Imagine that you’re a pretrial detainee in a little jail in Missouri. Now imagine that, as a detainee in that small jail, you’re forced to go naked for several hours while your only set of clothes are in the laundry. The only thing to cover yourself is a sheet and any other bedding you might have, while guards, potentially of the opposite sex, look in on you from time to time from your cell’s window. Sound a bit hard to believe? Well, believe it, because this is the reality that many pretrial detainees face on a regular basis at the Cole County Detention Center in Jefferson City, Missouri. Fortunately for detainees who find the rule demeaning and unconstitutional, a federal appeals court recently revived a lawsuit challenging the jail’s policy.

According to the lawsuit and a 3-0 vote by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis, detainees allege that the jail’s policy “amounted to unconstitutional punishment.” The problem that detainees and many in the public have with the policy is that, even though the detainees “receive bed sheets and blankets during the seven-hour overnight laundry process, their uncovered cell windows allow cellmates and guards, including members of the opposite sex, to see them naked when not covered by bedding.” Wondering how long these pretrial detainees are left unclothed in their cells? Well, the men’s clothes are washed “every two to three days” while women’s clothes are “washed every four days.” And because they’re not permitted to wear their own clothes, as is common for inmates, they have little choice but to cover themselves with their bedding.

Unconstitutional; Image Courtesy of CrowdFund Beat, http://crowdfundbeat.com/

So why can’t the jail just supply a set of extra clothing to each detainee? Well, that’s the gray area at the moment, because according to Circuit Judge Lavenski Smith, the policy “does not explain why the jail is unable to stock and wash enough clothes to avoid extended periods without clothing on a more or less permanent basis.” Representatives of the jail have tried explaining their policy as a “reasonable means to promote cleanliness and hygiene,” but an appeals court disagreed and “found that not providing the inmates with clothing on laundry days is more than a minimal deprivation.” They also determined that there was no “legitimate reason for the policy.”

According to a ruling on Monday, “because the record reveals no legitimate objective behind this policy, it plausibly amounts to unconstitutional punishment.” This means that inmates can finally proceed forward and file lawsuits over the demeaning policy.

Sources:

Naked Inmates Can Sue Missouri Jail, Appeals Court Rules

Lawsuit Over Naked Missouri Jail Inmates Is Revived