The ACLU of Kentucky’s legal director, Corey Shapiro, spoke with LPM’s Bill Burton about the lawsuit.
Bill Burton: The Louisville Metro Detention Center has seen 22 deaths, including many by suicide, since 2021. The “Inmate Observer Program” is designed, at least in part, to function as something of a suicide prevention effort. LMDC has not released the records that you’ve requested about the program, hence your lawsuit. So what are the specific records you’re looking to get?
Corey Shapiro: So we’re looking for policies about the program, training materials to get an understanding of what exactly is happening inside LMDC. And we have been faced with sort of an obstructionist view on these documents that are public records and that are being withheld on a variety of bases, and our contention is that we are entitled to these. These are public records, and we are now forced to seek relief from the court here in Jefferson County…