Chicago, February 28, 2002: Four individuals currently held in Joliet under the Sexually Violent Persons Commitment Act (“SVP Act”) have filed a class action lawsuit in federal district court challenging the inadequacy of the mental health care provided to them by the Illinois Department of Human Services. The complaint, filed on February 27, 2002 in the U.S. District Court in Chicago, alleges that the Illinois Department of Human Services has not properly developed and implemented the mental health treatment required by law. The lawsuit notes, for example, that while scores of individuals have been committed to the Joliet facility under the law, only a few, if any, have completed successfully a treatment course making them eligible for release.



The lawsuit, filed by lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, specifically notes that the Department of Human Services has failed to carry out the SVP Act in a manner consistent with the United States Constitution. Specifically, the plaintiffs note that the Department has failed: (1) to properly train staff regarding the treatment of sexual deviance; (2) to provide a coherent and meaningful individualized treatment program for each detainee, complete with a series of steps necessary for treatment and release; (3) to develop and make available fair and reasonable grievance procedures for persons held in the Joliet Correctional Center under terms of the SVP Act; (4) to allow residents reasonable access to educational, religious, vocational and educational materials; (5) to end the practice of compelling – as part of treatment – that patients admit to a list of real or imagined criminal acts; and, (6) to protect basic therapist/patient confidentiality.



“If these persons are in detention because they have a treatable mental disability the State must provide reasonable mental health care treatment for each individual,” said Benjamin Wolf, Director of the ACLU’s Institutionalized Persons Project. “The inadequacy of the care currently being provided, coupled with the overly-restrictive conditions of confinement, for these detainees suggests that the State is using civil confinement only as a means of further punishing these individuals. This punishment stand in direct contradiction to the original purpose of the SVP Act – to provide treatment – and violates their constitutional rights.”



More than one hundred and fifty (150) persons currently are detained in Joliet under the SVP Act. Under terms of that statute, an individual is committed to the custody of the Department of Human Services if they: (a) have been convicted, or acquitted by reason of insanity, of certain sexual offenses; and, (b) are found to have a mental disorder that creates a substantial possibility that they will engage in future acts of sexual violence.



Since the law first took effect, few, if any, persons committed have successfully completed a treatment program leading the Department of Human Services to recommend their discharge to a court.



The class action lawsuit filed today also notes that conditions for the detainees under the SVP Act are more restrictive than conditions that the four named plaintiffs faced when they were in prison for their criminal acts. The suit alleges that detainees are routinely stripped searched before and after visits (including attorney visits), regularly shackled with heavy restraints, denied freedom of movement – including trips to the commissary – without an escort, barred from purchasing various products (including nail clippers, aspirin, vitamins or eye drops), and subjected to constant surveillance by personnel from the Department of Human Services.



“Major national mental health groups, including the American Psychiatric Association, have warned against the misuse of civil commitment for persons convicted of sexual offenses, particularly if there is a lack of meaningful treatment,” said Wolf. “To continue to lock someone up after they have completed a prison sentence, and deny these individuals access to adequate mental health care, grievously defy constitutional principles. This situation needs to be addressed.”



The case filed today asks the Illinois Department of Human Services to develop and implement a plan that insures that persons held under the SVP Act receive meaningful mental health treatment while being held in custody. The lawsuit is titled Jeffrey Hargett; Kim A. Overlin; Jimmie Smith, Loren Walker, et. al. v. Linda Baker, Secretary of the Illinois Department of Human Services, Mary Bass, Head Facility Administrator for the Illinois Department of Human Services, Timothy Budz, Facility Director of the Sexually Violent Persons Unit at the Joliet Correctional Center, Raymond Woods, Clinical Director and Travis Hinze, Associate Clinical Director.