On March 7, 2000, prisoners in Illinois' supermax prison, Tamms Correctional Center, brought this action in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois. The prisoners sued the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and state law, alleging that their selection by prison officials for transfer to and continued confinement at Tamms violated their rights to petition the government, to due process, and to freedom of association, as well as the ex-post facto clause. They also alleged that defendants engaged in illegal retaliation. Represented by the Uptown People's Law Center, the prisoners sought injunctive relief to prevent retaliation and violation of their constitutional rights, and asked, as well, for transfer into more appropriate prison facilities. The plaintiffs also sought both compensatory and punitive damages as well as attorneys' fees. The case was assigned to Judge Patrick Murphy.

Specifically, the prisoners alleged that IDOC severely restricted their movement and isolated inmates through the usage of self-contained individual cells, leaving inmates solitary for 23-24 hours a day. Plaintiffs claimed the punishment was imposed in retaliation for filing grievances and complaints and against the prison system and that the plaintiffs were not given a meaningful opportunity for a hearing before their transfer. Some of the plaintiffs also alleged violations of their First Amendment rights because they had been transferred to Tamms based on their membership in groups or gangs.

On July 18, 2003, the judge granted the defendants' motion for summary judgment, finding that plaintiffs had failed to exhaust their administrative remedies because their initial grievance had not notified defendants that plaintiffs were put into supermax in response to litigation activities.

Plaintiffs appealed this decision to the Seventh Circuit on August 27, 2003. The Seventh Circuit decided the appeal on September 9, 2005, and reversed and remanded the case for all but one plaintiff on due process and retaliation claims. 422 F.3d 570. The Seventh Circuit upheld summary judgment for the defendants on the First Amendment claims.

Back in the district court, on February 7, 2006, the plaintiffs filed a motion to certify a class. On June 14, 2006, plaintiffs filed a second amended complaint which incorporated their class action allegations. Plaintiffs sought a class of all inmates who have been transferred to Tamms Correctional Center since January 1, 1998, and all prisoners who will be transferred to Tamms in the future. On September 12, 2006, the court granted the plaintiffs' motion, adopting their proposed class definition and appointing the Uptown People's Law Center as class counsel. 2006 WL 2639972.

On December 6, 2006, the court affirmed the findings of a magistrate judge and denied plaintiffs' discovery motion to compel inspection of confidential prison information. 472 F.Supp.2d 1034. On January 8, 2008, the court denied a plaintiff's motion for appointment of separate counsel. One plaintiff had withdrawn from class representation, and the court ruled that under these circumstances he should proceed pro se, and was not entitled to the appointment of his own attorney. 2008 WL 131166

On September 4, 2009, the court denied the class plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment and granted in part defendants' motion for summary judgment. Specifically, the court granted defendants' motion on qualified immunity to damages for the due process claim and on the retaliation claims by the plaintiffs who were assigned to Tamms before the current director of the IDOC took his position. 2009 WL 2905548.

On January 15, 2010, the court granted plaintiffs' motion for partial summary judgment on the claim of exhaustion of administrative remedies. 2010 WL 235003. Specifically, the court found that no administrative remedy had ever existed to challenge placement in supermax.

On July 20, 2010, after a bench trial, the court awarded injunctive relief. 725 F. Supp. 2d 735. The injunctive relief required review of all transfers into Tamm and notice of reason for transfer to all inmates and hearings as a part of the review procedure. The hearings were to receive internal review and were appealable within the IDOC. The relief was granted for two years unless further relief was found to be necessary. On August 19, 2010, defendants appealed the injunction to the Seventh Circuit.

On October 12, 2010, the district court denied a stay of the injunction and also denied the defendant's motion for judgment as a matter of law. Specifically, the court found defendants did not have a high chance of succeeding on the merits and that harm to defendants by transferring prisoners out of supermax was small. 2010 WL 4000599.

But on June 6, 2012, the Seventh Circuit vacated the injunction and required a new injunction more narrowly tailored to the scope of the constitutional right. 682 F.3d 679. Specifically, the Seventh Circuit found the requirements on reporting guidelines and timing of reports were broader than constitutionally required. The PLRA required that relief be more narrowly drawn. On June 20, 2012, the district court required the defendant to submit a new proposed injunction. Defendants appealed this to the Seventh Circuit.

However, in the interim, Illinois governor Pat Quinn vetoed all state budget appropriations for Tamms, effectively shutting the facility down. On March 27, 2013, the district court proposed a grant of defendant's motion to vacate the injunctive relief on the grounds there were no longer any prisoners in the facility. 2013 WL 1286971. On April 3, 2013, the Seventh Circuit affirmed the district court's decision to vacate the injunction due to the lack of prisoners at the facility. However, on remand the district court upheld its award of $297,848.60 in attorney's fees for the plaintiff. The case is now closed.

David Smellie - 04/19/2017
Nathaniel Flack - 03/15/2019


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