PORT HADLOCK — Jefferson County and the American Civil Liberties Union have settled the civil rights group’s suit over county jail conditions.
As part of the settlement, the county will pay the ACLU $82,500. All but $10,000 of the settlement is covered by the county’s insurance.
The lawsuit was filed in February 2002 by the ACLU, which claimed in a 12-page complaint that the jail was “so far below acceptable standards as to constitute cruel and unusual punishment.”
The settlement doesn’t find the county at fault, but does require certain conditions be maintained at the jail.
“It will help ensure that the county will operate a jail that meets minimum constitutional standards,” Julya Hampton, ACLU’s Washington Legal Director, said Monday from Seattle.
“We will have a medical care system that will meet the needs of the inmates.
“We brought the suit because we did not think the system that had been in place previously met those needs.”
County officials, including Sheriff Mike Brasfield and County Administrator David Goldsmith, said the settlement includes a lot of changes that have already taken place.
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