U.S. District Judge Michael J. Davis on Thursday threw out a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota that blamed overcrowded conditions and mismanagement at the women's federal prison in Waseca for 70% of the prisoners contracting the COVID-19 virus.

Davis did not address the prisoners' claims of mistreatment, dismissing the suit on procedural grounds. But he left the door open for the ACLU to refile it.

"He is not washing his hands of these people," said Joseph Daly, emeritus professor at Mitchell Hamline School of Law. "He has essentially told the ACLU it can reframe their complaint and file it correctly under the proper causes of action."

Clare Diegel, a state ACLU staff attorney, said they were disappointed by Davis' decision.

"While there have been promising developments in the fight against COVID-19, our clients and others in prison who have underlying conditions and have not all been offered the vaccine remain at unnecessary risk while they are incarcerated," Diegel said. "We are considering our options."

The suit, filed in December on behalf of 12 inmates at Waseca, had asked for an injunction and sought class-action status so that it would apply to more than the 12 inmates listed in the legal action.

In his decision, Davis wrote the ACLU was raising two separate claims: unlawful detention in violation of habeas corpus and a civil complaint over conditions of confinement. But established law doesn't allow the two claims to be combined in a single suit, he said.

If prisoners are held under illegal conditions of confinement such as overcrowding they must bring the complaint under the Prison Litigation Reform Act, Davis wrote, which requires prisoners to seek a hearing before a three-judge panel. The law also requires there be evidence of a prior court order that failed to remedy the problem, he wrote.

Davis said that the petition for habeas corpus was "dismissed without prejudice," allowing the ACLU the option of refiling the case under guidelines the judge outlined.

"I don't fault the ACLU, because it is a bit confusing how you deal with this situation under the COVID crisis," Daly said.

In his ruling, Davis noted that of the 12 original inmates in the suit, two were granted clemency by President Donald Trump and released, four were among 100 Waseca inmates who had received the first vaccine inoculations, and two had declined the vaccine.

The ACLU documented numerous examples of callous treatment of prisoners, sordid conditions in living quarters and a lack of social distancing, alleging that officials with the U.S. Bureau of Prisons and the Waseca prison had failed to heed U.S. Attorney General William Barr's order to release nonviolent prisoners who met certain criteria rather than subject them to infection.

The immediate circumstances that triggered the suit at the Waseca corrections facility have eased since the suit was filed.

Only six of the remaining prisoners who sued authorities have not yet been vaccinated, Davis said in his decision, As of Feb. 11, the Waseca facility had three inmate cases of COVID and no staff cases, he wrote.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Leo Brisbois had conducted a hearing on the case and recommended in January that the suit be dismissed.

Randy Furst • 612-673-4224

Twitter: @randyfurst