Settlement Requires Michigan Jail to Provide Recreation and Equal Treatment

by David Reutter

The Isabella County Correctional Facility (ICCF) agreed to provide prisoners out-of-cell recreation time as part of the settlement agreement of a civil suit brought by the ACLU of Michigan on behalf of ICCF prisoners. The settlement provides for cash payment to two plaintiffs and attorney fees.

ICCF houses close to 200 prisoners in windowless cells with four bunk beds. While designed for eight prisoners, the cells also routinely have two to four prisoners sleeping on mattresses on the floor. At the time the lawsuit was filed, ICCF prisoners were not afforded out-of-cell recreation. They only left their cells for visits, to participate in classes, go to medical appointments, or attend religious services.

The suit also claimed gender discrimination against women, who comprised about 17% of ICCF’s population. Since staff considered ICCF a “male-oriented jail” or a “man’s jail,” women were denied opportunities to become a trustee, an appointment that allows for earlier release.

Filed in October 2012, the suit was resolved on August 15, 2013, when the parties reached a settlement agreement. ICCF agreed to offer each prisoner a minimum of one hour of out-of-cell recreation time, five days a week, and make its “best efforts” to provide such opportunities daily.

When there are co-defendants, enemies, gang associations, or other reasons to keep prisoners separated, those prisoners “shall be offered the opportunity to attend a different recreation period.” Recreation will be in a central room in the jail, said Jail Administrator Tom Recker. That room will continue to be used for GED testing, community corrections programs, and church and substance abuse programs.

The agreement also ends gender discrimination. ICCF policy will state “both male and female inmates shall be eligible for trustee/community services status” and “best efforts” will be made to maintain a trustee ratio comparable with population ratios.

The settlement, additionally, provides for cash payments of $3,000 each, to plaintiffs Sara Dunmire and Ashley Bush, and $60,000 in attorney fees and costs.

“We hope this settlement will serve as a model for other jails,” said Michael Manville, director of the Michigan State University College of Law Civil Rights Clinic.” Courts have repeatedly ruled that exercise is extremely important to the psychological and physical well-being of prisoners.”

The plaintiffs were represented by Michael J. Steinberg, Daniel Korobkin, and Kary Moss of the ACLU of Michigan, Professor Manville and students from the clinic. See: Dunmire v. Isabella County, U.S.D.C. (E.D. Mich.), Case no. 2:12-cv-14807.

Additional source: themorningsun.com

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