Halderman v. Pennhurst State School and Hosp.

• Decision Date: 05 April 1985
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 74-1345.
• Citation: 610 F. Supp. 1221
• Parties: Terri Lee HALDERMAN, et al. v. PENNHURST STATE SCHOOL AND HOSPITAL, et al.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Pennsylvania

610 F. Supp. 1221

Terri Lee HALDERMAN, et al. v. PENNHURST STATE SCHOOL AND HOSPITAL, et al.

Civ. A. No. 74-1345.

United States District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania.

April 5, 1985.

David Ferleger, Philadelphia, Pa., for plaintiffs.

Mitchell W. Dale, Lawrence Goldberg, Washington, D.C., for U.S.A.

Thomas K. Gilhool, Frank Laski, Philadelphia, Pa., for PARC.

Sandra Swenson, Pamela Cohen, Philadelphia, Pa., for Pennhurst Parents-Staff Ass'n.

Allen C. Warshaw, Harrisburg, Pa., for Com. of Pa.

James M. McNamara, Doylestown, Pa., for Bucks County.

Thomas M. Kittredge, Philadelphia, Pa., for Chester, Bucks, Delaware and Montgomery Counties.

Patricia H. Jenkins, Media, Pa., for Delaware County.

R. Stephen Barrett, Norristown, Pa., for Montgomery County.

Mark A. Aronchick, Pauline Cohen, Richard Gold, Philadelphia, Pa., for Philadelphia County.

MEMORANDUM

RAYMOND J. BRODERICK, District Judge.

No one, and certainly not this Court, anticipated that this civil action commenced on May 30, 1974 would be actively litigated for more than ten years, requiring 2,192 docket entries, about 500 Court orders, twenty-eight published opinions, and three arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court. See 465 U.S. 89, 104 S.Ct. 900, 79 L.Ed.2d 67 (1984); 451 U.S. 1, 101 S.Ct. 1531, 67 L.Ed. 2d 694 (1981); 707 F.2d 702 (3d Cir.1983); 673 F.2d 645 (3d Cir.1982) (en banc); 673 F.2d 647 (3d Cir.1982) (en banc); 612 F.2d 84 (3d Cir.1979) (en banc); 612 F.2d 131 (3d Cir. 1979) (en banc); 566 F.Supp. 185 (E.D.Pa. 1983); 97 F.R.D. 522 (E.D.Pa.1983); 555 F.Supp. 835 (E.D.Pa.1983); 555 F.Supp. 1144 (E.D.Pa.1982); 555 F.Supp. 1142 (E.D. Pa.1982); 555 F.Supp. 1138 (E.D.Pa.1982); 559 F.Supp. 153 (E.D.Pa.1982); 96 F.R.D. 60 (E.D.Pa.1982); 545 F.Supp. 410 (E.D.Pa. 1982); 542 F.Supp. 619 (E.D.Pa.1982); 536 F.Supp. 522 (E.D.Pa.1982); 533 F.Supp. 649 (E.D.Pa.1982); 533 F.Supp. 641 (E.D.Pa. 1982); 526 F.Supp. 428 (E.D.Pa.1981); 526 F.Supp. 423 (E.D.Pa.1981); 526 F.Supp. 414 (E.D.Pa.1981); 526 F.Supp. 631 (E.D.Pa. 1981); 526 F.Supp. 409 (E.D.Pa.1981); 452 F.Supp. 867 (E.D.Pa.1978); 451 F.Supp. 233 (E.D.Pa.1978); 446 F.Supp. 1295 (E.D.Pa. 1977).

The concluding chapter of this litigation is at hand. The Final Settlement Agreement is now before this Court for approval. As with all settlement agreements, this settlement is a creature of compromise. As with all things of this world, the settlement is not perfect. It is, however, a fair, adequate, and reasonable settlement, which will protect the rights and well-being of all the mentally retarded persons who resided at Pennhurst on and after May 30, 1974, as well as all retarded persons on the Pennhurst waiting list as of that date who have received habilitative services in the community pursuant to prior orders of this Court.

It has taken eleven years of litigation to produce this settlement. It is ironic that when this action was tried in 1977, all parties agreed that Pennhurst as an institution was inappropriate and inadequate for the habilitation of mentally retarded persons. (Habilitation is a term of art which refers to the education, training, and care which will enable a retarded person to reach his or her maximum potential.) During the course of the trial, no one took issue with the many professionals in the field of mental retardation who testified that "normalization" has been universally accepted as the only successful method of habilitating a retarded person. Normalization, as the term implies, is the antithesis of institutionalization. The basic principle of normalization is that a retarded person must be cared for, trained and educated in a normal community environment.

Mental retardation is an impairment in learning capacity and adaptive behavior. It has been estimated that about three percent of the population in the United States may be classified as "mentally retarded." However, the overwhelming majority of that three percent are only "mildly" retarded, and are capable of achieving self-support, while the remainder are capable of achieving some degree of self care. As pointed out by the United States Supreme Court in Kremens v. Bartley, 431 U.S. 119, 135, 97 S.Ct. 1709, 1718, 52 L.Ed.2d 184 (1977), careful attention must be paid to the differences between mental illness and mental retardation. There is no question that mental illness and mental retardation are separate and distinct conditions which require different types of treatment. Although retardation is wholly distinct from mental illness, retarded individuals, just as other members of society, often suffer from mental and emotional illness. Mental retardation is not a disease which can be cured through drugs or treatment. However, with proper habilitation, the level of functioning of every retarded person may be improved.

Throughout history, retarded individuals have been mistreated, and their dire need for treatment, education and training has been ignored. Wolfensberger, The Origin and Nature of Our Institutional Models 3 (1975). Retardation is not a violation of the law. Being mentally retarded does not make juveniles or adults dangerous to society. Mentally retarded persons are individuals who, because of circumstances beyond their control, are unable to function at the same levels as others in society. They do require specialized education, training and care. They do have a constitutional right under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to receive as much education and training as is provided by the government to those whom society considers as "not retarded." Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Children v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 343 F.Supp. 279 (E.D.Pa. 1972). In this case the Court was faced with a situation where retarded members of our society had been "incarcerated" in an institution. These retarded citizens had not violated any laws and, with very few exceptions, were not dangerous to society. Their only need was for care, education, and training.

Pennhurst, a residential institution for retarded persons, was founded in 1908. It is owned and operated by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and is located in Spring City, Pennsylvania, about 30 miles from Philadelphia. At the time of the trial of this case in 1977, the resident population was approximately 1,230, reduced from a high of nearly 4,000 in the early 1960s. The Pennhurst staff numbered approximately 1,500. All parties conceded at trial that the institution had undergone tremendous improvement since the 1950s when, at best, the treatment of the residents could be described as "warehousing." Even with these improvements, however, the defendants admitted that Pennhurst did not meet the professionally accepted minimum standards for the habilitation of its retarded residents. Despite these admissions, the defendants insisted that no constitutional or statutory rights of the residents were being violated. The years of litigation have, however, brought about an awareness that a retarded person does have a right to minimally adequate habilitation in the least restrictive setting.

History of the Litigation

As is well-known to the litigants, this case began in 1974 as a class action in which the named plaintiffs, retarded persons (the "Pennhurst Class") who were either residents of Pennhurst State School and Hospital or on the waiting list for residence at Pennhurst as of May 30, 1974, claimed injury based on violations of certain state and federal statutes and the United States Constitution. At trial, all parties agreed that Pennhurst as an institution was inappropriate and inadequate for the habilitation of mentally retarded citizens, and that retarded persons should be educated, trained, and cared for in community living arrangements. However, the defendants insisted that they be permitted to accomplish the community placement of Pennhurst residents and the closing of Pennhurst at their own pace.

On December 23, 1977, this Court issued findings of fact and conclusions of law (Memorandum of December 23, 1977, 446 F.Supp. 1295) which found that the defendants were violating the constitutional and statutory rights of the Pennhurst Class by failing to provide them with minimally adequate habilitation in the least restrictive environment.

Based on the evidence presented at the trial of this case, the Court found that Pennhurst in 1977 was overcrowded and understaffed and without the programs which the experts considered necessary for minimally adequate habilitation. The evidence showed that a large number of Pennhurst residents had actually experienced a regression of basic living skills as a result of their confinement at Pennhurst. Programming and training of the retarded Pennhurst residents was found to fall short of the minimum required for adequate habilitation according to the uncontradicted expert testimony of habilitation professionals. 446 F.Supp. at 1304. Not only was the habilitation then inadequate, but Pennhurst had no plans for improving the programming available to its residents. 446 F.Supp. at 1305.

The evidence presented at trial clearly showed that Pennhurst residents were not only receiving inadequate habilitation but also were regularly subjected to a number of dehumanizing practices. Specifically, this Court found that at Pennhurst restraints were used as control measures in lieu of adequate staffing. 446 F.Supp. at 1306. The Court further found that psychotropic drugs at Pennhurst were used for control and not for treatment, and that the rate of drug use on some of the units at Pennhurst was extraordinarily high. 446 F.Supp. at 1307. Regarding treatment at Pennhurst, the Court found that the environment at Pennhurst was not only not conducive to learning new skills, but it was so poor that it contributed to the loss of skills already learned. 446 F.Supp. at 1308. One survey showed that more than one-third of the Pennhurst residents had "some notation of regression in their records." 446 F.Supp. at 1308, n. 40....