COVID-19 Summary: This is a class action complaint brought by six detainees in Wayne County Jail, seeking injunctive, declaratory and habeas relief. The petitioners sought the release or transfers to home confinement of medically vulnerable inmates in light of the virus, as well as an injunction requiring COVID-19 mitigation measures. The case was almost immediately stayed and the issues moved to a longstanding state-court litigation about the jail's conditions,
Wayne County Jail Inmates v. Wayne County Sheriff
On May 4, 2020, six detainees in Wayne County filed this action in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. Represented by the Advancement Project, Civil Rights Corps, Detroit Justice Center, and private counsel, the plaintiffs brought this lawsuit as a habeas petition under 28 U.S.C. under § 2241, as an injunctive action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and a declaratory action under 28 U.S.C. § 2201. Specifically, they alleged that their detention violated their Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment rights by subjecting them to a serious risk of contracting COVID-19. The petitioners sought a temporary restraining order (TRO), injunctive relief, and a writ of habeas corpus requiring defendants to immediately release all subclass members who are medically vulnerable or transfer them to home confinement. They also sought adequate measures for safety and hygiene. The case was assigned to Judge Mark A. Goldsmith.
The same day, the plaintiffs moved to certify the matter as a class action with a proposed class and three subclasses. The “Jail Class” consisted of “all current and future persons detained at the Wayne County Jail during the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.” The subclasses included the “Pre-trial Subclass,” the “Post-conviction Subclass,” and the “Medically Vulnerable Subclass,” defined as: “All members of the Jail Class who are also over the age of fifty, or who, regardless of age, experience an underlying medical condition.”
The plaintiffs also filed an emergency motion to expedite the motion for TRO, stressing that Wayne County Jail had 29 confirmed positive cases amongst detainees and almost 200 amongst staff as of April 30, 2020. At the time of filing, COVID-19 had already killed two jail physicians and two deputies.
The Court suggested the parties discuss whether relief could be sought in state court, where the defendant was a party to a consent decree that monitored the quality of conditions in the jail.
Wayne County Jail Inmates v. Wayne County Sheriff. On May 27, the parties agreed to reopen the case underlying the state consent decree and began actively litigating the case in state court.
As such, on June 4, the plaintiffs filed a motion to stay the federal court proceedings, and the defendants filed a motion stating they did not object to the stay on June 24. The court granted the motion to stay on December 28, 2020. Further information on the state proceedings can be found in the state court summary, linked above.
Averyn Lee - 06/02/2020
Caitlin Kierum - 07/11/2020
Tessa McEvoy - 02/20/2021
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