Michigan Inmates Get Sanitary Upgrades, Testing in Covid-19 Suit

A Michigan jail must bolster its coronavirus countermeasures after five inmates convinced a federal judge Thursday to grant an injunction in a lawsuit alleging that the jail and its officials acted with deliberate indifference toward the risks the pandemic poses to incarcerated people.

Inmates Jamaal Cameron, Richard Briggs, Raj Lee, Michael Cameron, and Matthew Saunders filed a combined proposed class action under 42 U.S.C. Section 1983 on April 17. They sought to represent a class of all current and future detainees at the Oakland County Jail, as well as three separate subclasses.

Judge Linda V. Parker certified their class and ...