Inmates' suit says cuffs caused injury on trip from Ohio

The prisoners were being transported from the CCA facility in Youngstown to a prison in Waverly, Va.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A class action lawsuit accusing District of Columbia prison guards of injuring prisoners with handcuffs that were too tight and denying them food, water and access to toilets on a trip from Ohio to Virginia can go to trial, a federal judge ruled Monday.
The civil suit claims the prisoners' constitutional rights were violated during the transfer, a trip the plaintiffs described as "a ride from hell."
The prisoners maintain that during two long bus trips in February and March of 1999, D.C. guards tightened the prisoners' handcuffs too tightly, cutting into their wrists.
Some of the prisoners also were restrained with chains around their waists and shackles at their ankles. About 135 prisoners are part of the class, according to city lawyers.
The complaint alleges some of the inmates suffered serious injuries that required ongoing medical attention.
Lawyers for the district had asked the judge to dismiss the case, arguing the claim wasn't valid as a violation of the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
They cited the need to maintain safe, orderly buses during the transfer of prisoners. They also disputed several of the allegations regarding the tightness of the restraints and the severity of injuries.
Judge's ruling
In Monday's opinion, U.S. District Court Judge Royce C. Lamberth ruled the facts of the 1999 episode would have to be determined in court.
"Conditions of confinement can constitute an Eighth Amendment violation when two elements are present," Judge Lamberth wrote.
The conditions must pose a "substantial risk of serious harm" and be a result of prison officials' deliberately ignoring inmates' health or safety, he wrote.
In the D.C. case, the prisoners allege they were denied food and water during the trips, which they said lasted 10 to 15 hours.
They also say they were denied access to toilets and to their medications.
"Many plaintiffs complain of having actually urinated or defecated on themselves," after being denied use of toilets on the buses, Judge Lamberth wrote.
A few prisoners reported vomiting and loss of consciousness due to the withholding of medication.
Traci Hughes, a spokeswoman for the D.C. attorney general, said that the city would proceed to trial and that there was no indication a settlement would be reached.
En route from Youngstown
The inmates had been incarcerated in other states because there was a shortage of space in D.C. facilities. They were being transported from a prison in Youngstown to one in Waverly, Va.
The inmates in the case had also participated in a class action lawsuit against Corrections Corporation of America, the private company that ran the Ohio facility, challenging prison conditions there.
The prisoners maintain the D.C. guards also violated their First Amendment rights by using the bus conditions as retaliation for their lawsuit against the Youngstown prison.
They said the guards taunted them and referred to the previous lawsuit on the bus trips, according to the complaint.
Lawyers for the district have denied that any remarks were made or that the guards even knew about the Youngstown suit.
While declining to dismiss the case, Judge Lamberth ruled tentatively that the individual guards are entitled to individual immunity as state officials, as long as they did not knowingly violate the Constitution.