Link: Lawsuit: Life-threatening conditions at Lake County Jail — – chicagotribune.com.
HAMMOND, Ind. – Four men filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday alleging conditions at the Lake County Jail are so dangerous they are life-threatening, including presence of the drug-resistant staph known as MRSA.
The lawsuit, which seeks to gain class-action status, seeks unspecified damages from Sheriff Roy Dominguez, two people who served as warden of the jail since May 2006 and other unidentified jail supervisors. It was filed in U.S. District Court in Hammond.
The Associated Press left a message seeking comment on the lawsuit from Dominguez on Tuesday at his office.
The lawsuit contends that the plaintiffs were the moving force behind the alleged violations, condoning the unconstitutional conditions.
It alleges that people are held for weeks in crowded holding cells in which they are forced to sleep on concrete floors. It also claims that people in the holding cell are not provided showers, soap or change of clothes and that toilet paper is often not available.
