Plaintiffs, individuals held in the Hamblen County (TN) jail pre-trial due to an inability to pay bail, filed this class action in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee, on February 16, 2020, on behalf of themselves and all other past and future detainees in the jail unable to make bail. They sued officials in the Hamblen County Court system and the Hamblen County Sheriff for what they alleged were unconstitutional bail practices. The plaintiffs were represented by the Civil Rights Corps, the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection (ICAP) at the Georgetown University Law Center, and private counsel.

The plaintiffs specifically alleged that because they were unable to make bail they were forced to remain in a jail that consistently operates at over 150 percent capacity. They claimed that this creates a two-tier system of justice between the rich and poor in the county, saying that some of the county's poorest residents are shackled to the jail's walls and door handles or forced to sleep in closets with an inability to regularly access legal counsel before trial. The Hamblen County Sheriff himself described the facility as a "cesspool of a dungeon" in a December 2019 New York Times article.

The plaintiffs made their claims under 42 U.S.C. 1983 and 28 U.S.C. 2201. They claimed a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment's equal protection and due process rights to not be detained pre-trial based on their inability to access money, procedural due process, and the Sixth Amendment's right to access counsel. They sought class certification, a temporary restraining order releasing the named plaintiffs, injunctive relief from future pre-trial detention solely on the basis of wealth, attorney's fees, and costs.

The case was assigned to Judge Clifton L. Corker and is ongoing. No class certification or order on injunctive relief has yet been made. A motion seeking a temporary restraining order was dismissed as moot on March 2, 2020, perhaps because the named plaintiffs were able to leave the jail for other reasons.

Ellen Aldin - 05/21/2020


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