Lippert v. Jeffreys

  • Filed: May 30, 2013
  • Status: Active
  • Court: U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
  • Latest Update: Jun 10, 2014
prison_cell_bars-300x199_0.jpg

Summary

The ACLU of Illinois is challenging the system for providing medical and dental care to persons in Illinois prisons. The State’s prison healthcare is grossly underfunded, badly managed, and deeply dysfunctional, resulting in needless, painful delays in treatment, mismanagement of common chronic conditions, and preventable deaths.

Starting in 2014, independent correctional healthcare experts conducted two separate, exhaustive evaluations of the medical and dental services available in Illinois prisons as a result of our lawsuit. The first report, released in May of 2015, described profound, systemic failures in the healthcare system of Illinois prisons causing needless suffering and preventable death. The follow up report in 2018 found that the system had not improved, and also pointed to a high number of preventable deaths.

In December 2018, the State of Illinois agreed to a consent decree that requires broad changes to the system as well as a court-approved monitor to oversee these changes.

Case Number:
10 C 4603
Judge:
Judge Jorge Alonso
Attorney(s):
Camille Bennett (ACLU of Illinois), Alan Mills (Uptown People's Law Center), Harold Hirshman (Dentons)

Documents

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
Where it started

News & Commentary

May 30, 2013

Health care for prisoners

Earlier today, the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois joined a case in federal court in Chicago challenging the dysfunctional, mismanaged system that fails to adequately serve the nearly 50,000 persons in Illinois prisons. It is clear that the Illinois Department of Corrections is not providing timely, appropriate health care to prisoners, doing great harm to many and putting others at risk of death.

blog-prison-cell.png
May 31, 2013

WBEZ: Illinois prison health care lawsuit getting boost from ACLU

Placeholder image
May 20, 2015

WBEZ: Expert panel criticizes medical care at Illinois prisons

ACLU of Illinois legal director Harvey Grossman appeared on WBEZ's Morning Shift to discussed the recently released study examining health care in Illinois' prisons. The report, issued by a panel of court-appointed experts in the ACLU case Lippert v. Godinez, says that 60% of non-violent deaths in Illinois prisons show significant lapses in care. Listen to the segment below:

harvey155x154.jpg
May 19, 2015

Chicago Tribune: Independent experts blast quality of medical care in Illinois prisons

The Chicago Tribune spoke with ACLU of Illinois associate legal director Ben Wolf about the recently released study examining the state of health care for prisoners detained in Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) facilities. The report, issued by a panel of court-appointed experts, highlights that the majority of inmates' deaths result from "significant lapses in care" on the part of IDOC medical staff. The report is a result of a lawsuit that the ACLU of Illinois joined in 2013 to challenge the dysfunctional, mismanaged system that fails to adequately serve the nearly 50,000 IDOC prisoners. Wolf told the Tribune:

jail-hands.jpg
Jun 08, 2015

Chicago Sun-Times Editorial: Warning of poor prison health care deserves closer look

The Chicago Sun-Times published an editorial blasting the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) for the lack of a response to the report released in an ACLU of Illinois case challenging IDOC for failing to provide adequate medical care for its prisoners. The report was a result of a court-appointed panel of medical experts' evaluation of medical facilities within IDOC. The study cites sweeping problems throughout a broad range a medical services, including unqualified and incompetent physicians and nurses, inadequate medical leadership and unsanitary conditions within the facilities. Most notably, the report found that 60% of non-violent deaths show "significant lapses in care."

prison_cell_bars-300x199.jpg

Learn More About the Issues in This Case

Criminal Legal Systems and Policing Institutionalized Persons View All Issues

Related News & Podcasts

News & Commentary
May 30, 2013
blog-prison-cell.png
  • Criminal Legal Systems and Policing

Health care for prisoners

Earlier today, the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois joined a case in federal court in Chicago challenging the dysfunctional, mismanaged system that fails to adequately serve the nearly 50,000 persons in Illinois prisons. It is clear that the Illinois Department of Corrections is not providing timely, appropriate health care to prisoners, doing great harm to many and putting others at risk of death.
News & Commentary
May 31, 2013
Placeholder image
  • Criminal Legal Systems and Policing

WBEZ: Illinois prison health care lawsuit getting boost from ACLU

News & Commentary
May 20, 2015
harvey155x154.jpg
  • Criminal Legal Systems and Policing

WBEZ: Expert panel criticizes medical care at Illinois prisons

ACLU of Illinois legal director Harvey Grossman appeared on WBEZ's Morning Shift to discussed the recently released study examining health care in Illinois' prisons. The report, issued by a panel of court-appointed experts in the ACLU case Lippert v. Godinez, says that 60% of non-violent deaths in Illinois prisons show significant lapses in care. Listen to the segment below:
News & Commentary
May 19, 2015
jail-hands.jpg
  • Criminal Legal Systems and Policing

Chicago Tribune: Independent experts blast quality of medical care in Illinois prisons

The Chicago Tribune spoke with ACLU of Illinois associate legal director Ben Wolf about the recently released study examining the state of health care for prisoners detained in Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) facilities. The report, issued by a panel of court-appointed experts, highlights that the majority of inmates' deaths result from "significant lapses in care" on the part of IDOC medical staff. The report is a result of a lawsuit that the ACLU of Illinois joined in 2013 to challenge the dysfunctional, mismanaged system that fails to adequately serve the nearly 50,000 IDOC prisoners. Wolf told the Tribune: