The Rhode Island chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union has dropped its lawsuit against the state Department of Corrections over alleged heating issues at the Adult Correctional Institutions.

“After the suit was filed, the DOC took action to address the heating problems and began providing to ACLU attorneys daily monitoring reports documenting the temperature in the cellblocks,” reads a March 15 statement from the organization. “Those reports, as well as information received from inmates, have confirmed that the problem has been resolved for now, prompting the decision to dismiss the suit.”

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in January by cooperating attorneys Sonja Deyoe and Lynette Labinger, named Department of Corrections Acting Director Patricia Coyne-Fague and Intake Facility Warden Wayne Salisbury as defendants in their official capacities.

The lead plaintiff in the class-action suit was Joshua Davis, who is serving life in prison without parole after pleading guilty in 2008 to the rape and murder of an 8-year-old Woonsocket girl.

The ACLU alleged that inmates in at least two cellblocks at the ACI’s Anthony Travisano Intake Service Center had been without adequate heat for more than a month and a half.

“At the time the suit was filed, inmates were complaining they were experiencing numbness in their extremities and had to stay in their beds all day under blankets with multiple layers of clothing in attempts to stay warm,” the ACLU’s statement reads.

The sought a finding that the defendants “engaged in cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution,” as well as the awarding of costs and legal fees to the plaintiffs.

The Department of Corrections previously disputed the allegations.

U.S. District Court Judge John J. McConnell Jr. in January denied the plaintiffs’ request for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction requiring that the cells in question be appropriately heated or the affected prisoners be moved.

The ACLU’s statement indicates that the voluntary dismissal of the suit does not preclude additional action in the future.

“While we have dismissed this action because the cold condition has been rectified, we are ready to take action again if the very basic rights to adequate heat, shelter, and security are later denied to these inmates,” Deyoe said in the ACLU’s statement. “While incarceration itself is meant to be both a rehabilitative and punitive experience, an inmate should never be facing a risk to his or her life due to unlivable conditions.”