicide protection and mental health care to the inmates, causing the inmates to suffer serious harm.
On May 22, 2013, the Court (Judge William J. Zloch) entered a consent decree that revised the standard of medical care to be provided by the MDCR facilities and monitoring of the implementation of this care. The consent decree also included compliance with federal standards of mental health care and suicide prevention. The case was dismissed without prejudice.
The U.S. submitted a series of eight status reports regarding compliance between November 2013 and January 2017. The parties held status conferences with the court subsequent to each report. The reports found that the County was substantially not in compliance with the consent agreement. On December 7, 2014, the parties submitted the first revised summary action plan that itemized each compliance issue with specific dates. The dates of compliance spanned from May 11, 2015 to November 30, 2016. Monitoring continued in the interim. Compliance was not reached by the deadline and parties submitted a second revised summary action plan on May 18, 2016; it was approved on May 23, 2016. The dates in the second revised summary action plan spanned July 2016 to February 2017. A full compliance tour was scheduled for September 2017 but was rescheduled for December 2017 due to Hurricane Irma.
On January 11, 2017, Judge Zloch recused himself and the case was reassigned to Judge Beth Bloom. Status reports and conferences resumed in February and continued through May when Judge Bloom ordered the County to begin submitting monthly reports to the court due to its continued lack of compliance. The County continued submitting status reports monthly until February 2018.
On January 19, 2018, the independent monitor found that the County was still not in compliance. On February 9, 2018 Judge Bloom ordered the parties to write a new summary action plan with a final deadline by which the County would achieve full compliance with the settlement agreement or face sanctions. The parties submitted a new summary action plan on February 14, 2018. The Court ordered this third plan and the final compliance date was set to be April 16, 2018. If the County was not in compliance by that date, sanctions would be filed against them. The County continued to file monitoring reports, but was still not in compliance by the final deadline in the third settlement agreement. The United States filed sanctions against the county on April 30, 2018; the Court ordered these sanctions on May 4, 2018. Also on May 4, the court approved a fourth revised settlement agreement that set the final compliance date to be June 21, 2018. The United States decided not to pursue sanctions following this order on May 11, 2018.
Status reports continued throughout 2018 and early 2019 with the County making progress on the settlement agreement. On March 29, 2019, after the United States had moved for a stay on the compliance deadlines from the fourth summary action plan, the parties informed the court of a final action plan to achieve full compliance. They agreed to file a joint declaration when the County had achieved compliance with the final action plan and set the deadline for full compliance with the settlement agreement to be after the final monitoring tour of the County’s facilities on September 27-29, 2019, with the subsequent monitoring report and conference being completed by November 7, 2019. The parties filed this information in a joint declaration on June 16, 2019.
On November 7, 2019, a status conference was held but the County was still not in full compliance. The Court ordered the parties to develop a compliance timetable, which they submitted on November 12, 2019. The County continued to file monthly status reports, as per the compliance timetable, however, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the parties decided to reschedule the twelfth monitoring tour for October 12, 2020 tentatively, on April 2, 2020. Compliance efforts (monitoring reports submitted by the county and monthly conference calls between the parties) would continue in the meantime. Monthly reports have continued by the County, but no further progress has been made on the case as of April 15, 2020.
Summary Authors
Meredith Osborne (11/3/2013)
Jessica Kincaid (7/13/2014)
Chelsea Rinnig (2/14/2018)
Christiana Johnson (4/9/2020)
For PACER's information on parties and their attrorneys, see: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/6294154/parties/united-states-v-miami-dade-county-the-board-of-county-commissioners/
Bloom, Beth Francine (Florida)
Zloch, William J. (Florida)
Austin, Ron Anthony (Louisiana)
Bendor, Catherine (District of Columbia)
Coon, Laura (District of Columbia)
Cowall, Laura Coon (District of Columbia)
Dreiband, Eric S. (District of Columbia)
Ferrer, Wilfredo A (Florida)
Gore, John M. (District of Columbia)
Gupta, Vanita (District of Columbia)
Bloom, Beth Francine (Florida)
Zloch, William J. (Florida)
Austin, Ron Anthony (Louisiana)
Bendor, Catherine (District of Columbia)
Coon, Laura (District of Columbia)
Cowall, Laura Coon (District of Columbia)
Dreiband, Eric S. (District of Columbia)
Ferrer, Wilfredo A (Florida)
Gore, John M. (District of Columbia)
Gupta, Vanita (District of Columbia)
Harrell-James, Veronica Vanessa (Florida)
Holder, Eric H. Jr. (District of Columbia)
Jansen, Regina (District of Columbia)
Maddox, William G. (District of Columbia)
Marks, Megan R (District of Columbia)
Nair, Amar Shakti (District of Columbia)
Perez, Thomas E. (District of Columbia)
Rosenbaum, Steven H. (District of Columbia)
Smith, Jonathan Mark (District of Columbia)
Wedekind, Jennifer A. (District of Columbia)
Cuevas, Robert Anthony Jr. (Florida)
Hochstadt, Jennifer Laura (Florida)
Pastor, Bernard (Florida)
Price-Williams, Abigail (Florida)
Simon, Benjamin David (Florida)
Gimenez, Carlos E. (Florida)
See docket on RECAP: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/6294154/united-states-v-miami-dade-county-the-board-of-county-commissioners/
Last updated Nov. 2, 2022, 3:17 a.m.
State / Territory: Florida
Case Type(s):
Special Collection(s):
Key Dates
Filing Date: May 1, 2013
Case Ongoing: Yes
Plaintiffs
Plaintiff Description:
U.S. Department of Justice, on behalf of inmates at Miami Dade County Corrections and Rehabilitation Department Jail facilities.
Plaintiff Type(s):
U.S. Dept of Justice plaintiff
Attorney Organizations:
U.S. Dept. of Justice Civil Rights Division
Public Interest Lawyer: Yes
Filed Pro Se: No
Class Action Sought: No
Class Action Outcome: Not sought
Defendants
Miami Dade County (Miami-Dade), County
Miami Dade County (Miami-Dade), County
Defendant Type(s):
Case Details
Causes of Action:
Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act (CRIPA), 42 U.S.C. § 1997 et seq.
Declaratory Judgment Act, 28 U.S.C. § 2201
Constitutional Clause(s):
Availably Documents:
Injunctive (or Injunctive-like) Relief
Outcome
Prevailing Party: Plaintiff
Nature of Relief:
Injunction / Injunctive-like Settlement
Source of Relief:
Form of Settlement:
Court Approved Settlement or Consent Decree
Order Duration: 2013 - 2020
Content of Injunction:
Implement complaint/dispute resolution process
Issues
General:
Medical/Mental Health:
Type of Facility: