MILWAUKEE, July 21 (UPI) -- The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled 4-3 Tuesday that former inmates in the Milwaukee County Jail are not entitled to damages for overcrowding there.
The high court reversed an appeals court ruling that could have cost the county as much as $80 million, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.
By the time Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Clare Fiorenza found the county in contempt for violating a court order to reduce overcrowding the jail was in compliance, the majority on the Supreme Court said. While Fiorenza did not penalize the county, the court of appeals said inmates might be entitled to damages individually.
The majority on the high court said the county should not be penalized for past contempt.
Fiorenza found that the county for several years violated an agreement to reduce overcrowding, keeping inmates for as long as four days in booking areas with no beds and only bologna sandwiches served three times a day. By the time she made the ruling, however, she found the county was keeping no more than 1,200 inmates at a time in the jail and providing them with beds within 30 hours of arrival.
