The following docket lists the cases where the ACLU of Montana is either actively litigating a matter or is participating as an amicus or friend of the court. We have also sent out numerous demand letters or letters of inquiry with respect to jail and prison conditions, and you can read about those at our Montana Prison Project page. The Docket is divided into the following main parts that mirror the ACLU of Montana’s Strategic Plan: criminal justice reform, First Amendment issues, and privacy and equal protection.
RIGHT OF PRIVACY /EQUAL PROTECTION
Donaldson and Guggenheim v. State of Montana Six committed same-sex couples, with the aid of the ACLU, sued the state of Montana on July 22, 2010 for failing to provide legal protections for their families in violation of the Montana Constitution's guarantees of equal protection. The goal of this lawsuit is to see that same-sex couples are able to protect their families with the same kind of legal protections that opposite-sex couples are offered through marriage. Plaintiffs in the suit are Jan Donaldson and Mary Anne Guggenheim of Helena; MJ Williams and Nancy Owens of Basin; Gary Stallings and Rick Wagner of Butte; Mike Long and Rich Parker, and Stacey Haugland and Mary Leslie , both couples from Bozeman; and Kellie Gibson and Denise Boettcher of Laurel. In April 2011, the District Court granted the state's request for dismissal. In November 2011 we filed our appeal to the Montana Supreme Court.
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CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM:
Fish v. Acton In August, 2012, the ACLU of Montana, together with Kyle Gray of Holland & Hart, LLP and Ronald Waterman, agreed to represent Susan Fish and six other prisoners incarcerated at the Montana Women's Prison in Billings. The lawsuit challenges the prison's policy of forcing all prisoners to participate in the "Right Living Community" program, which includes forced hierarchies among prisoners and forced participation in daily meetings. The prison requires prisoners' "full and sincere" participation in such degrading acts as singing children's songs and reciting prison rules in front of other prisoners. No similar forced programming is required for male prisoners at any facility in Montana. The only option for female prisoners who do not want to participate in the "Right Living Community" is solitary confinement. Additionally, female prisoners are denied the opportunity to attend boot camp, a voluntary intensive military-style treatment program that emphasizes education and psychological rehabilitation, and can result in a sentence reduction. While male prisoners in Montana are entitled too apply for and attend boot camp, female prisoners are denied the opportunity to attend boot camp. The ACLU of Montana and co-counsel have alleged violations of the equal protection clause in the US and Montana Constitution, as well as a violation of Title IX of the U.S. Code, which requires equal access to educational opportunities for males and females in federally-funded programs.
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Chief Goes Out et al. v. Missoula County The ACLU of Montana, along with co-operating attorney Greg Munro, filed this class action suit on Sept. 12, 2012, on behalf of women and juvenile prisoners at the Missoula County Jail who are being denied access to outdoor recreation provided to their male counterparts. The suit alleges gender discrimination and the violation of the women's and children's Eighth Amendment right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment.
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Langford v. Schweitzer The ACLU brought a class action suit on behalf of inmates at Montana State Prison following the 1991 riot, challenging numerous areas of mistreatment of inmates at the prison, including lack of medical care, training, rehabilitation programs, work programs, and failure to comply with the American Disabilities Act (ADA). A settlement was reached in 1995, but it required monitoring by experts to assure compliance with the terms of the settlement. By 2005, substantial compliance had been reached on all issues except the prison’s compliance with the ADA. We have been litigating recently how to assess substantial compliance with the ADA as provided in the settlement agreement, and the US District Court Magistrate early in 2008 significantly limited the scope of review of the expert, which we strongly contested. In July 2008, an ADA expert appointed by the Court toured the prison and we are awaiting his report.
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Smith v. Ferriter In March 2008, co-operating attorneys, Ron Waterman and Julie Johnson from Gough, Shanahan, Johnson and Waterman in Helena, and, Greg Jackson of Helena, filed a petition on behalf of Ronald Allen Smith, challenging the lethal injection procedure in Montana. The petition asserts that the lethal injection procedure used to execute people in Montana is unconstitutional as a violation of cruel and unusual punishment, the right of human dignity and a violation of the Montana constitutional provision on right to know public documents and proceedings. In April 2009, the ACLU of Montana and Ron Waterman, Julie Johnson and Greg Jackson followed up with motion for partial summary judgement calling for the selection criteria and qualifications of executioners be made public under the state's right to know provision so that the public can be informed about whether executioners are qualified to perform the complicated three-step lethal injection procedure. Most recently, District Court Judge Jeffrey Sherlock issued an injunction Oct. 29, 2010 against any lethal injections being carried out in the state. The following week, District Court Judge John. W. Larson set an execution date of Jan. 31, 2011 for Smith. The Montana Supreme Court has since upheld the stay of execution.
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