SETTLEMENT WEBSITE MAINTAINED PURSUANT TO THE COURT
Additional Settlement Class Members were identified in June 2026 and were sent Notice of the Settlement in July 2026. These Settlement Class Members are able to submit the Supplemental Claim Form until September 8, 2026.
The deadline for the distribution of settlement awards has been extended in order to allow sufficient time to collect Supplemental Claim Forms and confirm the calculation of settlement awards. We will continue to update this website with additional information regarding when distributions will be made. |
For questions regarding your Claim, you may contact the Claims Administrator by calling the toll-free telephone number, (833) 420-3826 or by using the online Contact Form or by mail to: Claims Administrator - 83221
For general questions regarding the Settlement, you may contact Class Counsel by calling, (212) 848-8023. |
A federal Court has authorized this Notice. This is not a solicitation from a lawyer.
SUMMARY OF THE SETTLEMENT:
On May 27, 2011, plaintiffs filed this lawsuit against the County on behalf of themselves and later amended it to include a class of individuals who were subjected to allegedly unconstitutional conditions within the SCCF, jails located in Riverhead and Yaphank. A settlement was reached in February 2025. The terms of the settlement were fully documented and presented to the Court in May 2025.
The Settlement provides for an $18,000,000 (eighteen million dollars) payment by the County (funds that established the “Settlement Fund”). Most of the money from the Settlement Fund will be distributed to Class Members. Of the Settlement Fund: $175,000 (one hundred seventy-five thousand) will be set aside for class administration costs; additional amounts will be used as service awards to the lead plaintiffs and certain class members that actively participated in preparing the lawsuit for trial (the “Service Award(s)”); and up to $400,000 may be used to reimburse Class Counsel for litigation expenses related to this Action, absent further orders of the Court. The Settlement also requires certain changes to the SCCF’s practices, as described in the Notice provided on this website and in the documents available on the Documents page.
The Court in charge of this case is the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, and the case is known as Butler et al. v. Suffolk County. The judge for this case is United States Magistrate Judge Anne Y. Shields. Final Approval of the Settlement was granted by the Court on November 3, 2025, with a final judgment dated November 10, 2025 entered on the Court’s docket on November 13. The final judgement is available on the Documents page of this website. No appeals were taken from the judgment.