A Washington state appeals court has partially revived a lawsuit brought by incarcerated people who claim their constitutional rights were violated by prison officials who used tests known to produce false positives to enforce a random drug testing policy inside state prisons.

The three-judge panel ruled Tuesday that four incarcerated people can continue a lawsuit against the Washington State Department of Corrections, or WADOC, and that they are not required to individually file personal restraint petitions over their claims.

"The department has failed to establish that these claims must be dismissed as a matter of law," Judge Rebecca Glasgow said in the opinion. "We affirm the trial court's dismissal of the plaintiffs' remaining claims and its decisions to defer the plaintiffs' motion on class certification and to stay discovery. We otherwise reverse and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion."

The panel rejected WADOC's argument that rather than file a class action over the use of their drug tests, incarcerated people must either file habeas petitions or personal restraint petitions. The panel found that because the lawsuit involves a widespread disciplinary practice, the incarcerated people can continue challenging it through a potential class action.

The incarcerated people are suing the department over its use of colorimetric drug testing of their personal property such as pieces of paper or greeting cards received in the mail. The tests, also called presumptive drug tests, will change color if narcotic residue is detected on swabbed material, the opinion said.

Colorimetric drug testing remains controversial: A Massachusetts state court in 2021 barred its use in prisons, with a trial judge saying the test's reliability was "only marginally better than a coin flip," the Washington state appeals court said in its opinion.

A 2023 report from the New York State inspector general said the agency that runs the state's prisons banned the use of colorimetric drug testing in August 2020. The report said the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision stopped using the tests, citing the inconsistency of labeled instructions that could lead to false positives.

The incarcerated people in Washington said prison officials often used the tests to justify disciplinary action including being automatically moved into disciplinary housing. The opinion said one of the plaintiffs, Clifton Bell, spent four months in solitary confinement after prison officials said they found a strip of paper containing drug residue attached to his shoe.

Officials claimed in March 2022 that the paper tested positive for residue containing "spice," a synthetic cannabinoid product. Bell sought to contest the findings of the colorimetric drug testing and demanded a laboratory test, which was denied by the prison.

Prison officials charged Bell with a second infraction in April 2022 after intercepting a greeting card from a loved one that tested positive for phenethylamine, a stimulant. The card, sent from a third-party greeting card company in the United Kingdom, had never been in the possession of either Bell or his loved one, the opinion said.

Bell convinced prison officials to test the card, and a laboratory test found it did not contain residue of any drugs. The charge was later expunged, but officials still refused to review his first charge in light of the false positive from the card, the opinion said.

Bell and three other incarcerated people sent a letter to WADOC in August 2023 through their attorney demanding that the department change its drug testing policy or they would file a lawsuit. The department responded by saying it now allows incarcerated people to demand laboratory testing on all positive tests and that it would review drug possession infractions for the last two years, the opinion said.

Attorneys representing the incarcerated people said the new policies were not sufficient, and that incarcerated people punished under the old policy deserve compensation. The incarcerated people filed the current lawsuit in September 2023, demanding further policy changes and compensation for damages, the opinion said.

The department sought to end the lawsuit, claiming incarcerated people would need to each file a habeas petition or a personal restraint petition over the policy. A trial court agreed and held that the plaintiff could not prong injunctive or declaratory relief through their suit.

The incarcerated people appealed the dismissal and an appeals panel found that most of their claims could be brought through the class action. The claims for constitutional damages, however, were not allowed under state law and the appeals panel did not revive those claims.

A spokesperson for the Washington State Department of Corrections declined to comment on pending litigation Wednesday. An attorney representing the incarcerated people declined to comment.

Judges Rebecca Glasgow, Linda CJ Lee and Bernard F. Veljacic sat on the panel for the Washington Court of Appeals, Division II.

The incarcerated people are represented by Alison Bilow, Amy Crewdson and Sarah Nagy of Columbia Legal Services.

The government is represented by Nicholas W. Brown and Aaron Williams of the Washington state attorney general's office and Kaylynn What of Simmons Sweeney Freimund Smith Tardif PLLC.

The case is Bell v. Washington State Department of Corrections, case number 60660-7-II, in the Washington Court of Appeals, Division II.

--Editing by Stephen Berg.