The federal suit, filed Monday on behalf of more than 90 former prisoners in the Genesee County Jail in Flint, alleges prisoners were forced to continue drinking tap water even after officials knew about the lead contamination.
The suit also alleges bottled water was withheld from inmates even when brought to the jail by concerned family members and other donors, that when bottled water was made available it was rationed in insufficient quantities, and that the jail instead charged prisoners a premium to buy bottled water from the commissary.
Because they were jailed, “plaintiffs could not travel to an area and/or municipality which had uncontaminated water,” couldn’t install filters on their jail water taps or drink bottled water, and “were completely at the mercy” of the county sheriff and jail officials, the suit alleges.
Named as defendants in the lawsuit are Genesee County, Sheriff Robert Pickell, and Capt.
However, "just because it’s being alleged, doesn’t make it true," he said.
Flint’s drinking water became contaminated with lead in April 2014, after a state-appointed emergency manager, in a cost-saving move, ordered a switch from Lake Huron water supplied by the city of Detroit to Flint River water treated at the city’s water treatment plant.
After months of denial from state officials, Gov.
"With full knowledge that the water in the Genesee County Jail was contaminated, defendants … forced plaintiffs to continue drinking the contaminated water."
When the state delivered bottled water to the jail, officials failed to deliver it to inmates in a timely manner and then rationed it to prisoners at two half-liter bottles per day, according to the lawsuit.
The suit, assigned to U.S. District Judge Paul Borman, was filed by Southfield attorney Solomon Radner, along with attorneys from New York and Philadelphia.