A $3 million plumbing problem? Pierce Jail could face class-action suit

A federal magistrate judge has recommended class-action status for a lawsuit alleging the Pierce County Jail’s decades-old plumbing defects exposed thousands of detainees to raw sewage backups and toxic odors. The ruling could force the county to fix infrastructure problems flagged in a 2014 engineering report that estimated repairs at $3.1 million.

FULL STORY: Ignored for years, jail’s sewage problems coming back to haunt Pierce County

Here are key takeaways:

• Magistrate Judge S. Kate Vaughan recommended on April 30 that former inmates Zakery Bonds and Echota Wolfclan represent a class of detainees affected by plumbing defects across at least 28 cell blocks in the downtown Tacoma facility. Class actions allow lawsuits on behalf of a group that has similar claims.
• Inmates describe raw sewage “ping-ponging” between toilets in adjoining cells, overflowing onto floors and forcing detainees to clean up with their clothing. About 550 people are jailed there at any one time, with thousands detained annually.
• Administrators have long known about the odors and sewage backups, court records show. Patti Jackson, former chief of corrections and now Tacoma’s police chief, testified that the problems date to when she started at the jail in 1989.
• The county has argued that sewage backup in cells could be caused by inmates clogging toilets rather than a plumbing defect.
• A 2016 county assessment ranked the Main Jail’s deferred maintenance as the fourth-lowest priority among 23 county facilities, despite documented health complaints including headaches, vomiting and suicidal thoughts.
• The county’s 2026-2027 budget includes plans to renovate the “New Jail” to house medium and maximum-security detainees currently held in the Main Jail.

The summary points above were compiled with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists. The full story in the link at top was reported, written and edited entirely by journalists.