BY GEORGE PAWLACZYK - July 21, 2010

EAST ST. LOUIS -- A federal judge has ruled that even inmates termed the "worst of the worst" by state prison system officials have a constitutional right to a hearing before they can be held at what many consider the harshest prison in Illinois -- the solitary-only Tamms Correctional Center.

U.S. District Judge G. Patrick Murphy has ruled that all inmates transferred to Tamms, the state's only supermax prison, must be given a swift hearing and told why they are being sent to the lockup, where most prisoners spend 23 hours a day in their cells and are let out only to walk alone in a steel cage.

All inmates currently at the prison must be given the same type of hearing, which must allow them an opportunity to challenge their transfer, the judge ruled.

Tamms inmates also must be given 48 hours notice of the hearing after being sent to Tamms, so that they can have an opportunity to prepare to challenge their transfer.

A spokesman for the Illinois Department of Corrections did not respond to a request for comment left on an after-hours cell phone.

Murphy's decision can be appealed to the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago.

The federal court ruling based, on the 14th Amendment's guarantee of due process, makes law and strengthens what previously had been more loosely covered in Department of Corrections Director Michael Randle's 10 Point Plan on Tamms reform announced in September.

The ruling resulted from a lawsuit filed a decade ago by Alan S. Mills and the Uptown People's Law Center in Chicago on behalf of dozens of Tamms prisoners. It followed a trial in federal court that wrapped up in December.

"Everybody who has been sent there (Tamms) up until now, have had their constitutional rights violated and has a right to a hearing, a new hearing, to see whether or not they should have ever been sent there in the first place," Mills said.

"This is a significant victory," he said. "It will remain the law even if there is a new governor who appoints another prison director."

In his conclusion, Murphy stated, "The supermax prison at Tamms is clean, excellently administered, and well staffed." He said that his decision "is narrowly drawn, extends no further than necessary to correct the violation of the 14th Amendment due process rights of IDOC inmates placed at Tamms, and is the least intrusive means necessary to correct the violation of the federal rights of such inmates."

The treatment of Tamms inmates, especially those who were mentally ill, was the subject of a News-Democrat investigative series in August titled "Trapped in Tamms," which was followed by more than a dozen follow-up stories. The articles challenged the prison system's claims that Tamms inmates were the worst of the worst and reported that more than half of the inmate population had not committed any new crimes since entering prison.

The newspaper reported that many mentally ill inmates were sent to Tamms after throwing urine and feces at guards, assaults that are often handled administratively at other prisons. This behavior, according to mental health experts who study incarceration, can often be a sign of mental illness made worse by solitary confinement.

Tamms is in Southern Illinois near the Kentucky border.

A 94-page decision by Murphy, made public Tuesday, stated that to protect each inmate's "liberty interest," under the 14th Amendment, the transfer review hearings and advance notice of a hearing must be provided by prison officials. Murphy also ordered that an audio and written record be kept and that inmates have a right to appeal a decision to keep them at Tamms to the top prison system official in charge of state operations.

Mills said that inmates can now challenge prison system claims that they violated disciplinary rules at other prisons or any administration claim that warrants being sent to Tamms. And they can require prison officials to state a reason for transfer. They also may challenge department claims that they are members of a gang and that is why they were sent to the lockup.

"Many of these inmates have never been told why they were sent to Tamms," Mills said. He said these inmates include one plaintiff in the lawsuit who had been at Tamms since it opened more than 12 years ago but was never told why.

Murphy also ordered that inmates who have been at Tamms the longest, and many have been there for more than 10 years, will be placed at the head of the list for the hearings. The judge's ordered noted that some inmates were not told why they were sent to Tamms until years later.

Murphy rejected a claim in the lawsuit that inmates who are transferred out of Tamms back to other prisons should have any record of their incarceration at the supermax expunged because it often led to retaliatory punishment by guards at other lockups. Murphy said that not enough evidence of retaliation had been presented.

The ruling stated that during the transfer review hearings, prison officials may consider a number of factors when deciding whether to keep an inmate at Tamms. These include "he safety and security of the facility, the public, or any person, (and) an inmate's disciplinary and behavioral history. ..."

Contact reporter George Pawlaczyk at gpawlaczyk@bnd.com or 239-2625.

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