IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR
THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF WISCONSIN
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff
v.
THE STATE OF WISCONSIN; the Honorable TOMMY G. THOMPSON, Governor of the State of Wisconsin; JOSEPH S. LEEAN, Secretary of the Department of Health & Family Services; JAMES HUTCHISON, Superintendent of the Southern Wisconsin Center for the Developmentally Disabled; and STEVE WATTERS, Acting Superintendent of the Central Wisconsin Center for the Developmentally Disabled, Defendants
COMPLAINT
1. The Attorney General of the United States brings this
action on behalf of the United States of America, pursuant to the
Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act of 1980 ("CRIPA"),
42 U.S.C. §§ 1997-1997j, to enjoin the named Defendants from
depriving persons residing at the Southern Wisconsin Center for
the Developmentally Disabled ("SWC") in Union Grove, Wisconsin,
and the Central Wisconsin Center for the Developmentally Disabled
("CWC") in Madison, Wisconsin, of rights, privileges or
immunities secured or protected by the laws and Constitution of
the United States.
JURISDICTION, STANDING AND VENUE
2. This Court has jurisdiction over this action pursuant
to 28 U.S.C. § 1345.
3. The United States has standing to maintain this action
pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1997a.
4. The Attorney General has certified that all pre-filing
requirements specified in 42 U.S.C. § 1997b have been met. The
Certificate of the Attorney General is appended to this Complaint
and is incorporated herein.
5. Venue in the United States District Court for the
Western District of Wisconsin is proper pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1391.
DEFENDANTS
6. Defendant STATE OF WISCONSIN ("State") owns and
operates SWC and CWC ("the institutions"), facilities housing
individuals with mental retardation or other developmental
disabilities. Some of the individuals are also elderly and
mentally ill.
7. Defendant TOMMY G. THOMPSON is the Governor of the
State of Wisconsin, and, in this capacity, heads the Executive
Branch of the State's government and, among other duties, reviews
and approves budget requests submitted by Executive Branch
agencies regarding the institutions. He selects and appoints the
Secretary of the Department of Health and Family Services.
8. Defendant JOSEPH S. LEEAN is the Secretary of the
Department of Health and Family Services and, in this capacity,
exercises administrative control of, and responsibility for, the
institutions.
9. Defendant JAMES HUTCHISON is the Superintendent of SWC,
and is responsible for the administration and day-to-day
operations of SWC.
10. Defendant STEVE WATTERS is the Superintendent of CWC,
and is responsible for the administration and day-to-day
operations of CWC.
11. The individual Defendants named in paragraphs 7, 8, 9
and 10 above are officers of the Executive Branch of the State of
Wisconsin and are sued in their official capacities.
12. SWC and CWC are institutions as that term is defined in
42 U.S.C. § 1997(1)(A), (1)(B)(i) and (1)(B)(v).
13. Persons residing at the institutions are individuals
with mental retardation or other developmental disabilities, and
some of the individuals are also elderly and mentally ill.
Persons residing at the institutions are "qualified individual[s]
with a disability" under the Americans with Disabilities Act of
1990 ("ADA"), 42 U.S.C. §§ 12101, 12131.
14. The State of Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Department of
Health and Family Services are "public entities" under Title II
of the ADA, 42 U.S.C. § 12131.
15. Defendants are legally responsible, in whole or in
part, for the operation of and conditions at the institutions, as
well as for the care and treatment of persons residing at those
institutions.
16. At all relevant times, Defendants have acted or failed
to act, as alleged herein, under color of state law.
FACTUAL ALLEGATIONS
17. Defendants have failed and are continuing to fail to
provide reasonably safe conditions and to ensure the reasonable
safety and personal security of the institutions' residents.
18. Defendants have failed and are continuing to fail to
provide adequate medical care and related services, including
psychiatric care, to the institutions' residents.
19. Defendants have failed and are continuing to fail to
ensure that residents of the institutions are free from undue or
unreasonable restraint.
20. Defendants have failed and are continuing to fail to
ensure that chemical and physical restraints are administered to
residents at the institutions by appropriately qualified
professionals in keeping with accepted professional standards,
and are not used as punishment, in lieu of treatment, or for the
convenience of staff.
21. Defendants have failed and are continuing to fail to
ensure that medications are prescribed and administered to
residents at the institution by appropriately qualified
professionals in keeping with accepted professional standards,
and are not used as punishment, in lieu of treatment, or for the
convenience of staff.
22. Defendants have failed and are continuing to fail to
provide the institutions' residents with that level of training
necessary to protect the residents' liberty interests, including
their right to training sufficient to ensure their safety and
freedom from undue restraint.
23. Defendants have failed and are continuing to fail to
provide a sufficient number of adequately trained staff to render
the essential care, treatment and training outlined above in
paragraphs 17 through 22 as required by the laws and Constitution
of the United States.
24. Defendants have failed and are continuing to fail to
maintain professionally based recordkeeping and record review
systems to ensure that resident records contain accurate, up-to-date and relevant information necessary to enable staff to provide adequate care, treatment, and training to the institutions' residents.
25. Defendants have failed and are continuing to fail to
ensure that citizens living at the institutions are adequately
evaluated for community placement, that those individual
residents who professionals determine should be placed in
community programs are placed in such programs, and that all
residents are served in the most integrated setting appropriate
to each resident's individual needs.
26. Defendants have failed and are continuing to fail to
meet the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act of
1990, 42 U.S.C. §§ 12101 et seq., and the regulations promulgated
pursuant thereto, by excluding the citizens living at the
institutions, by reason of their disability, from participation
in or by denying them the benefits of services, programs, or
activities, or by subjecting them to discrimination, and by
failing to administer services, programs, and activities in the
most integrated setting appropriate to their needs.
VIOLATIONS ALLEGED
27. The acts and omissions alleged in paragraphs 17 through
26 infringe upon the residents' legal rights and substantive
liberty interests and constitute resistance to their full
enjoyment of rights, privileges or immunities secured or
protected by the laws and Constitution of the United States, and
deprive the institutions' residents of such rights, privileges or
immunities.
28. Unless restrained by this Court, Defendants will
continue to engage in the conduct and practices set forth in
paragraphs 17 through 26 that deprive residents of the
institutions of rights, privileges, or immunities secured or
protected by the laws and Constitution of the United States, and
cause irreparable harm to those residents.
PRAYER FOR RELIEF
29. The Attorney General is authorized under 42 U.S.C. § 1997a to seek only equitable relief.
WHEREFORE, the United States prays that this Court enter an
order permanently enjoining Defendants, their agents, employees,
subordinates, successors in office, and all those acting in
concert or participation with them from continuing the acts,
practices and omissions at the institutions set forth in
paragraphs 17 through 26, and to require Defendants to take such
action as will bring Defendants into compliance with federal law
and provide constitutional conditions of care to persons who
presently reside at the institutions. The United States further prays that this Court grant such other and further equitable relief as it may deem just and proper.
Respectfully submitted,
JANET RENO, Attorney General of the United States
PEGGY A. LAUTENSCHLAGER, United States Attorney, Western Dist. of Wisconsin
ISABELLE KATZ PINZLER, Acting Assistant Attorney General, Civil Rights Division
THOMAS P. SCHNEIDER, United States Attorney, Eastern Dist. of Wisconsin
STEVEN H. ROSENBAUM, Chief, Special Litigation Section
ROBINSUE FROHBOESE, Deputy Chief, Special Litigation Section
ROBERT C. BOWMAN
RICHARD J. FARANO
Senior Trial Attorneys
U.S. Department of Justice
Civil Rights Division
Special Litigation Section
10th & Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20530
(202) 514-6253
(202) 307-3116
Updated July 25, 2008