Federal lawsuit filed over Garfield County jail

<br>ENID, Okla. (AP) _ Conditions at the 67-year-old Garfield County jail violate inmates' constitutional rights, according to a federal class-action lawsuit that seeks to have the jail closed. <br><br>Attorney

Tuesday, March 26th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

ENID, Okla. (AP) _ Conditions at the 67-year-old Garfield County jail violate inmates' constitutional rights, according to a federal class-action lawsuit that seeks to have the jail closed.

Attorney Stephen Jones filed the lawsuit Monday in Oklahoma City federal court. It comes four months after the office of Attorney General Drew Edmondson filed a similar lawsuit in Garfield County District Court.

Jones' lawsuit was filed on behalf of all Garfield County inmates against the county commissioners and Sheriff Bill Winchester.

``Since at least 1996, the board (of county commissioners) has been on notice from the sheriff and the state Department of Health that the conditions of confinement within the jail were in violation of state correctional standards and by implication, violated the Fifth, Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments,'' the lawsuit states.

The amendments apply to punishment without due process of law, cruel and unusual punishment, guarantees of due process of law and equal protection of law.

Winchester said assaults are common in the jail, which has little room for separating inmates charged with serious crimes from those involved in less serious crimes.

``We've been awfully lucky that someone hasn't been killed here,'' he said.

The four plaintiffs named in the lawsuit are Jesse D. Goldston, Terry Lee Caldwell, Dan Long and Vernon Crump. All but Crump were injured while they were jail inmates.

Earlier this month, Garfield County voters rejected a half-cent sales tax request to build a new jail, leaving commissioners to look for another solution to avoid closure.

Officials hope they can delay closure while they study the possibility of funding a new jail through revenue bonds, or wait for the city of Enid to come up with another plan.

``Closure of the jail _ whether it's the attorney general's suit or this lawsuit _ would severely impact the county's budget,'' Commissioner Wendell Vencl said. ``This just adds to our woes.''

Jones said he is considering the possibility of adding the city of Enid and the Enid Police Department to the lawsuit.

He said he will not ask for an immediate hearing on the injunction because of efforts of Mayor Doug Frantz to find a solution, and because of the sheriff's efforts to increase segregation options.

Winchester notified the city last week that he would not accept city inmates until they had been charged.

``It's in the hands of the federal court now,'' Jones said.