The New York Civil Liberties Union (NCLU) announced that it has filed suit against Nassau County due to the conditions that they say has led to the death of five inmates in the past two years, according to Newsday.
This comes shortly after the mother of an Iraq war veteran who at the on Feb. 28 filed suit against the jail and Nassau County for "the personal injuries and wrongful death of her son." Bartholomew Ryan hung himself with a noose made from a sheet just one day after being incarcerated at the East Meadow jail.
From Newsday:
The suit contends the current county charter, adopted in 1990, requires the county executive to appoint a seven-member independent board of visitors to respond to inmate grievances and advise the sheriff. That action has never been taken.
"We have no choice but to ask the court to compel the county to take this initial step toward finally treating people housed at the jail with basic human dignity," the NYCLU said in a statement.
Counsel for the Nassau County Sheriff's Department Elizabeth Loconsolo told Newsday that the county will respond to specific allegations raised in the suit "through the legal process."
