Who is a Class Member
You are included in the the San Bernardino County Jail Alternative Lifestyle Tank Inmate class action settlement if “you were housed in the Alternative Lifestyle Tank (ALT) of the West Valley Detention Center (a San Bernardino County jail) between October 22, 2012 and March 31, 2018.”
There are 665 individuals included in the Settlement Class.
If you don’t qualify for this settlement, check out our database of other class action settlements you may be eligible for.
Settlement Amount
- $950,000.00
Estimated Award
- $1,000.00 (estimated)
If 328 people file timely claims, then the average recovery would exceed $2,400. However, because how much any claiming class members receives is based on the formula, individual damages will vary greatly, depending first on the length of time spent in the ALT and secondarily on other factors.
No claiming individual Class Member will receive less than $40 or more than $10,000.
Proof of Purchase
- N/A
Claim Form
San Bernardino County Jail Alternative Lifestyle Tank Inmate Settlement Notes
- Dan McKibben, et al. v. John McMahon, et al.
- Case No.14-2171-JGB-SP
- Pending in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California
Filed in 2014, this class action lawsuit challenges the treatment of gay, bisexual, and transgender (GBT) inmates who were housed in the Alternative Lifestyle Tank at the West Valley Detention Center – a 3.347-bed facility in Rancho Cucamonga, CA, part of the San Bernardino County Jail. The complaint alleges GBT inmates were subjected to harsh treatment and denied the same opportunities as general population inmates.
Specifically, the San Bernardino County Jail Alternative Lifestyle Tank Inmate lawsuit, GBT inmates were discriminated against in several ways, including, among other things:
- Automatically being placed in the ALT if they self-identified as GBT
- Placed at risk for their safety if admitted to the general population as openly GBT inmates because the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department did not have plans or programs to ensure their safety
- None or inadequate PREA programs in place to protect GBT inmates or address particular vulnerabilities of GBT inmates placed in the general population;
- Limited in their time out-of-cell generally to an hour and a half per day, and often less, in contrast to general population inmates
- Denied the same work opportunities that were provided to general population inmates
- Denied the same programming opportunities provided to general population inmates; and
- Denied a comparable range of religious services to those available to the general population
“Without justification, inmates in the “ALT” are locked in their cells up to 23 hours a day, longer than inmates housed in general population,” the ALT lawsuit contends. “They end up serving more time than other inmates because they are denied access to work programs that could give them credit toward shorter sentences,” according to the ALT class action lawsuit. Additionally, “ALT inmates do not have the same access to drug rehabilitation, educational and religious services as other inmates…due to an unwarranted fear of AIDS, deputies do not perform required safety checks of ALT cells.”
The class action lawsuit also states that GBT inmates were often subjected to slurs and other abuse by jail officials. GBT inmates “are regularly subjected to abusive conduct and derogatory name-calling by…deputies based on their sexual orientation and gender identity,” the complaint asserts.
Complete details about the case and settlement are provided on the Alternative Lifestyle Tank at San Bernardino County Jail settlement website.
Important Dates
- 1/7/19: Claim Form Deadline
- 1/7/19: Objection or Exclusion Deadline
- 2/11/19: Final Hearing at 9:00 am PST* (class members do not need to attend this hearing in order to receive a slice of the settlement pie).
*Settlement Class Members who wish to speak at the hearing should check www.ALTSettlement.com to confirm that the date or time of the Hearing has not been changed.
Contact Information
- Mail: ALT Settlement, c/o JND Legal Administration, P.O. Box 91307, Seattle, WA 98111
- Phone: 1-844-877-5925
- Email: info@ALTSettlement.com
Class Counsel
- Barrett S. Litt, David S. McLane, and Lindsay Battles of Kaye McLane Bednarksi & Litt LLP
- Melissa Goodman, Amanda Goad, Brendan Hamme, Peter Eliasberg, and Aditi Fruitwala of ACLU Foundation of Southern California
Settlement Website