14th Amendment

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Michael Hughes v. James Dimas, et al

Case No.: 16-1818

Officials: WOOD, Chief Judge, and POSNER and ROVNER, Circuit Judges.

Focus: 14^th Amendment

Judge prematurely dismissed appellant case on grounds that institution not required to comply with state statutes.

“The district judge dismissed Hughes’ complaint primarily on the grounds that the Constitution doesn’t require Rushville to comply with state statutes and that anyway a state statute is not enforceable in federal court. But this reasoning misconceives the basis of the suit. As indicated in the cases cited earlier, the Supreme Court understands the Fourteenth Amendment to require that civil detainees receive treatment for the disorders that led to their confinement and be released when they’ve improved enough no longer to be dangerous. Illinois has decided to permit only persons li‐ censed under the state’s Sex Offender Evaluation and Treatment Provider Act to make that evaluation. 225 ILCS 109/40; 725 ILCS 207/55(a)–(b). That decision can be under‐ stood as a response to doubts increasingly raised about the constitutional adequacy of the treatment provided to civilly detained sex offenders. See Lucy Massopust & Raina Borrelli, “‘A Perfect Storm’: Minnesota’s Sex Offender Program— More Than Twenty Years Without Successful Reintegration,” 41 William Mitchell Law Review 706 (2015); Douglas G. Smith, “The Constitutionality of Civil Commitment and the Requirement of Adequate Treatment,” 49 Boston College Law Review 1383 (2008); Karsjens v. Jesson, 109 F. Supp. 3d 1139, 1172 (D. Minn. 2015). But the bare record of the district court proceeding leaves unresolved whether Rushville is providing the plaintiff (and other persons detained at the facility) with treatment by licensed professionals who alone have the authority to determine the detainees’ right to be released. We note for example that Liberty Healthcare Corporation, which furnishes the clinical treatment personnel at Rushville, does not require that all of them be licensed. See Liber‐ ty Healthcare Corporation, “Counselor—sex offender treatment program,” www.glassdoor.com/job‐listing/counselor‐ sex‐offender‐treatment‐program‐liberty‐healthcare‐JV_IC11 28554_KO0,40_KE41,59.htm?jl=1942076790 (visited Sept. 16, 2016)

Reversed and remanded

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.