老澳门开奖结果

MEMPHIS, Tenn. 鈥� A federal judge today denied the emergency release of medically vulnerable people, including people with disabilities, detained at the Shelby County jail who are at high risk of severe injury or death from COVID-19. In its decision, the court noted, 鈥渇ailures with how the Jail is detaining medically vulnerable detainees amid this pandemic,鈥� but asserted that many of these problems could be fixed, noting that the jail had taken steps to correct some of the health risks raised by the lawsuit.

The 老澳门开奖结果 of Tennessee; the 老澳门开奖结果; Just City; Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP; and attorneys Brice Timmons and Steve Mulroy filed the federal class action lawsuit on behalf of people incarcerated at the jail who were at particular risk of contracting COVID-19.

The lawsuit led to an inspection by a court-appointed, independent inspector who found that Wellpath, the company providing health care in the facility, had a COVID-19 response plan that was 鈥渋nadequate to protect the vulnerable inmates,鈥� noting issues with compromised quarantining upon entry to the jail and insufficient social distancing within the jail.

As a result of the inspection, the jail changed some of its practices, including limiting the number of detainees brought to court and how they were being held while awaiting hearings to prevent co-mingling between potentially quarantined and non-quarantined inmates; increasing the availability and use of videoconference access to hearings; providing cleaning supplies for sanitizing individual and common areas; and insuring all detainees wear masks and imposing social distancing where possible throughout the jail.

The court鈥檚 decision states, 鈥淗owever, despite these efforts, grave areas of concern persist. As for sleeping arrangements, the facts found by the Court indicate that detainees do sleep within less than 6 feet of each other, contrary to the CDC guidelines. 鈥� detainees do not socially distance during mealtimes. 鈥� Also, while detainees are given their medications one-by-one during pill call, they are lined together without social distancing. 鈥� Requiring medically-vulnerable detainees to receive their medications by waiting in a crowded line is a cruel ask.鈥� The court also noted its particular concern with the failure to consider detainees鈥� medical conditions when making bond decisions.

鈥淏ut,鈥� the court continued, 鈥渢o the extent these public health failures persist, they too can be easily remedied. 鈥� it behooves the Jail to work creatively toward improving these conditions."

The following are reactions to today鈥檚 decision:

Andrea Woods, staff attorney with the 老澳门开奖结果: 鈥淲hen this lawsuit was filed, jail officials were failing to provide even the most basic measures to ensure the safety of those incarcerated in the Shelby County Jail. The jail was not providing drinking water, and people were forced to drink out of a toilet. This ruling acknowledges the cruelty of Shelby County鈥檚 treatment of incarcerated people, and we will continue to press so such grave misconduct does not reoccur with impunity.鈥�

Stella Yarbrough, 老澳门开奖结果 of Tennessee staff attorney: 鈥淭his ruling does not change the fact that our clients are at serious risk of contracting the COVID-19 virus. While this decision falls short of our goal of releasing those most vulnerable to injury or death, it does acknowledge that there are still serious areas of concern within the jail and encourages the jail to continue addressing them. As public health experts have repeatedly warned, jails are hotbeds for infection and the virus can rapidly spread from jails into surrounding communities. The 老澳门开奖结果 of Tennessee will continue using every advocacy tool at our disposal to push for the safe and thoughtful release of incarcerated people to protect public health.鈥�

Attorney Brice Timmons: 鈥淛ustice and humanity demand that we continue our work to hold the sheriff accountable. He has a duty to protect the community, including those in his custody.鈥�

Attorney Steve Mulroy: 鈥淲e鈥檙e disappointed that medically vulnerable people who pose no danger to the community and who have been convicted of no crime must still stay in a medically unsafe environment. But we're glad the court recognizes that conditions at the jail were severely lacking before we filed suit; that improvements have been made as a result of our suit; and, most importantly, that much more still can and should be done to eliminate unnecessary pandemic risks at the jail. We call upon the county to heed the judge's suggestions to promptly correct the serious problems there.鈥�

Joseph J. Bial, lead counsel for the Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP team: "As the court recognized in its order today, our lawsuit prompted the sheriff to improve the conditions in which the medically vulnerable are housed at the jail. The lawsuit voiced the concerns of these individuals and helped open the public鈥檚 eyes to the unsafe conditions. Nonetheless, we believe those improvements fall short of what is necessary and that the sheriff can reasonably do more to make these medically vulnerable individuals safe during this difficult and extraordinary time. We continue to consider our next steps."

As of July 31, a total of 225 incarcerated people and 131 employees at the jail had tested positive for COVID-19, and one jail employee and one incarcerated person had died. Statewide, the greatest number of deaths from the virus have occurred in Shelby County. According to the latest available, 83 percent of inmates at the Shelby County Jail were there pretrial.

As a recent epidemiological demonstrates, an outbreak at the jail could spread widely in the community, draining the Memphis area of limited resources to fight the pandemic.

The lawsuit, Busby v. Bonner, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee.

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