Lawsuit: Mobile County jail crams five to a cell, fails to protect from COVID-19

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    Mobile, AL (WALA) — A Mobile County Metro Jail inmate, acting as his own lawyer and witness on Thursday, described a “death trap” of overcrowded conditions, COVID-19 dangers and indifferent staff.

Tracy Besselaar, who has been jailed for more than three years while he waits to be transferred to a state prison, filed a lawsuit along with two other inmates in August against Mobile County Sheriff Sam Cochran and several jail officials.

Mobile County Circuit Judge Jill Phillips denied a request for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction, ruling the plaintiffs had not met the legal burden for doing so. But she said the lawsuit, itself, can continue.

Besselaar testified that the jail already was overcrowded when he in November 2019 – three men to a cell designed for two. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, he said, things have gotten much worse. He said the cells currently have five, and in some cases six, prisoners.

Besselaar pointed to a statement by Warden Trey Oliver that jails were like “nursing homes on steroids” when it comes to risks from the disease.

“That struck fear. And this fear is prevalent,” he said. “The guys in this jail – we’re in a death trap.”

Deputy Warden Sam Houston dispute many of Besselaar’s allegations.

Thursday’s hearing came one day after the Justice Department filed a lawsuit against the state prison system alleging unconstitutional conditions.

Besselaar was on parole from a life sentence for a Baldwin County burglary conviction. Police arrested him last year on a violation related to his failure to report to his parole officer.

The plaintiff testified that the overcrowding has led to violence. He testified that some inmates for a time were sleeping on mattresses in the day room area. But at one point, he said, corrections officers ordered those inmates to move into the cells.

“Inmates that refused to do so, and there were some, were beaten severely,” he testified.

Besselaar said jamming five men in a small cell means some prisoners “don’t even have room to lay down.”

He described one incident in which he had to use the cell’s toilet, which was directly over a sleeping man’s head.

“I had to step over the man who was on the floor,” he said, adding that some urine splashed onto the man’s face.

This sparked a fight, Besselaar testified.

“This is a common thing. … Inmates have been stabbed over this,” he said.

Co-plaintiff Anthony Atkins testified that two aggressive inmates jumped him during an altercation but that jail staffers returned them to the same wedge. He said the jail does not separate violent inmates from others.

Houston disputed that allegation. He testified that the jail does use a classification system to place inmates. He disputed a number of other allegations related to food, mail service and the amount of time prisoners are allowed out of their cells.

Houston acknowledged that COVID-19 has been a challenge, particularly in the early months when testing was not widely available. Recently, he said, the jail has begun proactively testing inmates from the novel coronavirus when they book them in. He acknowledged that the jail does not give prisoners masks at all times but does whenever they are in quarantine or are moved outside of the housing area.

To date, Houston testified, 97 inmates have tested positive for the disease, with five active cases. None have died, and a few briefly have been treated at the hospital, he said.

Defense attorney Michael Linder declined to comment after the hearing. Inside the courtroom, he said Besselaar “just hasn’t come close to making any legal argument that would be necessary for a preliminary injunction.”

Charlene Washington, the mother of an inmate who is not involved in the lawsuit, said she was disappointed by the judge’s ruling.

“Everything they said in there is absolutely true, what’s going on in the metro jail,” she said.

Washington added that she fears the threat of COVID-19.

“They’re lives are in danger because there’s not been protective, you know, they’re not using any kind of hand sanitizer. They’re not social distancing with one another. And I feel like their lives are in danger.”

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