BOSTON (AP) — Civil rights groups have filed a class action lawsuit calling for the release of all immigration detainees at a Massachusetts jail.
Lawyers for Civil Rights and other organizations argue in their federal suit filed late Thursday that detainees at the Bristol County House of Corrections in Dartmouth are living in “cruel and inhumane conditions” that put them at risk of an outbreak of the new coronavirus.
They say the detainees are not being provided sanitizer or disinfectant and only limited amounts of soap. The groups also say corrections officers have reported to work with virus-like symptoms and new detainees are being brought into the facility without being tested or screened.
Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson denied the allegations and dismissed the suit as “absurd and completely frivolous.”
He also said his office has no legal authority to release immigration detainees, who are held in custody on behalf of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
ICE said it continues “to maintain confidence” in the jail but declined to comment on the specifics of the suit.
(Copyright (c) 2024 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)