Prison lawsuit returns to federal court

Thursday, March 2nd 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

TULSA, Okla. (AP) -- Attorney General Drew Edmondson said Thursday that the state is ready to return to the courtroom over prison conditions and has made improvements that back its case.

A federal judge this week tossed out a settlement agreement that was reached last summer in an attempt to end a decades-long lawsuit filed by Oklahoma prison inmates.

Edmondson, whose office represents the state Department of Corrections, said the case will be limited to the constitutionality of prison conditions.

"We've made a lot of progress since last year on being certain we're in constitutional compliance," he said Thursday. "We were ready to try the case last year but recognized there were deficiencies."

Louis Bullock, who represents inmates, also saw the ruling as favorable. "The unconstitutional nature of medical care and other conditions will be proven in federal court, and the lengthy process of securing remedies for those unconstitutional conditions will follow," he said.

U.S. District Judge Michael Burrage's order came Tuesday in the landmark lawsuit that was started by inmates in 1972.

The order effectively reinstated injunctions addressing prison crowding, conditions of confinement, adequacy of medical care and delivery, racial segregation and discrimination.

"This case has, throughout its long and beleaguered history, gone through the fits and throws of settlement without reaching fruition," the judge wrote. "It is now simply time to determine the merits of the claims by plaintiffs" under the Prison Litigation Reform Act, the Constitution and court mandates.

Burrage also tossed out an April 23 order requiring state Corrections Department officials to improve medical care and denied a motion to hold the department in contempt for failing to abide by the order.

Bullock plans to press the court to resume a hearing on medical care. The April 1999 hearing came to a halt after lawmakers made a $7.2 million appropriation to improve medical care in state prisons.

Bullock asked Burrage in November to find the Corrections Department in contempt and to enforce the settlement agreement. But Burrage, who never signed off on the agreement, said it is not enforceable because of issues of state sovereignty and questions about the court's authority.

The judge also noted the response by inmates to the agreement, which was posted in all prisons. "To date, this court has received over 1,000 objections to the agreement (from inmates)," Burrage wrote in his order.