February 11, 2021
In January 2021, some detainees at the City Justice Center (who were in a COVID positive pod) staged a peaceful protest in January 2021 due to poor and inhumane conditions at the jail. Afterwards, more than fifty detainees, including Mr. Doe and Mr. Roe, who are named in the emergency motions, were suddenly moved to the Workhouse.
Over the past week, ArchCity Defenders has been made increasingly aware of people being detained in dangerous, frigid conditions at the Medium Security Institution commonly known as the Workhouse.
While immediate and underlying conditions issues at CJC have flooded recent news reports following Saturday’s uprising, people detained at the Workhouse have reported very troubling conditions as well.
Over the past several weeks, ArchCity Defenders and co-counsel have received phone calls from family members of individuals incarcerated at the Workhouse, as well as a few incarcerated individuals themselves–all of which uniformly describe the jail as a dirty, freezing cold facility, haphazardly repurposed by the City as a dumping ground for COVID-19 positive detainees. Many of these same individuals have further shared that officers retaliate against detainees with impunity. Detainees have been maced, physically harmed, and discarded in inclement temperatures.
Click the links below to download the motions filed with the court.