Trial Lawyers for Public Justice (TLPJ), a national public interest law firm, announced on August 25, 2005, that it had joined one of Colorado’s leading trial attorneys in a major lawsuit on behalf of 86 inmates injured as a result of a riot at Crowley County Correctional Facility (Crowley Facility) in Olney Springs, Colorado. Filed in Crowley County District Court on July 19, 2005, the inmates’ lawsuit charges Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the nation’s largest private prison operator, with negligence that sparked a riot on July 20, 2004, use of excessive force during and after the riot, and indiscriminate and inhumane treatment of inmates who were not involved in the riot. None of the plaintiffs participated in the riot, and all of their injuries were caused by CCA’s employees and agents, not by other inmates.

“This lawsuit seeks to hold CCA accountable for its shameful misconduct in last year’s riot at the Crowley Facility,” said TLPJ Staff Attorney Adele P. Kimmel, joining as co-counsel for the plaintiffs. “CCA mishandled matters at every turn, negligently causing and failing to contain a foreseeable riot, using unlawful and excessive force against inmates who obeyed orders and did not participate in the riot, and treating compliant inmates in an inhumane and indiscriminate manner for weeks after the riot had been contained.”

An October 2004 “After Action Report” prepared by the Colorado Department of Corrections (DOC) offers strong support for the plaintiffs’ claim that CCA could have prevented the riot in the first place. The Report cites a variety of CCA’s blunders as factors that led to the riot. For example, CCA ignored repeated warnings that paying inmates vastly different wages based on the state they hailed from rather than their actual work assignments, refusing to hear inmates’ grievances, and feeding inmates skimpy portions of lousy food would lead to a riot. CCA also staffed the Crowley Facility with a skeleton crew of poorly trained employees, who were unprepared to quell a disruption before it became a full-blown riot. According to the After Action Report, CCA staff submitted detailed reports to supervisory staff describing anticipated trouble from some inmates in the days prior to the actual riot – but to no avail. The Report also documents a host of serious lapses in CCA’s emergency preparedness at the Crowley Facility that hampered the ability to gain control of the disturbance before it became a riot.

Newly released documents from the State Inspector General’s Office support the plaintiffs’ further charges that CCA’s employees and agents used excessive and unreasonable force on inmates who did not riot, evidencing a desire to punish everyone even after containing the riot. The widespread punishment of these bystanders included forcing tightly bound inmates to urinate and defecate in their clothing, dragging handcuffed inmates from their cells by their ankles face down through glass shards and raw sewage, withholding drinking water and medications, denying shower privileges and clean clothes for more than a week, feeding inmates an inadequate and unvaried diet of distasteful baloney sandwiches for a month, and forcing inmates to strip and shower in front of female guards.

“The riot at the Crowley Facility, and the manner in which obedient inmates were treated, was the result of CCA’s profiteering,” said lead counsel William A. Trine of Trine & Metcalf, P.C. in Boulder. “CCA’s desire to make a buck at the Crowley Facility resulted in understaffing and inadequate training of staff on the proper use of force. The pain compliance techniques used on innocent bystanders who were complying with orders were unnecessary, unreasonable, and inconducive to restoring a healthy climate between inmates and staff. CCA has yet to correct the conditions that resulted in the riot. If anything, conditions at Crowley have worsened since the riot. This lawsuit offers the only mechanism for holding CCA accountable and preventing a future riot.”

The inmates’ legal team in Adams v. Corrections Corporation of America also includes Deborah A. Taussig of Trine & Metcalf, P.C. To read the amended complaint in Adams, click here.