Wayne County Criminal Justice Center faces lawsuit claiming facility held inmates past release dates
(CBS DETROIT) — The new Wayne County Criminal Justice Center is the subject of a new class action lawsuit for holding inmates past their release date.
The lawsuit focuses on claims that the new jail is unlawfully holding inmates past the time they're ordered to be released and looks into several other claims about the new jail's first month and a half of operations.
According to one of the group's attorneys, the number of inmates who claim the Wayne County Criminal Justice Center kept them incarcerated past their ordered release date is growing.
"All of them are saying the exact same thing. We have clients who are waiting in jail five days, six days, as much two weeks after their detention is supposed to end before they finally get released from incarceration," said Kevin Carlson, attorney at Pitt, McGehee, Palmer, Bonanni & Rivers.
Carlson claims this issue goes back to inmates who spent time at the old facility closer to downtown.
"We've spoken with witnesses who say this problem has gone back decades, that Wayne County has long known that people get lost in detention while awaiting their release date and that it takes up to two weeks sometimes at the old facility even," he said.
The lawsuit claims those inmates are being held past their release date and being held in a facility that is experiencing what they call "operational chaos."
"Non-detention grade sprinklers being broken and flooding, the facility's communication system being down, inmates not being able to meet with their attorneys in a closed confidential setting, inmate suicides which is a horrifying condition," Carlson said.
Carlson says the suit doesn't directly go after those claims, but he says it highlights the terrible conditions many inmates face when they should have already been released.
The Wayne County Sheriff's Office says it has yet to receive the lawsuit and has no comment at this time. The sheriff's office anticipates making a statement in reaction to those claims once that happens.