D.C. Jail Inmates Detained Past Release Date, Class Action Says

A former inmate of the District of Columbia jail says it has been unlawfully strip searching detainees and imprisoning them beyond their release dates.

Plaintiff Richard Jones is bringing a claim against the government of the District of Columbia on behalf of jail inmates who like himself were allegedly strip searched after their release was ordered or were detained past midnight on the date they were supposed to be released.

Jones says the District’s alleged practices violate these inmates’ constitutional rights.

In his District of Columbia class action lawsuit, Jones says that since 2000 or 2001, the District of Columbia has maintained a policy of returning its jail inmates either to jail or to the Correctional Treatment Facility for further processing after they have been released by the court.

Jones claims this practice is contrary to a requirement that the Department of Corrections release detainees directly from the courthouse.

Jones further alleges that upon arriving at these Department of Corrections facilities, these inmates are strip searched as a matter of course. He claims the District has neither reasonable suspicion or probable cause to justify these strip searches.

By carrying on its practices of over-detention and strip searching, Jones claims the District of Columbia is violating detainee’s constitutional rights under the Fourth and Fifth Amendments. He is also bringing common law claims for false arrest and invasion of privacy.

Jones says that he himself was subject to both of the practices at issue here. While in custody in December 2015, Jones claims he was taken to the federal courthouse for a hearing. That hearing resulted in a judge’s order for his release, he says.

But following the hearing, he was taken back to jail and detained for several hours more. Upon arriving at the jail, Jones was allegedly subjected to a strip search and a visual body cavity search and returned to the jail’s general population.

Jones is proposing to represent two separate plaintiff Classes. One Class would consist of all persons who were or will be detained by the District of Columbia Department of Corrections on or after Aug. 1, 2013 and who were or will not be released by midnight on the date of their scheduled release.

The second Class would represent all persons in Department of Corrections custody on or after Aug. 1, 2013 who, without any reasonable suspicion or probable cause, were subject to a strip search or body cavity search after they were entitled to be released.

Jones suggests the court grant injunctive relief in the form of setting up an independent police monitor to ensure the Department of Corrections releases all inmates on or before their proper release dates. He also seeks an award of compensatory and consequential damages and reimbursement of his court costs and attorney’s fees.

The plaintiff is represented by attorney William Claiborne.

The D.C. Jail Over-Detention Class Action Lawsuit is Richard Jones v. Gov’t of the District of Columbia, Case No. 1:16-cv-02405, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.