ICLU claims Pendleton lockdown harmed inmates

INDIANAPOLIS -- A prison lockdown left some inmates of the Pendleton Correctional Facility jailed two to a cell for nearly five months in conditions unfit for dogs, the Indiana Civil Liberties Union alleges.\nForcing two inmates to share a 12-by-8-foot cell at nearly all times amounted to cruel and unusual punishment prohibited under the Eighth Amendment, the ICLU said in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis.\nThe lawsuit seeks to expand the case to include more than 400 inmates of the I-Complex unit at the maximum-security prison about 25 miles northeast of Indianapolis. The prison's about 1,400 inmates were locked down from April 30, 2004, through the end of September and for one week in December.\nDuring lockdowns, I-Complex prisoners remain confined two to a cell, with toilets 6 to 8 inches from their beds and no privacy curtains or cleaning supplies, the lawsuit said.\n"The fact that these men committed a criminal offense is not an excuse for the State of Indiana to treat them in a way that most health departments would find unacceptable for dogs," the ICLU's legal director, Kenneth Falk, said in a statement.\nThe lawsuit seeks a permanent injunction barring the state's Department of Correction from restricting those inmates to their cells for long periods of time without recreation or other activities. It also seeks damages from the Pendleton Superintendent Zettie Cotton, who is named as a defendant along with newly appointed DOC Commissioner J. David Donahue.\nDepartment spokeswoman Pam Pattison said the agency does not comment on pending litigation. The attorney general's office, which represents state agencies in legal matters, also declined to comment on the lawsuit, spokeswoman Staci Schneider said.\nUnder normal conditions, the I-Complex prisoners have jobs or attend classes and have access to day rooms about 15 hours a day and recreation about 90 minutes each day, Falk said. During lockdowns, they remain in their cells except for showers lasting no more than 10 minutes three times per week.\n"They are double-celled in a small area that was never meant to hold prisoners 24 hours per day," Falk said in an interview Tuesday.