Class-Action Suit Rejected Over Failing to Free County Prisoners

In a move that could save Los Angeles County hundreds of thousands of dollars, a federal judge refused Monday to allow a class-action lawsuit to go forward alleging that inmates are routinely held beyond their release dates in County Jail.

U.S. District Judge William J. Rea ruled that lawyers for about 25 former inmates listed in the suit had failed to show that the class representatives all suffered the same injury.

“Plaintiffs are simply unable to demonstrate that their multiple and varying representatives are typical of all class members,” Rea wrote. “Plaintiffs seem to be attempting to certify several mini-classes within one case, and that is simply not appropriate.”

The suit was filed in April by four local civil rights attorneys. Led by Pasadena lawyer John C. Burton, the attorneys alleged that the county falsely imprisons thousands of inmates annually by holding them too long. They had hoped to represent all county inmates who have been held too long during the last year.

If successful, the plaintiffs stood to secure a large restitution for scores of inmates--a prospect that troubled sheriff’s officials.

Sheriff Sherman Block on Monday hailed the judge’s decision. “It’s certainly a significant victory for us,” Block said. “If a class-action suit were to go forward, there is no telling how many people would come forward to try to get on the bandwagon.”

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Hampered by an antiquated, paper-driven system, literally hundreds of inmates are held too long each year because jail clerks cannot process their release orders quickly enough. Sheriff’s officials are moving forward with efforts to automate the booking process. However, it could take years to bring the system online.

“We are in the process of trying to raise the funds, both from the county and the [private sector] to take care of some of these problems,” Block said.

Meanwhile, the judge told the plaintiffs that if they wanted to pursue a legal action, they should do so individually and not as part of a class. Burton said he will do just that.

“We will continue to represent people who are not released from jail on the day they are supposed to be released,” Burton said.

As part of their suit, they included a variety of inmates held too long for different reasons. On average, Burton said, the inmates listed in the suit had been held two days past their release dates.

“We were trying to get a remedy for the people who were held one day, two days and three days over,” Burton said. “We also wanted to force the Sheriff’s Department to make a change in their system so that people are released on the day they were told to release them. . . . We’re not giving up.”