''Cunningham v. Federal Bureau of Prisons'' was a federal class-action lawsuit against the

Federal Bureau of Prisons The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is a Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement agency of the United States Department of Justice that is responsible for all List of United States federal prisons, federal prisons ...

and officials who run

ADX Florence United States Penitentiary, Administrative Maximum Facility (abbreviated as USP Florence ADMAX; commonly known as ADX Florence, Florence Supermax, and the Alcatraz of the Rockies) is a United States federal prison in Fremont County, Colorado, op ...

, a

supermax A super-maximum security (supermax) or administrative maximum (ADX) prison is a "control-unit" prison, or a unit within prisons, which represents the most secure level of custody in the prison systems of certain countries. The objective is to ...

prison in

Fremont County, Colorado Fremont County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 48,939. The county seat is Cañon City, Colorado, Cañon City. The county is named for 19th-century explorer ...

. In 2012, 11 inmates filed the suit, originally named ''Bacote v. Federal Bureau of Prisons''. The suit alleged chronic abuse, failure to properly diagnose, and neglect of prisoners who are seriously mentally ill. The prisoners were represented by the firm

Arnold & Porter Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP, doing business as Arnold & Porter, is an American multinational law firm. It is a white-shoe firm and among the largest law firms in the world, both by revenue and by number of lawyers. Arnold & Porter was f ...

and the DC Prisoners' Project of the

Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A m ...

. ADX Florence was not legally permitted to hold prisoners who were mentally ill. Prisoners at the supermax facility had filed 14 lawsuits prior to ''Cunningham''. The class-action suit progressed through pretrial discovery. Discussions between the parties led to a settlement that included additional mental health screenings by medical professionals and a lifting of the ban on psychotropic medicine in the Control Unit of the prison. As part of the settlement, Federal Bureau of Prisons officials agreed to changes in their mental health treatment protocols at ADX Florence. Federal officials also agreed to improved training of personnel on recognizing and responding to mental illness.

United States District Court for the District of Colorado The United States District Court for the District of Colorado (in case citations, D. Colo. or D. Col.) is a federal court in the Tenth Circuit (except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. government under the Tucker Act, which are a ...

judge Richard Paul Matsch approved the settlement in December 2016. Due to the lawsuit, over 100 prisoners who had been diagnosed with mental illnesses were transferred to other facilities.

References

External links

Cunningham v. FBP, No. 17-1054 (10th Cir. 2017)
at Justia United States class action case law Federal Bureau of Prisons United States lawsuits {{US-law-stub