COVID-19 Lawsuit in Response to East Baton Rouge Sheriff, Warden Claims that Coronavirus is Under Control
East Baton Rouge Parish Prison Sheriff and Warden, defendants in a federal lawsuit filed by the advocates, claim the jail has the coronavirus pandemic under control, but the plaintiffs and other witnesses in the jail insist that nothing is farther from the truth and that, in fact, the jail is experiencing a second wave of active coronavirus cases.
The named defendants are the City of Baton Rouge/Parish of East Baton Rouge, Sheriff Sid Gautreaux, and Dennis Grimes, warden of the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison. The lawsuit, Belton v. Gautreaux, was filed by Advancement Project National Office, the Center for Constitutional Rights, The Fair Fight Initiative, Hogan Lovells LLP, and local civil rights attorneys in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana. It argues that East Baton Rouge Parish officials are violating the constitutional rights of people in the jail by exposing them to risk of infection, illness, and death during the coronavirus pandemic.
