By Rebecca Boone
Associated Press
BOISE, Idaho — A federal judge has given the Idaho Department of Correction until the end of the business day Thursday to show whether inmates were housed in so-called “dry cells” without running water while a court-appointed examiner visited a state prison.
U.S. District Judge David Carter told attorneys in a lawsuit over prison health care that he wasn’t yet ready to believe allegations that inmates had been moved out of the cells in advance of the visits to make the facility look better to the court.
The judge told the state that now would be the time to show evidence to the contrary if it’s available.
Dry cells don’t have running water, sinks or toilet fixtures, though they do have a grate in the floor that serves as a toilet and can be flushed by pressing a button outside of the cell.
The cells also typically don’t have mattresses or sleeping mats and are sometimes used to house inmates who are at risk of harming themselves or others.
The hearing was part of a decades-old class action lawsuit over health care at the Idaho State Correctional Institution south of Boise.
Inmates contend that prison officials tampered with medical records, hid problem inmates and otherwise misled a court-appointed examiner during his visits to the prison. The inmates have asked Carter to hold the state in contempt or levy other legal punishment over the allegations.
Prison officials have denied the allegations, which they say are based on incomplete information taken out of context.
A key issue is whether inmates were intentionally moved out of the dry cells before the court-appointed examiner, Dr. Marc Stern, visited the prison in September 2011 and January 2012.
The judge questioned Warden Keith Yordy on Thursday about documents showing inmate movements, and that some specific inmates frequently were held in the dry cells.
“I can’t find with at least these documents - and what seems to be a somewhat robust use of these dry cells - the dry cells in operation with any inmate,” on the dates when Stern visited, Carter said. “And for an institution of this size and seeing this kind of volume, it makes me question if a directional order was given.”
The hearing was expected to last to the end of the day. It’s not clear when Carter would issue a ruling.