by Keaton Ross, Oklahoma Watch
May 12, 2025

Four Oklahoma prisoners who faced prolonged confinement in 3-by-3-foot shower stalls in August 2023 have a valid argument that their constitutional rights were violated, a federal judge decided on April 30. 

Magistrate Judge Shon T. Erwin recommended that the state’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit alleging inhumane conditions at the Great Plains Correctional Facility in Hinton should be granted only to remove a racial discrimination claim and eliminate Department of Corrections Director Steven Harpe as a defendant.

Should U.S. District Judge Patrick Wyrick adopt Erwin’s recommendation, claims that several prison staff members willfully neglected the prisoners’ Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment rights will continue.

The prisoners allege that they were locked in the small shower stalls for 24 hours or longer with no bathroom breaks, bedding, hygiene products or fresh drinking water. They say human waste accumulated and their mental health deteriorated as staff refused to move them. 

The state previously sought to have their claims dismissed on procedural grounds, arguing that they had failed to exhaust the Department of Corrections grievance process. That request was denied for all but one prisoner.

In the 24-page order, Erwin wrote that the prisoners had provided sufficient facts about their mistreatment and cited several cases where courts condemned housing prisoners near human waste. 

“Causing a man to live, eat, and perhaps sleep in close confines with his own human waste is too debasing and degrading to be permitted,” Erwin wrote, citing a court ruling from 1972. 

An internal Department of Corrections investigation began when two correctional officers, dispatched temporarily from another facility to help alleviate staffing shortages, reported the shower stall confinement to a supervisor. The officers claimed that staff were intentionally housing prisoners in the shower stalls as punishment and feared legal liability if they did not report what they observed, according to documents obtained by Oklahoma Watch. 

The agency’s investigation concluded that Great Plains staff began moving prisoners to the shower stalls when a backlog accumulated in the prison’s restrictive housing unit. The investigator noted that several facilities used shower stalls as temporary holding cells, typically for an hour or less, but that the agency had changed its policies to forbid the practice. 

Several staff members were disciplined but retained their employment.

The Department of Corrections has declined to comment on the lawsuit, citing an internal policy that forbids speaking to the media about pending litigation. In previous statements, the agency maintained that the prisoners were moved in and out of the showers frequently and no inhumane treatment occurred. 

“Director Steven Harpe continues to lead the way in improving the culture of ODOC, upgrading the conditions of prisons, mitigating any potential civil rights violations, and changing the lives of returning citizens,” Chief of Public Relations Kay Thompson wrote in an April 17, 2024 statement, eight days after the lawsuit was filed. 

The prisoners, represented by attorneys Richard Labarthe and Alexey Tarasov, seek monetary damages, an order affirming that they faced unconstitutional treatment and an injunction forbidding the future confinement of prisoners in shower stalls. The state Legislature would be required to approve any settlement amount of $250,000 or greater. 

“These are guys that screwed up, broke the law and are paying their debt to society,” Labarthe said in an interview after the lawsuit was filed. “They’re not saints. But one does not check one’s basic human rights and rights under the Constitution when they hit the doors of a prison.” 

The state and prisoners have until May 14 to respond to Erwin’s report.

Correction: This story was updated at 3:40 p.m. on Monday, May 12 to clarify that Judge Wyrick will rule on Erwin’s report and recommendation.

This article first appeared on Oklahoma Watch and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

The post Judge Denies State’s Request to Throw Out Prison Conditions Lawsuit appeared first on oklahomawatch.org

Oklahoma Watch, at oklahomawatch.org, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that covers public-policy issues facing the state.

Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.

Political Bias Rating: Center-Left

This content emphasizes the protection of prisoners’ constitutional rights and highlights issues related to inhumane treatment within the correctional system. The coverage critiques state actions and advocates for accountability and reform, positions typically associated with center-left perspectives focused on social justice, human rights, and government oversight. However, it maintains a factual tone and includes perspectives from both legal authorities and state officials, avoiding overtly partisan language.