Cole County's Jail should change its laundry policies to protect inmates' rights, a 16-page lawsuit filed late Thursday argues.
Jefferson City lawyers Jason Ludwig and Roger Brown say the current policy violates rights guaranteed by both the U.S. and Missouri Constitutions, and they want the U.S. District Court for Western Missouri to order the Cole County government, Sheriff Greg White and Chief Deputy John Wheeler to change the policy.
The court on Friday denied their request for a temporary restraining order, so there will be no policy changes while the lawsuit moves forward.
The class-action lawsuit says the jail's policy limits each inmate or detainee to having "one pair of socks, underwear, undershirt, outer shirt, pants and shoes," with female detainees given a bra, as well.
"Each detainee must surrender these items if they want them to be laundered and then must remain naked in their jail cell while the clothing is being laundered," the lawsuit said.
Women's clothing is laundered every four days, the suit charges, while men's laundry is done every two-three days.
In addition, the suit says detainees "were provided only one bed sheet and one blanket (which) are not laundered and replaced at reasonable nor regular intervals."
As one example, the suit said Justin Simmons was in the Cole County Jail from late April until July 9 and during that 10½ weeks, his "bed-sheet and blanket were only replaced two times."
The lawsuit reports each inmate's cell "has a window that detainees are not allowed to cover when they are naked in their cell during the laundering of their clothing or while they shower or use the toilet in their cell."
Also, it states, "Males and females are forced to go naked for at least 7 hours if they wish to have clean clothing."
Jefferson City lawyer Michael Berry is representing the county and sheriff's officials.
"Could inmates sleep naked? Yes, but they are not required to," Berry said Friday evening. "The contention here is people were required to be naked for long periods of time and that's not true.
"Every inmate is given a set of underclothing and outer-clothing - and they don't have to turn them in to be laundered at the same time.
"The clothes are laundered at night, so do they have to give up one or the other for a few hours at a time - but they don't have to do both at the same time."
The lawsuit said the jail's cells do "not provide them privacy from jail guards of the same or opposite sex or from their cellmate."
The constant openness of the cells to the jail's staff exposes the inmates' "bodies to same and opposite sex jail staff who may view them repeatedly and over extended periods of time (which) violates their Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment rights under the United States Constitution," the lawsuit said.
If an inmate does have their clothes cleaned, jail guards of either gender return the clean clothes "in the early hours of the morning and sometimes without giving the detainees notice," the lawyers argued.
They said the policies create situations where jail inmates "have been and will be forced to violate" either the laundry policy or the jail rules that require cleanliness and being clothed "unless you are actively showering or using the toilet."
Those rules prohibit inmates from engaging "in alternative means to clean their undergarments and other clothing," and violating those rules can lead to disciplinary actions.
Berry said, "My experience in dealing with these types of things is inmates are always unhappy about something - you can never make them all happy.
"Cole County has a fairly new facility, and I've heard of no instances of a cleanliness issue.
"Cole County jail staff is very attentive to the cleanliness of the facility - because they also work there."
Plaintiffs in the suit are identified as:
• Brian Boykin, who has been in the Cole County Jail since March.
• Fineola Ingram, who was detained in the jail for about 85 days, beginning in November 2013.
• Simmons, who was in the jail from about April 1-Sept. 27, 2013, and again from April 27-July 9 this year.
The lawsuit said Boykin represents the class of current detainees, while Ingram and Simmons represent former detainees.
The defendants are the county government; Sheriff White, in his individual and official capacities; and Chief Deputy Wheeler, who "is tasked with administration and management of the jail" and who, along with White, was responsible for "operating the jail in a safe and proficient manner."
The suit asks the federal district court for a temporary restraining order, preliminary injunction, permanent injunction and damages.
No specific dollar amount is mentioned in the lawsuit.
Instead, it seeks compensatory and punitive damages "in an amount according to proof at trial, costs and reasonable attorneys fees" and "such other relief as the court may deem proper."
County officials referred questions about the suit to Berry, who said, "It doesn't sound to me like this [lawsuit] has any merit."