Inmates' lawsuit over jail laundry policies goes to full appeals court

The full 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments in September on the Cole County Jail's laundry policies.

The case began in July 2015, with a 16-page lawsuit submitted by Jefferson City lawyers Roger Brown and Jason Ludwig on behalf of current and former jail inmates, complaining the laundry policies required them to be naked for hours at a time.

The full appeals court issued a notice Monday it agreed to hear the case, setting aside the Jan. 17 ruling by a three-judge panel that had sent the case back to federal District Court Judge Nanette Laughrey.

She had dismissed the case in September 2015, ruling that the inmates "failed to state a claim under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments or corresponding provisions of the Missouri Constitution."

She also gave no credence to a complaint in the suit their conditions were "outlawed by the Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War."

The class-action suit was filed by three people representing the current or former jail inmates, and the main complaint was inmates are left naked while the jail staff does laundry during overnight hours - every two to three days for men and every four days for women.

The original lawsuit said the jail's policy limits each inmate or detainee to having "one pair of socks, underwear, undershirt, outer shirt, pants and shoes," with female detainees also given a bra.

"Each detainee must surrender these items if they want them to be laundered and then must remain naked in their jail cell while the clothing is being laundered," the lawsuit said, also arguing that detainees "were provided only one bed sheet and one blanket (which) are not laundered and replaced at reasonable nor regular intervals."

Laughrey never heard arguments in the case and, so far, the policy has remained unchanged.

In its January ruling ordering Laughrey to hear the case, the three-judge federal appeals court panel also noted the lawsuit's complaint that the jail "cells have windows that, per jail policy, may not be covered. So during (the laundry) time, jail guards and cellmates may see the detainees unclothed if not concealed by their bedding.

"Sometimes male guards return clothes to female detainees and female guards return clothes to male detainees."

The appeals judges also noted Laughrey found that "the plaintiffs alleged 'no more than minimal deprivation.' Because the laundry was being done at night, the court observed, 'Detainees are sleeping in the nude, not going about their activities during the waking part of the day in the nude. Furthermore, detainees are issued a sheet and a blanket and may cover themselves with sheet and blanket if they wish.'"

Citing previous cases, the appeals judges agreed that prisons must provide detainees with basic necessities, including clothing, but "(a) minimal deprivation does not violate the Constitution."

And, the judges wrote, the federal appeals court has had "no prior cases addressing the precise question" raised in the suit against Cole County, then-Sheriff Greg White and then-Chief Deputy John Wheeler, who now is the sheriff.

But, the judges ruled in January, the jail's policies created more than a minimal deprivation, and the county did not show it was "reasonably related to a legitimate governmental purpose."

The full court gave both sides 10 days to "submit 30 additional copies of the briefs previously filed in the case."

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court hears cases from seven states: Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota and North and South Dakota.

The full court holds hearings in St. Louis and St. Paul, Minnesota.

Former Missouri Supreme Court Judge Duane Benton is one of the court's nine active judges.