Metro government agrees to pay $20M to inmates held too long at Louisville's jail

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Metro Louisville agreed to pay $20 million to the plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit who claimed they were improperly detained in jail for several hours, days, weeks and even months after they were supposed to be released.

Garry Adams, one of the attorneys representing the plaintiffs, said the amount still needs to be approved by U.S. District Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings.

"LMDC has implemented new policies and software designed to prevent future over-detentions, which will be outlined in the final agreement," Adams said in a written statement Tuesday.

Metro government has already paid about $2 million to a Texas-based company Analytic Focus to conduct an audit of the issue. For the entire seven-year period starting in February 2017, the company estimated about 6,865 inmates were detained too long, according to the 2023 report.

The lawsuit applies to anyone since February 2016 who was held at least four hours after serving out a jail sentence and those who were detained at least 12 hours after being ordered released by a judge after making bond or qualifying for home incarceration, among other reasons.

The city had asked the Sixth Circuit to deny class-action status for the lawsuit. But in a unanimous 3-0 decision, the Sixth Circuit upheld a lower court ruling, allowing the suit to proceed as a class action case. Jennings, whose role was limited to determining whether the case had class action arguments, ruled Jan. 15 that the plaintiffs had demonstrated the jail's "failure to implement and maintain an adequate process for timely releasing inmates."

Retired Metro Corrections Director Mark Bolton and the man who replaced him — Bolton's longtime deputy, Dwayne Clark — knew since at least 2012 that problems in the jail's records department were causing people to be jailed illegally but did little about it, according to testimony and an audit by the city.

Attorneys described Bolton and Clark as having a "laissez faire" attitude about the issue.

Clark, who oversaw the records unit, had no policy that late releases be reported or explained to him, for example, attorneys said in court records. And he estimated in court testimony that around 10 people or less are detained too long each year while shifting much of the blame to court employees.

"One is too many, don't get me wrong, but ten people?" Clark said in his deposition years ago. "It isn't this big issue as you're portraying to me. It's not."

Bolton said in 2021 that while he couldn't talk about specifics of the lawsuit, the courts were the main source of the problems being created. But a city audit showed only about 7% of the release problems came from problematic court orders.

The cause of the problems, according to a 2017 letter from an FOP representative to a judge, is inadequate staffing and training, as well as outdated procedures and equipment.

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