On July 23, 2010, an inmate at Stateville Correction Center filed this lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ilinois. The plaintiff sued Wexford Health Services, Inc. and the Illinois Department of Corrections under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The plaintiff, representing himself pro se, asked the court for monetary damages and injunctive relief. The plaintiff claimed that defendants violated his Eighth Amendment rights. Specifically, the plaintiff claimed that defendants were deliberately indifferent to his medical needs resulting from Type 1 Diabetes, in violation of Stateville Correction Center's medical policy and depriving the plaintiff of his rights under the Eighth Amendment.

On August 10, 2010, the court appointed private counsel to represent the plaintiff. On November 10, 2010, plaintiff filed a first amended complaint. On October 7, 2011, plaintiff submitted a second amended complaint, which sought class certification for a class of all inmates in Illinois adult correctional centers that have not received adequate medical treatment due to misconduct of the staff. The complaint included two subclasses, the first for those who were not receiving a medically necessary diet and the second for those who were not receiving the prescribed medical treatment.

On January 9, 2012, defendants filed motions to dismiss all counts against them. On October 31, 2012, plaintiffs filed a third amendment complaint, alleging a new class of all present and future inmates in the custody of the Illinois Department of Corrections.
On December 20, 2012, defendants filed a motion to dismiss all counts, and the parties filed an agreement to assure compliance with HIPAA.

On May 19, 2015, the court filed a court-appointed expert's December 2014 final report that the health care program for prisoners in the State of Illinois was not meeting the minimal constitutional standard.

On December 7, 2015, plaintiffs filed a Fourth Amendment complaint, and a separate motion to certify class. The new alleged class was all prisoners in the custody of the Illinois Department of Corrections with serious medical or dental needs.

On June 16, 2015, the Court (Judge Jorge L. Alonso) denied the defendant's motion for summary judgment on the issue of original plaintiff's individual allegations against the defendants. 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 77503, 2015 WL 3777551.

This case is still ongoing. The court held a hearing on the motion to certify the class on January 26, 2017, and granted the motion on April 28, 2017.

David Smellie - 02/10/2017


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