Women inmates make small gain in fight over prison conditions

Nine women held at San Francisco's only women's jail sued the city, county and sheriff's office over conditions they describe as lacking exercise, serving food on trays with soap residue, and requiring sleep near overflowing toilets. U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer dismissed most of the claims but let two survive: inadequate sunlight and discriminatory treatment compared to men in the jail system.

Breyer found the sunlight deprivation claim plausible because the plaintiffs allege it has caused memory loss, insomnia and migraines, and because there's no obvious non-punitive reason to withhold it from pretrial detainees. He also allowed the disparate-treatment claim to proceed, noting men can be transferred to other facilities while the women cannot, leaving them stuck with the conditions regardless of severity.

The medical care, food and plumbing claims were all dismissed for lack of specificity, including one where plaintiffs failed to name the private food contractor as a defendant. The judge also dismissed claims under the Eighth Amendment, since it doesn't apply to pretrial detainees, and rejected municipal liability for want of a named policy.

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