Johnson by Johnson v. Brelje

• Decision Date: 18 February 1983
• Docket Number: Nos. 81-2798,81-3014,81-2799,s. 81-2798
• Parties: William JOHNSON, by his conservator, Richard JOHNSON, on his own behalf and on behalf of all others similarly situated, Plaintiffs-Appellees, Cross- Appellants, v. Terry B. BRELJE and Robert Devito, Defendants-Appellants, Cross-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

Page 1201

701 F.2d 1201

William JOHNSON, by his conservator, Richard JOHNSON, on his own behalf and on behalf of all others similarly situated, Plaintiffs-Appellees, Cross- Appellants, v. Terry B. BRELJE and Robert Devito, Defendants-Appellants Cross-Appellees.

Nos. 81-2798, 81-2799, 81-3014.

United States Court of Appeals Seventh Circuit.

Argued June 2, 1982.

Decided Feb. 18, 1983.

Maureen D. Mudron, Dept. of Mental Health/DD Div. of Legal Services, Chicago, Ill., for defendants-appellants, cross-appellees.

Robert C. Gislason, Keck, Mahin & Cate, Chicago, Ill., for plaintiffs-appellees, cross-appellants.

Before WOOD and ESCHBACH, Circuit Judges, and CAMPBELL, ^* Senior District Judge.

ESCHBACH, Circuit Judge.

This case presents constitutional issues concerning the commitment of Illinois criminal defendants who are found unfit to stand trial ("USTs") and are assigned to the Chester Mental Health Center ("Chester"). The district court held that Illinois's practice of assigning all male USTs to Chester violates procedural rights guaranteed by the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The district court also determined that USTs at Chester are denied their constitutional rights to meaningful access to the courts. Furthermore, the court held that USTs' liberty interests in freedom to move around the grounds at Chester have been unconstitutionally infringed. We affirm the district court's judgments on these matters and we also agree with the lower court that the plaintiffs are not entitled to monetary damages. We remand the case, however, for recomputation of the amount of reasonable attorneys' fees that the plaintiffs are entitled to receive pursuant to 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1988.

I. THE SETTING

Plaintiff Johnson brought this Sec. 1983 action on behalf of himself and on behalf of the certified class of "all male persons who have been and/or may be hospitalized pursuant to the Illinois Mental Health Code and/or Illinois Code of Corrections after being found unfit to stand trial by an Illinois Court and solely because of said finding are transferred to Chester Mental Health Center." ¹ Johnson v Brelje, 482 F.Supp. 121, 123 (1979). The plaintiffs challenged the procedure of automatically assigning all male USTs to Chester, ² and also contended that certain restrictions imposed on patients in the facility violate the plaintiffs' constitutional rights. Injunctive relief and monetary damages were sought against the defendants--the superintendent of Chester and the director of the Illinois Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities ("DMHDD"). The case was resolved below on cross-motions for summary judgment, with the plaintiffs prevailing on some claims and the defendants prevailing on others. See 521 F.Supp. 723 (1981). Subsequently, the plaintiffs moved for and were awarded attorneys' fees. These cross-appeals, challenging the district court's resolution of the case and its order granting attorneys' fees, followed.

II. PROCEDURAL DUE PROCESS CLAIM

Under Illinois law, a criminal defendant who is found unfit to stand trial because of a mental disability, may be placed by the court in the custody of the DMHDD. See Ill.Rev.Stat. ch. 38, Sec. 104-17(b) (1981). In 1977, the DMHDD began the practice of assigning all male USTs to Chester, a maximum security mental health facility significantly more restrictive than some other DMHDD facilities. We agree with the district court that this practice violates the plaintiffs' procedural due process rights.

The Fourteenth Amendment prohibits a state from depriving a person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law. The threshold question in this case, therefore, is whether the automatic assignment of male USTs to Chester, rather than a less restrictive facility, implicates a liberty interest protected by this amendment. See Vitek v. Jones, 445 U.S. 480, 487, 100 S.Ct. 1254, 1260, 63 L.Ed.2d 552 (1980); Shango v. Jurich, 681 F.2d 1091, 1097 (7th Cir.1982). To answer this question, we may look to Illinois law to find a state-created liberty interest that is entitled to the protection of the federal due process clause. See Mills v. Rogers, --- U.S. ----, 102 S.Ct. 2442, 2449, 73 L.Ed.2d 16 (1982); Wolff v. McDonnell, 418 U.S. 539, 558, 94 S.Ct. 2963, 2975, 41 L.Ed.2d 935 (1974).

Section 2-102 of the Illinois Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Code ("Mental Health Code"), Ill.Rev.Stat. ch. 91 1/2, Sec. 2-102 (1981), states that a "recipient of services shall be provided with adequate and humane care and services in the least restrictive environment, pursuant to an individual services plan ...." (emphasis added). Section 1-123 of the Mental Health Code defines "recipient of services" as a person who "is receiving treatment." Because the plaintiffs, USTs, are remanded to the custody of the DMHDD for "treatment," Ill.Rev.Stat. ch. 38, Sec. 104-17(b) (1981), the plaintiffs are recipients of services. Under Illinois law, therefore, they are entitled to treatment "in the least restrictive environment," Ill.Rev.Stat. ch. 91 1/2, Sec. 2-102 (1981). This entitlement is a state-created liberty interest; in deciding whether to assign a UST to the restrictive environment of Chester, rather than to a less restrictive facility, the state must abide by the minimum requirements of procedural due process as defined by federal law. See Vitek v. Jones, 445 U.S. 480, 490-91, 100 S.Ct. 1254, 1262, 63 L.Ed.2d 552 (1980). ³

We find unpersuasive the defendants' contention that Sec. 2-102 of the Mental Health Code does not apply to USTs who are placed in the custody of the DMHDD for treatment. The defendants argue that because USTs are committed to the custody of the DMHDD pursuant to the Criminal Code, see Ill.Rev.Stat. ch. 38, Sec. 104-17(b) (1981), the provisions of the Mental Health Code do not govern the conditions of a UST's confinement. The Criminal Code, the defendants maintain, exclusively governs the duration and conditions of a UST's commitment; and defendants reason that because the Criminal Code does not create an entitlement for USTs to be treated in the least restrictive environment, no state-created liberty interest is implicated in this case. ⁴

Contrary to the defendants' contention, the Criminal Code does not constitute the only law that governs the conditions of a UST's confinement. A criminal court merely remands a UST to the custody of the DMHDD for treatment. As the defendants correctly note, the DMHDD must choose the facility to which the UST will be assigned. Under Illinois law, this decision must be made in light of the statutory rights created by the Mental Health Code--in particular, Sec. 2-102 which creates an entitlement to be treated "in the least restrictive environment."

Section 2-102 does not limit its application to persons admitted to the DMHDD's custody pursuant to the provisions of the Mental Health Code. Rather, the section is written more broadly to encompass "recipients of services." As noted above, USTs are placed in the DMHDD's custody for treatment (i.e. as recipients of services) and thus are entitled to Sec. 2-102's protection.

Moreover, the Criminal Code, by its terms, does not constitute the only Illinois law pertaining to a UST's treatment and conditions of confinement. Section 104-29 of the Criminal Code states that in the event of a conflict with the Mental Health Code, the Criminal Code provision shall apply. The legislature did not state that a UST's treatment and confinement will be governed solely by the Criminal Code, but rather contemplated that the Criminal and Mental Health Codes together would form the statutory law applicable to a UST's treatment and confinement. Because Sec. 2-102 of the Mental Health Code does not conflict with the Criminal Code, USTs are entitled to treatment in the least restrictive environment.

Having determined that the plaintiffs have demonstrated a state-created liberty interest deserving of due process protection, we would normally address the issue of what process is due. See Shango v. Jurich, 681 F.2d 1091, 1097 (7th Cir.1982). However in this case, the defendants' sole contention regarding the plaintiffs' due process claim is that no liberty interest is implicated; defendants do not challenge the extent of the procedures ordered by the district court to be followed before a UST may be assigned to Chester in the future. These procedures include: (1) notice of proposed assignment to Chester, (2) a right to a hearing, (3) a decisionmaker who is a professional in mental health care, and (4) a decision based on evidence introduced at the hearing. Because the defendants do not take issue with these specific procedures, we will not apply the factors delineated in Mathews v. Eldridge, 424 U.S. 319, 96 S.Ct. 893, 47 L.Ed.2d 18 (1976), to determine whether due process requires all of these ordered procedures. ⁵

We emphasize the point that in this case we are not recognizing a federal constitutional right to be treated in the least restrictive environment. ⁶ Rather, because Illinois has created such an entitlement, minimum procedural requirements must be followed before a UST is assigned to Chester. "The guarantee of procedural due process places restrictions on the manner in which the government may undertake actions that [bear] upon the rights of the citizenry; it imposes no limitation on the ends that such governmental action, accompanied by procedures, may achieve." Owen v. Lash, 682 F.2d 648 (7th Cir.1982).

III. ACCESS TO THE COURTS

It is well established that prisoners have a constitutional right of access to the courts. Bounds v. Smith, 430 U.S. 817, 821, 97 S.Ct. 1491, 1494, 52 L.Ed.2d 72 (1977). We have held that this right is possessed not only by convicted prisoners, but by pretrial detainees who are jailed pending trial. See Lock v. Jenkins, 641 F.2d 488, 498 (7th Cir.1981). The plaintiffs in this case deserve no less constitutional protection. Not...