ACLU files suit for double bunking

A lawsuit is demanding answers about Massachusetts inmates doubled up in cells originally used for one person in a maximum-security prison.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts said Monday a new plan to move as many as 450 additional prisoners to the Souza Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley is causing prisoners to fear being placed in a cell with a known enemy or someone else who might attack them.

The ACLU filed the lawsuit on behalf of Massachusetts Correctional Legal Services. It asks the Massachusetts Department of Correction to release documentation of the system it uses to decide who is put into double cells and with whom.

The lawsuit says prisoners report some of the decisions seem arbitrary.  The Department of Correction says it does not comment on pending litigation.