TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Kate Prince on Sep 1, 2021

U.S. District Judge Sheryl Lipman yesterday denied a motion from the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office to end the consent decree between the county jail and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) regarding COVID-19 prevention. The Sheriff’s Office asked Lipman last month to terminate the agreement, claiming it had satisfied the terms of the decree. According to the Memphis Flyer, Lipman rejected that claim, finding that all detainees had not been offered the COVID-19 vaccine, nor had they all been given the educational materials and incentives to take the vaccine. “The consent decree did not enshrine mere box-checking. It enshrined meaningful protection for plaintiffs, a medically vulnerable group,” Lipman said.