Courts say “no” to night med pass
Case law has made it clear: waking people up in the middle of the night for routine medications can violate their constitutional rights. Detainees have successfully challenged late-night med passes in court as a form of sleep deprivation.¹,² Avoid overnight med pass disruptions to ensure you are upholding detainees’ constitutional rights in jail.
No med pass between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.
Case studies have shown that sleep disruptions for routine medications can be considered a civil rights violation:
Bess v. Alameda County (2019)
Detainees challenged the practice of holding “pill calls” at 2:30 a.m. and disrupting sleep.
Court ordered the jail to stop, ruling that waking inmates in the “dead of night” for medication likely violated the Fourteenth Amendment by depriving inmates of the basic human need for sleep.
Garrett v. TDCJ (2024)
A suit filed against the Texas Department of Criminal Justice alleged that the prison’s medication distribution and headcount schedules began as early as 1 a.m. and allowed less than four hours of sleep per night.
The U.S. Court of Appeals (5th Cir.) recognized that sleep deprivation from early medication times could be considered cruel and unusual punishment in violation the Eighth Amendment.
Stick to daytime med pass. Unless the doctor has ordered (and documented) a clear medical reason for administering medications at night, med pass should take place during waking hours. Set a clear window for administration. If a dose cannot be given within that window, med pass staff should call the practitioner for orders and document why the medication needs to be administered overnight. As a general rule, no med pass between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.
For more information, please contact training@sparktraining.us.
1. Garrett v. Texas Department of Criminal Justice, No. 13-40302 (5th Cir. 2024).
2. Bess v. Alameda County, No. 4:18-cv-05660-JD (N.D. Cal. 2019).
Disclaimer
All materials have been prepared for general information purposes only. The information presented should be treated as guidelines, not rules. The information presented is not intended to establish a standard of medical care and is not a substitute for common sense. The information presented is not legal advice, is not to be acted on as such, may not be current, and is subject to change without notice. Each situation should be addressed on a case-by-case basis. When in doubt, send them out!®
