New York’s Suffolk County has agreed to end a 14-year court battle and shell out $18 million to former inmates who said they were forced to live in filthy jail cells alongside rats and roaches for over a decade.
The class-action lawsuit accused officials of turning a blind eye to horrifying living conditions at the Riverhead and Yaphank lockups — and now taxpayers are footing the bill.
The deal, quietly filed in court, grants payouts to anyone jailed in the county since 2009, with the 20 original plaintiffs pocketing $20,000 each.
Inmates who were locked up in the newer Yaphank facility after 2013, however, were excluded.
“This settlement provides much-needed relief to the many incarcerated New Yorkers who have been subject to inhumane and unconstitutional conditions at the Suffolk County jails,” Gabriella Larios, staff attorney at the New York Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement.
“It also means that the county’s long-standing indifference to this manufactured crisis will finally come to an end,” she added.
The settlement also requires Suffolk County to implement a series of sweeping reforms aimed at cleaning up conditions inside its two jail complexes.
As a part of the agreement, the county will be required to appoint an employee dedicated to addressing environmental health concerns at both facilities for at least the next three years, and must also provide cleaning and sanitation training to staff and inmates working in housing units and kitchen areas.
Inmates will also be guaranteed access to personal cleaning supplies and protective gear like masks and gloves, as well as clean mattresses and blankets.
In addition, the jails must bring their outdated ventilation systems up to standard and address any plumbing, rust and mold problems.
Suffolk County officials must also implement a full pest control program and pay for an independent expert, approved by both the county and the plaintiffs’ attorneys, to conduct annual assessments of the jails for the next three years.
The lawsuit was first filed back in May 2011 by former Suffolk inmate, Rickey Lynch and 19 others from the Riverhead jail, who claimed their constitutional rights were being violated by the inhumane and dangerous living conditions.
According to the suit, those conditions included “ongoing exposure to human waste, mold, rust, vermin, freezing temperatures, and inadequate access to clean drinking water.”
Attorneys from the Manhattan-based firm Allen Overy Shearman Sterling, and the New York Civil Liberties Union Foundation later joined the case — which was eventually expanded into a class-action suit on behalf of 163 plaintiffs who had filed individual complaints about conditions inside the jails.
Michael Martino, a spokesman for Suffolk County Executive Edward Romaine, said in a statement that the lawsuit stemmed from the prior administration and had the potential to cost taxpayers hundreds of millions.
“Through the excellent work of our county attorney’s staff, we have drastically reduced the liability facing the county,” he said.
Martino noted that Suffolk remains committed to improving its jail conditions and will pay roughly $5 million toward the settlement, with the remaining amount covered by various insurance policies.
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