Jail Overcrowding Lawsuit Put On Hold

The American Civil Liberties Union will hold up any legal action against Bonneville County on jail overcrowding until inmates lodge formal complaints.

“We could not win a lawsuit based on the fact that there are too many people in the jail unless we can show this overcrowding is causing other problems,” ACLU attorney Stephen Pevar told jail inmates in a recent letter.

Pevar said he must be able to prove overcrowding is causing such things as severe emotional distress, increased tension or inadequate sanitation, food service, medical care and recreation opportunities.

He told inmates he wants to know if any of them experiences what he called “any of these domino effects from overcrowding.”

The ACLU long has threatened to sue the county over jail crowding, and in 1993, the county agreed to cap the jail population at 49.

The county’s plan to open a 280-inmate jail in early 1998 has been stalled by a legal challenge to the $7.4 million bond issue, and the county is out of money to house extra prisoners in jails elsewhere.

So, some inmates are being sent home early and others are being sentenced to programs such as house arrest and work release.

But the inmate count is still high. Bonneville County Sheriff Byron Stommel has a goal of keeping the population under 75. To compensate, Stommel has hired five more jailers to allow for more outdoor recreation time for prisoners.

Pevar conceded that that might work. “Hopefully, he (Stommel) will be able to … prevent the negative effects from overpopulation,” Pevar said.