Inmates of the New York City prison system have rekindled a class action against the city's Department of Correction with a contempt motion claiming the department has failed to follow a court order to provide prisoners with better access to healthcare services.

The motion filed Thursday claims the prisons have not provided inmates proper access to the sick call system, a phone triage system where an inmate can contact a Correctional Health Services provider and seek an appointment. DOC employees have also failed to provide inmates safe transport to appointments, delaying access to medical or dental services.

A team of attorneys from the Legal Aid Society, Brooklyn Defender Services and Milbank LLP filed the contempt motion in state court with an ongoing class action suit that originated in October 2021. The new filing comes weeks after the death of Charizma Jones, a 23-year-old inmate at Rikers Island who died after a medical emergency. Groups including the Legal Aid Society claim in public statements that DOC officers deprived Jones of immediate medical care.

A week after Jones' death, the plaintiffs in the class action suit filed a notice they had ended settlement negotiations and planned to "return to a litigation posture" with the contempt motion, which was filed Thursday. According to the motion filed in the New York Supreme Court in Bronx County, instances when an incarcerated person was not brought to their scheduled medical appointment rose from 7,671 in October 2021 to 12,224 in May 2024.

"When our government confines someone, it has the duty to take care of their basic human needs," said Lindsey Smith, staff attorney with the special litigation unit at the Legal Aid Society, in a statement to Law360 Pulse. "Instead, DOC unlawfully prevents our clients from receiving medically necessary care, even for common conditions like heart disease, diabetes, and broken bones that can quickly spiral into serious and even disabling medical problems if untreated. Despite a court order, DOC has refused to correct this problem over the past 23 months."

The initial complaint filed in October 2021 primarily focused on the alleged lack of correction officer escorts for inmates scheduled for medical or dental care. A mandamus order from the court issued in December 2021 directed the DOC to provide access to sick call on weekdays, excluding holidays, and have it available at a minimum of five days a week. The prisons were also ordered to provide officer escorts for inmates to medical services.

The court later found the DOC in contempt of the mandamus order in May 2022 after corrections officials said staffing shortages caused by the pandemic made it difficult to fully meet the escort requests from inmates. An appellate court later reversed the contempt order, and the parties continued to move toward a settlement.

Thursday's contempt motion offers evidence of contempt beyond lack of guard escorts for inmates. The filing was accompanied by more than 30 affidavits from inmates claiming they were denied medical care.

An affidavit filed by a Rikers inmate named Johnny Basnight says a knee injury prevented him from walking and requested a wheelchair for transport to a radiology appointment. The document alleges the DOC denied his request, and Basnight missed the appointment. It was subsequently reported Basnight refused to attend. Basnight denies he refused and claims his requested accommodation was denied.

Thursday's motion asks the court to find the DOC in contempt of the December 2021 mandamus order, direct the DOC to follow its directives and to fine the DOC $250 for each instance it failed to comply between July 1, 2022, and May 31, 2024.

"Incarcerated New Yorkers are an extremely vulnerable population," said Russell Spivak, associate at Milbank LLP, in a statement. "It is unconscionable that the delivery of priority healthcare services to these individuals, for which DOC is responsible, was compromised."

City attorneys representing the Department of Correction declined to comment as it reviews the motion.

The plaintiffs are represented by Veronica Vela, Philip Desgranges, Robert Quackenbush, Alexander Lesman and Lindsey Smith of the Legal Aid Society, Alyssa Briody and S. Lucas Marquez of Brooklyn Defender Services and Russell A. Spivak and Rachel S. Blumenstein of Milbank LLP.

The defense is represented by Chlarens Orsland of the New York City Law Department.

The case is Agnew, Joseph et al. vs. New York City Department of Corrections, index number 813431/2021E, in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of Bronx.

--Editing by Michael Watanabe.