APNewsBreak: ACLU settles prison violence lawsuit with Idaho, still suing prison company

APNewsBreak: ACLU, Idaho settle prison lawsuit

BOISE, Idaho — The American Civil Liberties Union has reached an agreement with the Idaho Department of Correction in a potential class-action lawsuit over violence at a privately run prison.

Under terms announced Thursday, the Idaho Department of Correction agreed to “aggressively oversee compliance with any such order” a federal judge makes against private prison company Corrections Corporation of America in connection with the lawsuit.

In return, the ACLU will drop its case against the state, but Nashville, Tenn.-based CCA remains a defendant in the lawsuit that alleges harsh conditions at the Idaho Correctional Center.

The state “needs to do a better job in monitoring CCA’s operation of ICC. But the primary culprit is still CCA,” said Stephen Pevar, ACLU senior staff attorney. “This will save Idaho taxpayers thousands of dollars in legal fees and will allow all of us to focus our attention on what is happening at ICC and to get CCA to comply with state and federal standards.”

The ACLU filed the lawsuit against the company and the state earlier this year, saying the prison near Boise is so violent that inmates refer to it as “gladiator school” and that guards deliberately expose prisoners to brutal beatings from other inmates.

CCA has countered that the prison is under the constant supervision of the state and that it meets the highest professional standards in the country for correctional management.

A prepared statement from the Idaho Department of Correction said the ACLU dropped its claims in exchange for department Director Brent Reinke making this statement: “It is the goal of the State of Idaho to make its prisons safe. If the current litigation in Riggs v. Valdez results in a federal court order directed at ICC and CCA to change their policies and procedures, the State of Idaho will aggressively oversee compliance of an order at ICC.”

In a memo filed with the federal court, ACLU attorneys said the department’s promise sufficiently resolved the organization’s claims for declaratory and injunctive relief against IDOC.

U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill could decide as early as August whether to make the lawsuit a class-action case. It currently involves about two dozen inmates, including lead plaintiff Marlin Riggs, but court filings indicate that in the last couple of months more than 50 additional inmates have contacted the ACLU asking to take part.

Riggs and the ACLU are suing for $155 million in damages — CCA’s entire net profit for 2009. They claim in part that guards force prisoners to turn each other in for prison rule violations, and those who refuse are moved to cell blocks where they face beatings from other inmates. The prisoners also contend the prison denies medical care to the injured inmates in an effort to save money and hide the extent of their injuries.

According to its website, CCA manages about 75,000 inmates in 64 facilities located in 19 states and the District of Columbia.