J.D. v. Nagin

255 F.R.D. 406, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14344, 2009 WL 322150
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Louisiana
DecidedFebruary 6, 2009
DocketCivil Action No. 07-9755
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 255 F.R.D. 406 (J.D. v. Nagin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
J.D. v. Nagin, 255 F.R.D. 406, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14344, 2009 WL 322150 (E.D. La. 2009).

Opinion

ORDER AND REASONS

IVAN L.R. LEMELLE, District Judge.

On February 4, 2009, the Court held oral argument on Plaintiffs Motion for Class Certification. (Rec. Doc. 146). The motion is opposed. (Rec. Doc. 151). After review of the pleadings and applicable law, and for the reasons that follow,

IT IS ORDERED that Plaintiffs Motion for Class Certification (Rec. Doc. 146) is GRANTED.

BACKGROUND

This is a civil action brought by minors J.D., L.E., and R.A., by and through their Guardian Ad Litem, Damekia Morgan, on behalf of themselves and others similarly situated. Named Plaintiffs are minors who were in custody at the Youth Study Center (“YSC”) in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Plaintiffs seek class certification for all children who are now or in the future will be confined at YSC.1 YSC is presently operating in a fifty year old facility that was damaged after Hurricane Katrina and is awaiting demolition. (See Rec. Doc. 151 at 2). Defendants claim that there are plans to build a new facility. According to YSC officials, YSC holds a maximum of 20 boys and 12 girls. All the current juveniles under detention at YSC are African-American males. The population at YSC is constantly changing as youth are detained, committed, transferred, or released. In 2008, more than 400 children had been detained at the YSC. (See Affidavit of Dana Kaplan, Rec. Doc. 146-5).

Plaintiffs allege a variety of constitutional and state violations by those responsible for running the YSC and administering education and rehabilitation programs at the fa[410]*410cility.2 Plaintiffs assert civil rights violations under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and allege that the children detained at YSC are being denied rights protected by the First, Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. Plaintiffs also allege violation by Defendants of § 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, 29 U.S.C. § 794; Individual with Disabilities Education Act (“IDEA”), 20 U.S.C. § 1401; Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), 42 U.S.C. §§ 12131-12133; and various provisions of the Louisiana Constitution, Louisiana’s Children Code, and other Louisiana law. Plaintiffs’ allegations consist primarily of claims of poor confinement conditions; inadequate staffing, supervision, and training; arbitrary disciplinary procedures and improper use of isolation; failure to provide mental health care; inadequate medical care, nutrition, education, and rehabilitative programming; unreasonable barriers for family unification and community integration; and denial of meaningful access to court and counsel through YSC policies and procedures.

Poor confinement condition claims include allegations of poor ventilation, small, dark cells, unsanitary conditions, presence of spiders, rodents, and other vermin, and failure to provide youth with personal hygiene items and adequate clean clothing and shoes. Plaintiffs allege that Defendants have failed to protect the youth at YSC from the threat of violence and abuse by staff and other children and also contend that children are subject to shouting, cursing, and berating by staff members. (Compl. at ¶ 34, Rec. Doc. 1).

With respect to arbitrary disciplinary procedures, Plaintiffs assert that youths are isolated for grossly excessive periods of time (22-23 hours per day) and that no procedure exists by which qualified professionals determine the need and length of isolation or “lockdown.” Plaintiffs further allege that isolation and “lockdown” are used for the convenience of staff and in some instances, in place of therapeutic programming. Plaintiffs further allege that isolated children are not adequately monitored or provided adequate education, recreation, or counseling. Plaintiffs also assert that Defendants’ continuing policies and practices have failed to ensure that prolonged use of isolation does not have adverse psychological consequences and have failed to exclude children with mental illness and other disorders from the prolonged use of isolation, which may constitute cruel and unusual punishment for such children.3

Plaintiffs claim that Defendants are “deliberately indifferent” to the mental health and medical needs of the youth. Plaintiffs allege that Defendants failed to assure adequate psychological assessments, denied access to medical practitioners, and failed to provide a psychiatrist to monitor medications. (Compl. at ¶¶ 41—44, Rec. Doc. 1). Plaintiffs further assert that youth at YSC are not provided prompt medical care and that staff do not distribute medications as prescribed and are ill-trained and unable to recognize or respond adequately to the children’s medical needs. Id. at ¶¶ 46-49. Plaintiffs also claim that youth fail to receive a nutritionally adequate diet and are not regularly provided fresh fruit or vegetables. Plaintiffs assert that youth are given only one portion of milk a day and that the milk is sometimes spoiled.4 Id. at ¶¶ 51-52.

Regarding Plaintiffs’ claims of inadequate education and rehabilitative programming, Plaintiffs allege that Defendants do not provide youth with adequate and appropriate individualized academic education, including special needs determination and failure to develop and implement Individualized Education Programs (“IEP”) for eligible chil[411]*411dren. Plaintiffs assert overcrowded classrooms in violation of the state mandated studeni/teacher ratio and claim that all YSC youth receive the same education from a single teacher who is without access to prior education records. Other inadequate education claims include failure to ensure the state requirements regarding minimum minutes of daily instruction5 and curriculum development standards.

Rehabilitative programming inadequacy claims include failure to provide adequate and individualized child and adolescent developmental treatment and counseling services, inadequate recreation, and insufficient transitional services and aftercare and follow-up programs. Plaintiffs also allege that Defendants’ continuing practices and policies place unreasonable and unnecessary burdens on youths’ ability to maintain contact with their families by interfering with and restricting mail, telephone, and visitation. Finally, Plaintiffs claim that Defendants deny youth meaningful access to court and counsel and allege that Defendants’ policies restrict the ability of children to communicate with attorneys by restricting attorney visitation time and providing only one room for legal visits.6 Plaintiffs further assert YSC’s grievance procedure, which requires exhaustion of administrative remedies as a prerequisite to suit, is unconstitutionally vague and indefinite. Plaintiffs claim that Defendants have refused to accept grievances when children attempt to submit them and that some grievances have been physically destroyed in the presence of the children. Youth have also allegedly been advised that grievances will be ignored. (Compl. at ¶¶ 78-84, Rec. Doc. 1).

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Smith v. Edwards
M.D. Louisiana, 2023
Coleman v. District of Columbia
306 F.R.D. 68 (District of Columbia, 2015)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
255 F.R.D. 406, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14344, 2009 WL 322150, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jd-v-nagin-laed-2009.