State Can Appeal Class-Action Status In Prison Abuse Case
By ED WHITE
Associated Press
DETROIT (AP) - State attorneys have persuaded the Michigan Supreme Court to intervene and put a temporary freeze on a lawsuit that accuses prison officials of failing to prevent the sexual assault of male teen inmates.
The Supreme Court ordered the appeals court to consider whether it can be a class-action case, possibly affecting hundreds of people. The appeals court had passed on that question in January.
"One sentence - with no analysis - answering this monumental issue. This decision cannot stand," wrote Assistant Solicitor General Ann Sherman, representing the Corrections Department.
In a unanimous order Friday, the Supreme Court told the appeals court to take the state's appeal.
Inmates, mostly ages 16 or 17, say they were forced to engage in sex acts with adult prisoners and staff. The alleged incidents occurred over a three-year period before all males younger than 18 were assigned to a prison in Lapeer, away from adult inmates, in August 2013. The department denies allegations that it looked the other way.
A Washtenaw County judge hearing the case has made several favorable decisions for inmates, including a class-action certification last fall, over the objections of the state. Sherman called it an "overbroad and ill-defined class."
She said there's a "handful of isolated tort claims attempting to shoehorn themselves" into civil rights claims.
A message seeking comment was not immediately returned Monday by Deborah LaBelle, attorney for the inmates.
LaBelle is part of the same legal team that negotiated a $100 million settlement in 2009 for hundreds of female prisoners who said they were assaulted or harassed by male guards.
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