RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- The American Civil Liberties Union asked the federal government to investigate conditions at the Richmond City Jail, where two inmates have died during a heat wave that has sent temperatures inside the overcrowded lockup soaring into triple digits.Kent Willis, executive director of the ACLU of Virginia, requested the investigation Tuesday in a letter to the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.
"We believe that these deaths are symptomatic of ongoing unconstitutionally harsh conditions at the jail," Willis wrote.
The jail lacks air conditioning, and Willis pointed to an article in the Richmond Times-Dispatch last week in which Sheriff C.T. Woody said temperatures inside can reach as high as 120 when it's 100 outside. Woody made the remark in discussing the June 26 heat-exposure death of inmate Grant R. Sleeper, 54.
Another prisoner, 49-year-old Kerry Wayne Bennett, was found dead in his bunk June 30. The cause of Bennett's death has not been determined.
"We believe that the conditions at the Richmond City Jail pose a persistent threat to the health and safety of inmates, as illustrated by the two recent deaths," Willis wrote. "Periodic proposals to improve or replace the jail have repeatedly come to naught. The situation at the jail requires federal intervention."
The sheriff's office had no comment on the letter, Col. Walter Allmon said.
Willis said in a telephone interview that the Justice Department, unlike an individual or a group like the ACLU, has the power to file a lawsuit claiming constitutional rights are being violated without having a specific plaintiff.
"Our first step is to see if the Justice Department is willing to do this," Willis said. "They have the resources and the ability."
Justice Department spokesman Alejandro Miyar confirmed receipt of the letter. "We will review the request to determine what action, if any, is appropriate," he said.
If the department declines to intervene, Willis said, the ACLU will consider alternatives including filing a lawsuit on behalf of an aggrieved inmate. Willis said his organization has received more than 50 complaints about conditions at the jail in the last five years.
"It's been overcrowded for as long as I can remember," Willis said. "Right now we have overcrowding exacerbated by heat."
The jail, built in the 1960s, typically exceeds its 850-inmate capacity by several hundred. And last month was the hottest June on record in Richmond, with high temperatures of at least 95 on 11 days and at least 100 on three days. The heat wave has carried over into July, with highs expected in the upper 90s this week.
4 comments:
While it is a problem that the Jail is overcrowded. The Heat is not a reason for the ACLU to step in or any other human right authority group. I worked for an attorney who delt with cases in the Richmond City juvenile and family court. The Jail is there for holding purposes. The inmates are not there for years. And further more if they didn't do something bad they would not be in that position. Jails should not have AC, video games and gourmet food. They are meant as a deterrent and a punishment for actions of wrong doing. If you knew the type of people who are in there on a average basis, and this may sound harsh, you might not care as much. It is sad but true. Half of our cases with people in Richmond City Jail were murders, heroine dealers, rapist, child abusers, and I am only naming a few. Richmond needs to be cleaned up. Not made more comfortable for the felons it harbors.
Exactly textbooks. When the inmates committed the crime, did they think they'd be housed in the Hilton?
My guess is that those sitting in the jail, more than likely, wouldn't have air conditioning in the home anyway.
Everybody is HOT! What makes them so different that they can't sweat too? Alot of people are WORKING (and have to work) in this heat!!
I have more pity on chickens in chicken houses than inmates in an unairconditioned jail. They made their beds now they can lay on them, the inmates that is.
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