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Lawsuit against local officials regarding jail project dismissed
The lawsuit against the Clay County Commissioners, Clay County Council, and the Clay County Sheriff's Department alleging violations against the Indiana Open Door Law and Indiana Access to Public Records Act has been dismissed.
The National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) and Mariposa Legal filed three formal complaints with Indiana Public Access Counselor (IPAC) on Thursday, November 11, 2021, regarding the potential project for a jail expansion and renovation of Clay County Justice Center.
An attorney with Mariposa Legal, Hannah Cartwright, filed a 35-page complaint on behalf of Communities Not Cages (CNC) Indiana Coalition in Clay Circuit Çourt. It alleged the Clay County Commissioners, Clay County Council, and the Clay County Sheriff's Department violated the Indiana Open Door Law and Indiana Access to Public Records Act.
The complaint was filed in Clay Circuit Court, with Judge Joseph D. Trout preceding; plaintiffs/Mariposa had 20 days to respond from the filing date, which was extended to January 31, 2022.
On December 20, 2021, IPAC Luke H. Britt, who investigated the complaints, sent a letter to Attorney Hannah Cartwright:
"Here, I had previously communicated an absence of grounds for filing a complaint. I had determined your public records requests lacked reasonable particularity and the Open Door Law allegations were speculative at best."
The jail project has been on the minds of local officials for several years. The jail, located at the Clay County Justice Center, 611 East Jackson Street, Brazil, has been in a state of constant use for 15 years, and maintenances issues have arisen along the way.
The State Of Indiana Department of Corrections determined local inmates will not serve sentences for lower-level crimes at the IDOC but return to jail facilities near their homes. The facility is rated with a daily capacity of 176 inmates. CCJC began steadily surpassing that in 2016 (at a rate of 188) to reach 209 in 2019. The expectations are that will only increase in the future.
Research has the jail population increasing 95% in 13 years.
This data has commissioners considering expanding at the jail and creating a project that answers all current maintenance issues and future needs instead of waiting for them to arrive and acting then.
The federal ICE program became a public issue when Mariposa Legal, Cosecha Indiana, and National Immigrant Justice Center got involved.
These organizations protest and provide legal assistance to immigrants placed in detention centers throughout America.
In December, Cartwright stated in a press release: "The people of Indiana deserve to have transparency and accountability from their elected public officials. We hope that this lawsuit will bring such transparency around the proposed jail expansion of Clay County Jail that not only directly affects Clay County taxpayers but has significant national implications as this small county seeks to unilaterally collaborate with ICE in the detention of immigrant residents in the Midwest."
Once the lawsuit was filed in a local court, all parties ceased to discuss the legal matter outside of court proceedings, waiting for a resolution in the case.
The reason stated by the plaintiffs/Mariposa for the lawsuit filed against local officials was lacking "transparency and accountability " by public officials.
However, now it appears in the recent documents that the case by Mariposa was "not about a real legal dispute under the Open Door Law (ODL)or Access to Public Records Approval (APRA), but is instead an effort to use the lawsuit to generate publicity and attempt to besmirch (CLARIFICATION NOTE by The Times: to damage the reputation) the County to interfere with a public construction project."
The Brazil Times has confirmed these documents' validity in the public record and posted these documents for the public to read online at in the PHOTO GALLERY.