The Dauphin County Prison in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, is seen in this August 15, 2019 photo. (AP Photo/Michael Rubinkam)
A Pennsylvania prison is facing a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of dozens of men who say the warden cut heat and power while they were held in solitary confinement, and deprived them of toilet paper, showers, and communication with the outside world.
Over a 41-page complaint filed Tuesday in federal court in Pennsylvania, the plaintiffs detailed inhumane treatment to which they said they were subjected.
According to the complaint, in mid-November 2023, jail officials “cracked down on men who were being held in the hole,” because they believed the use of synthetic marijuana had become rampant in the facility. The problem, they said, was the fault of prison officials who bought the contraband into the facility.
“Rather than root out corruption among their own staff through proper supervision and discipline, prison officials got angry,” said the filing.
The complaint alleged that a “campaign of collective punishment” was initiated in which inmates were denied access to legal paperwork, religious texts, and visitations from loved ones, deprived of basic needs such as toilet paper, showers, and any clothes heavier than T-shirts during winter. Through this time, plaintiffs said dozens of inmates were subjected to “near total deprivation” for weeks in facilities infested with roaches and rodents.
Officials also seized the jail-issued digital tablets that inmates rely on for access to religious texts, legal documents, mail — which is scanned off-site and uploaded to the tablets — and any form of entertainment.
The plaintiffs are represented by Kaufman Lieb Lebowitz & Frick LLP as well as the Abolitionist Law Center, a public interest law firm and community organizing project led by people who have been directly impacted by the criminal punishment system.
“I’ve seen so many people die in DCP that I was scared I was next,” said Plaintiff James Patterson in a statement. “I kept talking to staff and no one wanted to listen. They all had their hands in this, none of them protected us, and they all need to go.”
According to the filing, Patterson was prevented from contacting his lawyers for over a month and was deprived of access to necessities such as toothpaste, contact lenses, saline solution, toilet paper, sheets, pillows, and clothing.
Another plaintiff, Kani Little, called Dauphin County’s treatment of inmates “just not right.” Little, a 27-year-old who has been incarcerated for two years, alleged in the complaint that he was deprived of toiletries, clothing, and other items he had purchased from the prison commissary. He also said he was deprived of access to a tablet, which is the only way inmates at the facility can read legal documents, religious texts, and mail received from loved ones.
Little also said he was deprived of a shower for a week and a half, subjected to total darkness during a blackout, and went without much-needed medication. According to the filing, when guards returned Little to his cell, they repeatedly beat and maced him.
“My goal in speaking out has always been for people to be treated better,” said Little. “I don’t want to see defendants be punished or suffer, but do I think people need to own up and say what they did was wrong? Of course.”
“For DCP to launch this campaign of mass torture is abominable. Their actions violate the Constitution and basic human decency,” said Margo Hu, a staff attorney from the Abolitionist Law Center. “People in Dauphin County Prison have been advocating against the facility’s depraved conditions for years. It is past time Dauphin County be held responsible for the harm they have been inflicting.”
The plaintiffs raised claims for multiple civil rights violations, violation of rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act, First Amendment violations, and violation of federal prison rights’ law. They request unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
Representatives from Dauphin County Prison did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
You can read the full complaint here.
