1 week Ago By John O'Connor | The Guam Daily Post
The overcrowding situation at the Department of Corrections has led to court action, with Sen. Thomas Fisher - a practicing lawyer - filing a petition for writ of habeas corpus and class-action allegation against the department, claiming that conditions at corrections facilities violate constitutional prohibitions on cruel and unusual punishment. In response to the suit being filed, DOC Director Fred Bordallo Jr.
said he trusts the judicial process and anticipates that, with legal representation from the attorney general, actions will be taken to address the complaint. "I and many of our Department of Corrections staff and other support employees with (the Guam Memorial Hospital Authority) ..
. and (Guam Behavioral Health and Wellness Center) ..
. care about the needs of the inmates under our custody. We have already acknowledged that an overcrowded facility of inmates can overwhelm our prisons corrections system always predicated on the dignity and human rights of all to include the work conditions of employees," Bordallo told The Guam Daily Post.
Fisher is representing Jesse Leon Guerrero, who was indicted on drug-related charges and possession of a firearm without valid firearms identification. The suit was filed on behalf of Leon Guerrero and other similarly situated individuals being detained at DOC facilities. Leon Guerrero stated in a declaration that he is being held in a cell with five other detainees.
There is no mattress, so they sleep on the concrete floor, Leon Guerrero said. "The toilet is right where I sleep and when other detainees in my cell urinate, it splashes on to me. They also defecate in very close proximity to me," Leon Guerrero stated, adding that DOC does not provide hygiene products, and that there are no lights in the cell or a window, or air conditioning.
The petition portion of the suit stated that each cell is designed to accommodate two inmates or detainees and is about 6 feet by 8 feet large, or 48 square feet. With six individuals in one cell, each person would have only 8 square feet to live, the petition stated. "In other words, six adult males live together in a 48-square-foot space for 23 hours each day without privacy of any sort and without any air conditioning.
In this space, the adult males must sleep, eat, urinate, defecate, pass gas, sweat and live within touching distance to each other," the petition stated. "In such close confinement, personal hygiene is a necessity (detainees are not screened for obvious common transmittable diseases such as tuberculosis, HIV, hepatitis and sexually transmitted diseases), no soap or cleaning solution is provided. In short, inmates are neither kept clean, nor are they allowed the human necessity to be clean.
...
Given the appalling conditions of confinement, the fact of accreditation for Guam's Department of Corrections from a competent body would be unattainable," the petition added. All individuals held by DOC in pretrial detention are being included in the class action. "The members of the class are so numerous that joinder of all members is impracticable.
There may be as many as 500 class members at the Department of Corrections," the lawsuit stated. The filing requests an order certifying the proposed class and appointing Leon Guerrero as its representative. In addition to the writ of habeas corpus for Leon Guerrero, the lawsuit also seeks an order declaring the actions described within to be a violation of the Organic Act of Guam and an order enjoining DOC from engaging in the alleged illegal practices.
"Detainees have not been convicted of crimes, yet they endure overcrowded cells, no mattresses, and limited access to hygiene products. DOC officers and detainees describe conditions unfit even for animals, with severe risks of violence, disease, and abuse," Fisher's office stated in a press release. The senator himself stated that conditions at DOC facilities "represent a legal and moral failure.
" "Our government must act now to meet federal standards and protect detainees’ rights," Fisher stated in the release, which calls for immediate reforms, including alternative measures for nonviolent offenders at DOC to ease overcrowding and inhumane treatment. The lawsuit comes as lawmakers consider a measure providing $1 million for facility repairs and equipment needs. It also comes as discussions take place over what to do with the significant detainee population on island.
On Dec. 5, Maj. Maryhelen Lizama, the operations commander at DOC, wrote to Attorney General Douglas Moylan requesting a release of detainees charged with nonviolent crimes due to overcrowding, living conditions, a shortage of manpower, building deficiencies and a lack of supplies.
"Daily confinements are showing people getting arrested for traffic violations, making false reports, driving while intoxicated, public drunkenness, criminal mischief, possession of illegal controlled substances, etc. Usually, they would be booked and released but everyone is being arrested and confined for these charges," Lizama wrote. Her letter is included in the exhibits filed by Fisher.
"Pretrial detainees are just being housed in the housing facilities with no AC units, no lights, lack of water, lack of toiletry items, lack of personal hygiene products ...
sometimes no fire-retardant mattresses because it was damaged by the prisoners, no beddings, no towels and no cups," Lizama added. She included several recommendations to reduce the prison population on Guam, which included releasing pretrial detainees held on misdemeanor charges through electronic monitoring or to third-party custodians..
