Opinion ID: 349561
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Restriction on Jail Population.

Text: 48 The defendants contend that the trial court erred in restricting the normal daily population 13 of the Duval County Jail to 410 inmates, when the jail was originally designed to hold 432 inmates in the general population. The district court found, however, that overcrowding at the jail caused constitutional deprivations and that, whatever its original design, the jail provided adequate space for only 410 inmates. 401 F.Supp. at 899. We see no abuse of discretion in this part of the trial court's order. 49 The district court based its order to limit the population to 410 on the testimony of two experts on prison correction. 14 Professor Charles Robert Sarver, 15 for the plaintiffs, concluded that the jail could properly hold 404 inmates. Professor Ellis MacDougall, 16 a witness for the court, concluded that the jail's capacity was around 425. 17 Professor Sarver based his conclusion on the original design capacity of the jail 18 and changes made in the jail after its construction. Some of the space designed for housing inmates had been converted to a law library, an infirmary, offices, and a convalescent unit. What the defendants contend, in effect, is that the trial court should have ignored the changes made in the jail and should have considered only the original design. We find that contention without merit. 50 The defendants also argue that the trial judge should have included the jail's twenty one-person isolation cells in his determination of the design capacity of the jail and should have found that the jail had originally been designed to hold 452 inmates rather than 432. 19 This argument too must fail. One part of the district court's order that was never appealed specifies that these isolation cells may be used only for disciplinary or medical reasons or upon the written request of an inmate. 392 F.Supp. at 523. We see no error in the trial judge's not considering cells that may be used only in extraordinary circumstances. 20 51