The ACLU-MN, along with cooperating attorneys, agreed to represent patients who are challenging the conditions of their confinement in the Minnesota Sex Offender Program (MSOP) "Annex". The Annex is located in a wing of the state prison in Moose Lake. While it is located within a state prison, it is technically a part of the Moose Lake Regional Treatment Center. It houses individuals who have served their prison time but have been civilly committed indefinitely for mental health treatment as Sexually Dangerous Persons and Sexual Psychopathic Personalities. The patients being held in the Annex have exercised their right to refuse to participate in sex offender treatment. Conditions at the Annex are significantly more punitive than in the general MSOP facility located at the Moose Lake Regional Treatment Center.
The Plaintiffs (who originally represented themselves pro se) challenge numerous unconstitutional conditions including
- Detainees are subjected to strip searches and are handcuffed and shackled as part of standard operating procedure whenever detainees are transported (for example, to attend patient advisory committee meetings at the MSOP facility) and after contact visits in violation of their Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures.
- Detainees' incoming legal mail has, on numerous occasions, been opened outside the presence of the detainee in violation of their Sixth Amendment right to counsel.
- Detainees allege that they are not allowed incoming calls and that their calls are monitored in violation of their First Amendment right to telephone access.
- Detainees are denied their right to Procedural Due Process by being deprived of their access to freely move around the Annex without escorts, and, consequently, access to the privileges afforded to all other civilly committed detainees including daily access to the gym, access to library services, the ability to communicate with other Annex detainees, and free access to outside activities. The conditions imposed on Detainees are similar to what the Minnesota Department of Corrections imposes on inmates who are in Administrative Segregation. Inmates in A-Seg are entitled to procedural due process before being housed in that restrictive setting.
- Detainees are subjected to potentially severe health risks due to inadequate sanitation in violation of their Eighth Amendment rights includinng:
- Communal showers and bathrooms are only cleaned once a day;
- Urine and fecal matter are frequently found on the bathroom floor or toilet seats;
- No sanitizer is readily available to disinfect the floors and toilet seats;
- Dining room tables are not adequately sanitized prior to serving each meal;
- Mops and brooms used to clean the bathrooms and showers are also used to clean cells, thereby spreading germs to their cells;
- Towels, blankets and cleaning rags are washed in one unit washer and the water does not reach a temperature needed to properly sanitize them.
- Detainees who had purchased 20 inch televisions at the Annex had their property seized and were forced to send them out of the facility at their own expense to comply with a MNDOC rule allowing only 13 inch clear televisions on the Moose Lake prison property.
- MSOP retaliated against two of the plaintiffs (Beaulieu and Yazzie) for their participation in litigation challenging their access to religious activities while civilly committed to the MSOP. The retaliation took the form of a reduction in their access to religious services, attorneys, the court and visitation by family; unreasonable restraint of Yazzie leading to injury; unreasonable searches of Beaulieu's property; and the seizure and copying of Beaulieu's legal papers.
The next step in the case will be proceeding to discovery, which will happen over the next few months.
The ACLU-MN has long been concerned about the way in which Minnesota's sex offender civil commitment program has been implemented. Although patients are not prisoners, their conditions of confinement often mirror that of prisoners. While the purpose of civil commitment is to provide treatment, few - if any - patients have been released from the program. The ACLU-MN firmly believes that the constitution grants individuals the same rights no matter your identity or background. While defending sex offenders' rights may be considered unsavory to many people, we believe that constitutional rights would be meaningless if they did not apply in situations when we are most tempted to violate them.