Judge hears arguments on case today
JOAN BARRON Star-Tribune capital bureau | Posted: Thursday, June 1, 2006 12:00 am
CHEYENNE - Terminating a court-ordered improvement plan for the Wyoming State Penitentiary would be premature because the state Department of Corrections has yet to fully comply with the 2003 document, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union argues.
Responding to a state motion filed in federal court to terminate the plan, ACLU national attorney Stephen Pevar likened that move "to a runner declaring victory at the 15-mile marker of a 20-mile race, with the toughest part of the course yet to complete."
"Defendants have definitely made progress, but they still have a considerable ways to go," Pevar's brief added.
Instead of terminating the 2003 plan, Pevar wants the court to order the state to draft a new remedial plan.
Pevar also has filed six motions for contempt of court citations against the state for various breaches in the plan, including failure to investigate claims of inadequate staffing and to remedy a dangerous condition.
A hearing on the motions from both sides is set for 10 a.m. today before U.S. District Judge Clarence Brimmer.
The remedial plan is the outgrowth of a class-action lawsuit filed by the ACLU on behalf of inmate Brad Skinner which named Department of Corrections officials as defendants.
The lawsuit claimed prison officials failed to protect Skinner, who was badly beaten in 1999 by three other inmates who thought he was an informant.
The "dangerous situation" Pevar cited involved a current investigation into a breach of prison procedures to prevent inmate-on-inmate attacks, which is the focus of the remedial plan.
When inmates enter the Rawlins penitentiary, they are asked if they have "conflicts" with any other inmates. From this information, the prison maintains a database listing the inmate conflicts.
In one case, a lieutenant failed to check the prison's database for conflicts before moving an inmate from one housing unit to another, resulting in a fight, Pevar's brief said.
In another similar case, currently under investigation, an inmate identified as "Roe" reported a conflict with an inmate identified as "RF" when he arrived the prison from a county jail. Although Roe's conflict with RF was documented, Roe was assigned to live in RF's cell, Pevar's brief said.
Roe claimed RF immediately beat and raped him. RF subsequently was transferred to a prison in Texas, and prison officials instituted a new inmate conflict information system, Pevar's brief said. Prison officials, however, later moved into Roe's unit another inmate who also was on Roe's conflicts list.
During an earlier hearing before Brimmer in January, Deputy Attorney General John Renneisen said the penitentiary is now the safest prison in the United States, with only two or three cases in the last two years involving inmates with weapons.
William C. Collins, an attorney appointed as a "joint expert" to monitor prison improvements, said earlier that he did not believe the Rawlins penal institution is a dangerous prison. But he also reported instances where prison officials are not fully in compliance with the plan.
Under the Prison Litigation Act, the state is free to file for termination of the plan after two years.
Capital bureau reporter Joan Barron can be reached at (307) 632-1244 or at joan.barron@casperstartribune.net.