Ruling says lawsuit against chain gangs can proceed
Monday, July 13, 1998 | 3:35 a.m.
Civil rights attorney Terri Keyser-Cooper filed a lawsuit in 1996 on behalf of former inmate Timothy Wade, charging that chain gangs at the county jail constitute cruel and unusual punishment under the U.S. Constitution.
According to Keyser-Cooper, the lawsuit seeks to eliminate chain gang labor at the county jail where five inmates are shackled together with ankle duffs to a 20-foot-long chain.
The lawsuit claims the manner in which the chain gang program is administered by Washoe County Sheriff Richard Kirkland and Washoe County is unsafe, humiliating and painful.
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