Crime

Settlement Reached for Protesters Who Sued Alameda County Over Jail Conditions

Published

8 years ago

August 12, 2016

Four women who sued Alameda County over unhygienic and humiliating conditions at the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin reached a $130,000 settlement with the county on August 1.

Plaintiffs Anne Weills, Tova Fry, Alyssa Eisenberg and Mollie Costello were arrested in February 2014 while protesting in Oakland. They and other protesters were drawing attention to the death of Alan Blueford, who was shot and killed by an Oakland police officer in 2012.

“We were demanding Kamala Harris investigate the deaths of young Black and Brown men by local police departments,” said Weills, who was acting as a legal observer when the California Highway Patrol arrested the women on suspicion of misdemeanor trespassing.

The four women were then taken to Santa Rita Jail, where they said they experienced conditions both humiliating and biohazardous.

“In the back of the cell was an overflowing toilet with feces and blood. To the left of the toilet was a pile of bloody clothes from women who were menstruating, and there was old food left out,” Weills said.

“[Deputies] also demanded that we take off our outer garments… and to the left and right of us were two holding cells where at least 10 to 20 male prisoners could see us,” she said.

Policies adopted from the settlement now require curtains for female inmates at Santa Rita Jail to use during screenings, basic amenities like trash bags and menstrual pads for female inmates, and will improve training for deputies.

According to Weills, the jail will also now clean up the cells every hour. “There is going to be a log, and every shift has to be signed off. ‘Yes the cell is clean’ or ‘yes they have access to menstrual pads.’ There will be a level of enforcement through the logging.”

Weills and the other plaintiffs quickly sought legal recourse after their arrest to bring attention to and change the degrading conditions that women inmates face at Santa Rita Jail.

“We were a privileged class of women and we thought, ‘what do we have available to fight this so it doesn’t happen again to a less privileged class that experiences this week in and week out?’” she said.

Prior to reaching the settlement, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors in June approved $116.9 million in upgrades to the Santa Rita Jail, including a new medical wing for improved healthcare and mental health services to inmates.

And just days after the lawsuit settled, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors voted on August 5 to end its contract with Corizon Health, which had provided medical care for Alameda County jails for nearly three decades.

According to the East Bay Times, Corizon laid off 63 nurses earlier this year after an $8.3 million settlement over the death of Martin Harrison, a 50-year-old Oakland resident who died in Santa Rita Jail.

The Times also reported a second lawsuit was filed in February by the family of 29-year-old Mario Martinez, who died at the jail of a severe asthma attack.

Shawn Wilson, Chief of Staff for Alameda County Supervisor Scott Haggerty, said he was unaware whether the decision to cut ties with Corizon had any direct relation to the case involving the four women at Santa Rita Jail, but that some supervisors had finally “had enough with Corizon and the number of complaints that had been cited.”

Weills sees things a bit differently.

“I think our case and these other cases are threatening (Sheriff-Coroner Gregory Ahern)’s control over the jail,” she said.

With the $130,000 settlement, the four women plan to distribute ‘know your rights’ pamphlets to inmates at the jail.

They also plan to set up a hotline run through The Alan Blueford Center for Justice in Oakland for women at Santa Rita Jail “who have stories to tell and questions to ask,” Weills said.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Up Next

Uber Partners with Local Consulting Firm to Create Opportunities

Don't Miss

Open Letter to Uber CEO Travis Kalanick

Oakland Post

Click to comment

Activism

Oakland Post: Week of October 30 – November 5, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of October 30 – November 5, 2024

Published

21 hours ago

November 1, 2024

Oakland Post

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Alameda County

Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price Announces $7.5 Million Settlement Agreement with Walmart

The settlement resolves allegations that Walmart unlawfully disposed of hazardous waste and medical waste from its facilities statewide to municipal landfills. Walmart agreed to pay $4,297,040 in civil penalties and $3,202,960 in costs, to be split among the prosecuting agencies, the California Department of Toxic Substances Control, and some local environmental protection agencies. There are nine Walmart stores in Alameda County.

Published

5 days ago

October 28, 2024

Oakland Post

iStock.

By Oakland Post Staff

Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price, the California Attorney General’s Office, and eleven other prosecutors’ offices secured a $7.5 million settlement with Walmart on behalf of the People of the State of California.

“Large corporations must be held accountable when they do not follow the law and put the health and safety of Alameda County residents at risk,” said Price. “I commend my office’s Consumer Justice Bureau’s active involvement in this investigation, which helped bring this settlement forward and holds Walmart to account.”

The settlement is the result of over 70 covert waste inspections conducted by the district attorneys’ offices statewide from 2015 through 2021, including many assisted by Alameda County District Attorney’s Office environmental protection investigators. During those inspections, the offices inspected the waste that Walmart sent from its stores to local landfills and found hundreds of containers of toxic aerosols and liquid wastes (including spray paints, rust removers, bleach, and pesticides), as well as medical waste (such as over-the-counter drugs).

Improperly disposed of private consumer information was also found.

The People filed a civil law enforcement complaint against Walmart in 2021, wherein those unlawful disposals were alleged to violate the Hazardous Waste Control Law, Medical Waste Management Act, and Unfair Competition Law.

The civil action and stipulated judgment were filed in Alameda County Superior Court. The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office has been involved in the investigation and civil case preparation since 2015.

The settlement also imposes injunctive terms, which require Walmart to maintain an independent, third-party auditor to conduct three annual rounds of waste audits at its facilities throughout California during the next four years. Walmart’s auditor must use specific requirements in the settlement to ensure that hazardous waste is properly classified, handled, disposed of, and transported according to California law.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Activism

Black Tulip Calls for Action and a Cultural Shift in Oakland for Black Women’s Safety

Anyka Howard, founder of the Betti Ono Foundation and visionary of Black Tulip, expressed the core value of the movement and urgent need for change. “We’re not going to tolerate Oakland being a hotbed for dysfunction and violence, and perpetuating harms against Black women and girls,” Howard said. “We deserve better, we are worthy, our lives matter, and it’s time for us to boldly, and collectively proclaim that and expect the appropriate response.”

Published

5 days ago

October 28, 2024

Oakland Post

Jada Imani and another Black Tulip attendee building an altar at the Lake Merritt Amphitheater in honor of artist Zoe Reidy Watts, 25, who was killed in Oakland in March. Courtesy photo.

By Kristal Raheem
Special to The Post

Last week, Oakland City Council voted to adopt a resolution supporting the federal Protect Black Women and Girls Act, (H.R. 7354). The federal law would establish an interagency task force to examine the experiences of Black women in U.S. society, from education to health care to jobs to housing.

A 2020 study by the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation reported that 40% of humans being trafficked in the U.S. are Black women. In 2022, the FBI reported 97,000 Black women were missing. That same year in Oakland, 400 Black women were reported missing.

The Council vote on Oct. 15 was just the latest reflection of a blossoming movement in Oakland demanding greater protection for Black women and girls.

From Oct. 3-5, the Betti Ono Foundation, in partnership with the Black Arts Movement Business District and Community Development Corporation (BAMB CDC), hosted their inaugural Black Tulip Cultural Week of Action.

The Black Tulip event series included a write-in at the BAMB CDC, an Oakland’s First Friday partnership, and a Day of Action at Lake Merritt.

Howard said everyone must support Black Tulip’s mission, regardless of race and other social identities. She specifically called for men to show up more as allies.

West Oakland native and founder of Black Terminus AR, Damien McDuffie, said the Town’s “pimp culture” has warped how Black women are treated. “Oakland has a complex history around sexual assault and pimp culture, so I think we have a warped sense of what safety might look like, especially for women and girls,” Damien saud. “I think a real impact on how women are treated here in Oakland or in the Bay Area will come from a culture shift.”

The Black Tulip Day of Action took place on Saturday, Oct. 5. Healers, poets, and musicians joined forces to amplify joy, remembrance, and hope.

Oakland educator and healer Venus Morris co-hosted the event alongside honorary guest speaker and singer Dawn Richard.

Richard is the artist relations director with the Hip Hop Caucus, an organization that helps artists use their platform to advocate for important issues. She is also one of 120 people being represented in a lawsuit against Sean “Diddy” Combs for alleged sexual assault and abuse.

Despite the media frenzy regarding the legal case, Richard showed up in Oakland to stand in solidarity for the mission of Black Tulip. “I think our narrative has been stolen from us,” Richard said. “We’ve lost the narrative of what we represent in this culture and in this society. We are more and I think this event exemplifies that.”

Participants gathered to honor the lives of Black women who lost their lives to violence while also celebrating one another as the journey for justice continues.

“We are the mothers, the womb of this earth. There is no America, no globalization, no capitalism, without us,” Howard told Oakland Voices. “People are taught to see us in a particular way that does not honor who we are. Black Tulip is a reclamation of our sacredness. It’s an affirmation, a calling, a demand.”

This story was initially published by Oakland Voices (http://oaklandvoices.us). The author previously worked as a communications and public relations manager for Councilmember Treva Reid.