Virginia ACLU Seeks Federal Investigation Of Richmond Jail
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.
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via The Pocomoke Public Eye: Virginia ACLU Seeks Federal Investigation Of Richmond Jail.
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in 1999 rcj ,locked me in a cell will broken winows 28 degrees out side ,i wrote a grevience ,they then chargerd me with a bogus mamming charge ,thats been to cort 35 times;never once the phamtom accouser /victom ever showed up!!
that times they came to court saying that they released him buy mistake!!
at others tthey say they coulod not locate him even thou…
he was in the jail—- according to recourds!!
(35) times i went before the judge / law says after 3 times they should drop it ,they ussed duress to try to make me plye guility ; ,
i was denied copys of the transcripts ,reports where not allowed to vist me ,from richmound free press , and the dispatch,,,i was even take to court and told to stop writting them or calling them or ill be placed in a nut house,,
one of the reporters got a rep from bobby scoott to go to the jail ask why i was being denied rights ,vists,mail .yes mail .every thing im saying i can prove on paper . i can even show where the jail cahnged the dates too 2003 !!!!
I had a total of 4 state lawers ,on a jail house fight charge ,????
the guy had 187 stichies on him and i had not one drop of blood on my bright orange jump suite !!!
he cut him self ,they the jail was mad that we was going to tell thon them for not taking him to sick bay when he first started to act up they just felt that he wanted to getof that cold dorm ,the the state told mrs .mitchel not to use !!!
i have over $5000 in court cost fines on me .but in order to have that I must be found guilty.a plea guilty!!
i DONE 700 DAYS IN THAT JAIL FOR NOTHING ,NOT ALLOW A DAY IN COURT .NORE BAIL AT TIMES
MT THIRD LAWER SAY IN COURT THAT MY RIGHTS HAD BEEN VIOLATED SOMANY TIMES HE HAD TO WITH DRAW FROM THE CASE
THAT WAS THE DAY AFTER THE JAIL REFUSED TO BRING ME TOO COURT ,THE JUDGE TOLD THE JAIL /COMMOM WWEALTH TO TRY ME OR RELASE ME IN THE FOLLOWING MOUNTH
WHEN THE COURT DATE CAME,,, THE JAIL REFUSED TOO TAKE ME TOO THE COURT ROOM
THE DAY AFTER/// THEY HAD ME CHARGED;;;; WITH FAILURE TO APPEARE;;;
I WAS BEING HELD ON (F-1) thats when my lawer asked to be dissmissed from my case,,saying to many of my rights had been violated ,(he was the da that started it all in 1999 but because the jail/courts changed the dates he didn realize it until reping me for 8 times ,trying to get my the comm to bring the case too court but the comm dint wish to bing it to court case he realised the it was he that allowed it to go to far i 1999
yes the comm that was trying to prossacoute me in 2007 was in fact the state lawer that refused to summum
witness .papers ,and workers from the city jail /or vcu that stiched the guy up ,
and the dates where changed undre the care or the secound lawer that is the first laweres father that was in confict because to do right but me he had two exosse his son the commwealth att.
theere are jailers at the city jail that i see form time too time telling me i should sew the jail but i cant find a lawer
DAVID HICKS–