OAKLAND — A federal class-action lawsuit was filed Friday against Alameda County’s two jails, alleging that suicidal inmates are striped naked and thrown into solitary cells that don’t contain anything in them except for a hole for a toilet.

The lawsuit, filed by the law firm Rosen Bien Galvan & Grunfeld against Alameda County, alleges that the county’s jail system “is broken,” especially for inmates with mental health issues, and that these bad practices lead to death and terrible suffering.

Alameda County Sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. Ray Kelly said Friday that the department is aware of the lawsuit and was expecting it.

“We’re not surprised by this,” Kelly said. “They’ve filed a series of lawsuits throughout California.”

He said the sheriff’s office will work with the plaintiffs, county and the court system. He also said that the county is in the process of building a new mental health facility at Santa Rita Jail.

Earlier this year, Santa Clara County settled a similar lawsuit with an inmates rights group, which alleged brutal treatment of prisoners, shabby medical care and excessive use of solitary confinement. Santa Clara County paid $1.6 million in attorneys fees, plus $200,000 a year for monitoring the county’s compliance with the remedial plan.

The lawsuit in Alameda County alleges that suicidal inmates are stripped and given only a smock to cover themselves and placed into “safety cells.” These cells do not contain any furniture, and only a hole in the floor for them to use as a bathroom, the lawsuit says.

“… meaning that prisoners have to sleep and eat on the same floor that they must also urinate and defecate on and are also unable to wash their hands after going to the bathroom,” the lawsuit says.

The inmates are allegedly not allowed to leave these cells, and cannot take any personal items in with them, such as reading material or even toilet paper. Although they are only supposed to be in there for up to 72 hours, the lawsuit says inmates are kept in there for as long as a week.

The lawsuit alleges this means that some inmates stop reporting suicidal feelings for fear of going into these cells.

“Instead of working to ensure that prisoners with psychiatric disorders receive necessary care and treatment, county personnel punish these prisoners by placing them in isolation with little or no out of cell time, access to the outside or meaningful treatment from mental health professionals, ” said Ernest Galvan, an attorney for the plaintiffs.

The lawsuit asks for remedies from the county that include: stopping the use of the “safety cells,” have the county declare that these practices violate constitutional rights and give prisoners with psychiatric disabilities access to jails programming, including mental health care.