3 MORE SUITS FILED OVER JAIL CONDITIONS

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, February 19, 1993                   TAG: 9302190111
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
3 MORE SUITS FILED OVER JAIL CONDITIONS
Several inmates have joined a fellow prisoner in claiming that overcrowding in the Roanoke Jail subjects them to cruel and unusual punishment.
At least three inmates filed lawsuits Thursday in U.S. District Court in Roanoke, alleging that cramming 500 people in a jail meant for 216 violates their constitutional rights.
Although the inmates essentially repeated complaints raised in a similar lawsuit filed last week, the new claims may enhance the chance of having their case certified as a class-action lawsuit.
In all three lawsuits filed Thursday, the inmates asked to be transferred to what they consider more spacious quarters - the state penitentiary.
"If left here in this jail to carry my sentence to the mandatory release date, I may be doomed to return to the system," wrote Michael Anthony Thomas, an inmate of the jail for the past 16 1/2 months.
"This jail offers nothing for me. I've sat here and seen people come in this jail after me and be sent on to the prison system. All this is doing is making me bitter."
The inmates say prison can offer them what the jail cannot - better medical care, more roomy cells and outdoor recreational opportunities.
Thomas sued not only the jail but also the state Department of Corrections, which has contributed to the overcrowding problem by having state inmates with sentences of five years or less serve their time in local jails.
Inmates Lynwood Baker and Jerome Miller sought a total of $3.5 million in damages. But to receive monetary awards, inmates must show that jail officials acted with "deliberate indifference" in allowing the conditions to exist.
Lawyers have said that will be a difficult standard to prove, given Sheriff Alvin Hudson's repeated warnings to City Council that the jail is in dire need of expansion. City officials are considering a plan to add 220 beds in buildings adjacent to the jail.
While inmates may have a difficult time collecting damages, they still can seek a court order reducing the jail population. Such action was taken by a U.S. magistrate in Lynchburg last year, but lawyers say it is too early to tell if the complaints about the Roanoke jail will lead to similar proceedings.
Cells in the Roanoke jail meant for one inmate are holding three - with the third sleeping on the floor - and day areas designed for 10 are crowded with 30.
But in order to prove that overcrowding amounts to cruel and unusual punishment, the inmates must demonstrate more than the mere fact that the jail is over capacity. To sustain a constitutional claim, they must show that overcrowding is so severe that it threatens their health and safety.
Jail officials acknowledge that the facility is holding too many inmates, but have disputed other claims about inadequate medical care and poor food.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB