While Monroe County may be sued over local jail conditions within days, the county is likely months away from any court action, legal experts say. But they added that local officials have an obligation — and a judicial incentive — to fix unconstitutional practices before a judge takes up the case.
Yvette T. Butler, associate professor of law at Indiana University’s Maurer School of Law, said once a suit is filed, county officials must be notified of the suit, and then they have 21 days to provide a response. The ACLU could file other legal motions, but those generally come with even longer response windows.
“Even in similar cases with serious conditions, it still took a couple of months to reach the point where a court steps in,” Butler said.
For example, the ACLU filed a similar case in October 2016 in Vigo County and requested a temporary court order in November — but the court didn’t schedule a hearing until January 2017. Getting to a permanent court order in that case took more than two years, Butler said.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana alleged in a 2008 lawsuit that the Monroe County Jail’s overcrowding violated state and federal constitutions. An inmate described how he and others had to sleep in the jail’s gymnasium, which had no bathroom or shower. He said inmates had little to no recreational opportunities, meals were frequently served cold, and fights had broken out over bed space.
The parties in 2009 reached a settlement that, among other things, limited the jail’s capacity. The lawsuit’s dismissal has been repeatedly postponed with the understanding that the county would make progress toward fixing the unconstitutional conditions.
After the county council last month rejected a plan by the commissioners to purchase a piece of land between Bloomington and Ellettsville to build a new jail, the ACLU of Indiana’s legal director, Ken Falk, filed to dismiss the original suit, though local officials expect that’s a signal that he plans to file a new suit soon.
Butler said that long before such cases reach a resolution, a judge can compel county officials to address the jail’s unconstitutional conditions. For example, the judge in the Vigo County case required the county to hire more staff to oversee inmates, to make sure they had enough recreational opportunities and to properly protect their health and safety.
And if local officials fail to address those problems in a timely manner or if they miss deadlines, Butler said, judges can hold local officials in contempt of court and impose fines to put pressure on officials to act quickly and/or to use the money toward fixing the unconstitutional conditions.
‘Have a plan to ASAP stop violating the law’
The timeline described by Butler means it could take months or even years before a court order brings about a resolution, but legal experts said those delays do not relieve county officials of their obligation to address the jail’s unconstitutional conditions with urgency.
Monroe County commissioners have repeatedly acknowledged that conditions at the local jail, 301 N. College Ave., violate inmates’ constitutional rights. Dawn Johnsen, the Walter W. Foskett Professor of Law at the Maurer school, said that admission should prompt local officials to take immediate action — in part because it may prompt a judge to expect an immediate remedy.
Johnsen, who formerly advised presidents Bill Clinton and Joe Biden and their cabinet members, said her first piece of advice, when someone asked about an ongoing unlawful activity, was to stop.
“If you say ‘We’re doing something unlawful,’ then… fix it. … Have a plan to ASAP stop violating the law,” she said.
“You don’t wait until you’re sued,” Johnsen said. “… you also should remember the important primary obligation is to protect the constitutional rights of the inmates.”
She also said conceding unconstitutional conduct raises the stakes.
“It’s highly unusual to have elected officials say yes, we’re violating the Constitution… and not moving immediately to fix that,” Johnsen said.
And, she said, county officials’ actions now can affect a judge’s disposition and the severity of his orders.
A judge would look favorably on steps officials take before being compelled by a court order, Johnsen said. On the flipside, failure to take action now “risks harming their position in litigation.”
Even if county officials make progress toward building a new jail, they must at the same time take action to correct the unconstitutional violations before the new jail is built, she said.
“You cannot only be thinking about years from now, you cannot only be saving your money for years from now… you need to protect the constitutional rights of the inmates today,” Johnsen said.
Johnsen, who formerly worked with the ACLU at the federal level, said the organization generally favors reducing incarceration through services such as addiction treatment and housing support, rather than expanding jail capacity.
Her comments underscore the local debate about how to fix the jails’ overcrowding, with some arguing for more jail space, and others saying policies that prevent incarceration are more effective long-term.
Butler pointed to Vigo County as a warning sign: The community’s new $61 million jail operated at or near capacity almost immediately, and the county in 2024 paid nearly $700,000 to house inmates in other counties’ jails, according to the Terre Haute Tribune-Star.
The county now plans to spend another $41 million to build a new 250-bed community corrections building, in part to address overcrowding at the new jail.
Boris Ladwig can be reached at bladwig@heraldt.com.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Monroe County Jail lawsuit likely as officials urged to act now
Reporting by Boris Ladwig, The Herald-Times / The Herald-Times
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