Two Monroe County Jail inmates have filed a new federal lawsuit alleging they are being subjected to unconstitutional conditions in an overcrowded and deteriorating facility.
The inmates contend county officials have ignored warnings about the jail’s deficiencies for years despite mounting evidence that the aging facility cannot safely house its population.
The suit was filed by inmates Tayler Grubb and Joseph Marrero against the Monroe County Council, Monroe County Commissioners and Sheriff Ruben Marté.
“The County Commissioners and the County Council, together as the county government in Monroe County, have utterly failed to take steps to ensure and protect the constitutional rights of the prisoners in the jail,” the lawsuit alleges. The suit was filed Friday by attorneys including Ken Falk, the legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana.
The lawsuit argues the problems are not new. It cites a 2021 study commissioned by Monroe County that concluded the jail had exceeded its “structural and functional life cycle” and was incapable of consistently providing constitutional levels of inmate care. The complaint also notes that county officials toured the jail in November and were told there were 47 inmates with serious mental illnesses but insufficient space to house them appropriately.
Against that backdrop, the suit alleges that overcrowded conditions allow predatory inmates to prey upon more vulnerable inmates, including older inmates or those with mental or physical disabilities.
Wheelchairs are not allowed in cellblocks, the suit reads, which means people who use wheelchairs “must sleep on the floor as they cannot access a bunk.”
Space constraints also require that some inmates sleep on the floor, some directly next to the toilets. Other inmates must step over those inmates to use the toilet, and inmates who sleep on the floor “are frequently splashed with toilet water,” the suit alleges.
“This causes a great deal of tension,” the suit reads.
In two of the cellblocks, one or two of the three showers are broken, which also leads to fights, the inmates allege. And as jail staff cannot look directly into the inmates’ living areas, many fights often go unnoticed by staff.
In addition, the inmates say, the jail’s serious HVAC problems make the jail “brutally hot” in the summer and so cold in the winter that it puts inmates’ health in jeopardy. The inmates described how temperatures in the winter sometimes fall to the low 50s, and temperatures in the summer rise so high that staff leave cell doors unlocked all night “so inmates can access the large fans that blow in the day room.”
“The conditions in the Monroe County Jail result in the denial of basic human needs and the minimal civilized measure of life’s necessities, and amount to punishment,” the inmates allege.
The inmates also allege the jail’s physical condition has continued to deteriorate.
“There are cracks in the walls throughout the facility that are deep enough that one can hear the wind blowing through them,” the suit alleges.
The filing of the new lawsuit follows years of efforts to address jail conditions outside court. The ACLU of Indiana alleged in 2008 that overcrowding and other conditions at the Monroe County Jail violated inmates’ constitutional rights. The parties reached a settlement in 2009 that, among other things, limited the jail’s capacity. Falk agreed to continue the settlement for years as county officials pursued jail improvements and plans for a new facility. But after the county council in May rejected a plan to purchase land for a new jail, Falk moved to dismiss the original lawsuit and filed the new case.
Despite complaints about conditions such as those described in the lawsuit, a committee of city and county officials this week recommended considering rehabilitating the aging facility and expanding it into the southwest quadrant of the block rather than building a new jail.
Commissioners President Julie Thomas, however, recently cast doubt on whether rehabilitation alone could solve the facility’s problems.
“There are some things you can’t fix,” she said. “There are walls … in jail cells that are like marshmallow, even though they are cinderblock.”
According to jail records, Grubb has been incarcerated at Monroe County Jail since Aug. 4, 2025, while Marrero has been held there since May 20.
Thomas, Marté and Monroe County Council President Jennifer Crossley did not respond to emailed requests for comment.
The two inmates are seeking to bring the case as a class action on behalf of other current and future inmates housed at the jail. As of Tuesday, the federal court docket did not indicate whether the commissioners, county council or sheriff had been formally served with the lawsuit. Defendants generally have 21 days to respond after being served.
Boris Ladwig can be reached at bladwig@heraldt.com.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: New federal lawsuit alleges unconstitutional conditions at Monroe County Jail
Reporting by Boris Ladwig, The Herald-Times / The Herald-Times
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By Boris Ladwig, The Herald-Times | USA TODAY Network
