home > newsroom Class Action Lawsuit Against Prison Challenges Charges for DNA Collection FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Friday, June 28, 2002 SALT LAKE CITY – The ACLU of Utah and civil rights attorney Brian M. Barnard today filed suit in Third District State Court against the Utah Department of Corrections and the State Prison in an attempt to stop the improper charging of inmates for the taking of DNA samples. Case No. 02-090-5842 CV, Judge Tyrone Medley. Earlier this year the Utah State Legislature passed a law requiring all felons to provide DNA samples for a registry. The sample will come from a cheek swab. The statute also requires that each inmate pay the cost of the process. The statute provides that if the state already has a DNA sample they need not take another. On Monday, July 1, the Utah State Prison planned to take specimens and charge inmates. The named plaintiffs are inmates Clifford Perry and Michael Anthony Archuletta, who are currently housed at the Draper prison site. They seek to represent a class of all current and future inmates from whom the state wants to take DNA samples and to charge for the procedure. On June 13, 2002, the Department of Corrections told all inmates that every inmate would have to give a specimen and would be charged $75. “We filed suit because the Department of Corrections has no right under the statute to charge an inmate unless a judge has ordered the specimen and has ordered the inmate to pay,” said Brian M. Barnard, attorney for the inmates. “Many inmates have provided blood specimens for the former DNA registry beginning about six years ago. There is no need for them to give another sample. More importantly, there is especially no justification for them to have to pay $75,” recited Barnard. Inmates at the prison have menial jobs and are paid about forty cents per hour for their work. Charging an inmate $75 for a procedure that costs a fraction of that amount is inequitable and unfair. “Courts have held that the taking of a specimen from inmates for a DNA data bank is constitutional. Our challenge is to the requirement that inmates pay an inflated unreasonable amount for the process and that the Department of Corrections plans to charge the inmates without a court order, which is in violation of the statute,” said Barnard. No hearing date has been set. --end--

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