A hearing on class certification was extended to May 31 by a U.S. District Court judge on April 12 as part of a federal class action lawsuit against Santa Barbara County and the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office.
The complaint, which was originally filed on Dec. 6 last year, includes detailed accounts of the county’s alleged poor treatment of inmates with disabilities and mental health issues, and claims that conditions in the Santa Barbara County Jail are dangerous and unlawful.
Current inmates Clay Murray, David Franco, Shareen Winkle, Maria Tracy, and Eric Brown are listed as the lawsuit’s plaintiffs and are seeking court-ordered systematic reforms within the jail and its policies to improve quality of life for inmates with mental illnesses and disabilities.
The plaintiffs are not requesting damages, according to Aaron Fischer, an attorney representing the plaintiffs through Disability Rights California, which conducted an extensive investigation into the Santa Barbara County Jail’s treatment of its inmates in 2015.
Disability Rights filed a motion for class certification on March 6, which would allow the lawsuit to represent all current, former, and future inmates of the jail. Such certification could have benefits for both parties in avoiding costly litigation, Fischer said in an interview with the Sun.
Although the county did not oppose the motion for class certification, U.S. District Court Judge George Wu asked that both parties provide a collaborative supplemental brief to the court at another hearing scheduled for May 31. Fischer said the court had several legal questions regarding the certification, but he expects the motion will be approved at the next hearing.
Fischer also said Disability Rights, the Sheriff’s Office, and county will be working toward remedial plan negotiations this spring and summer, a process that he said typically takes time and patience.
Negotiation meetings, he said, are scheduled to begin in a few weeks.
This article appears in Apr 19-26, 2018.