Appellate Decision States Superior Court Lacks Jurisdiction to Order In-Custody Treatment
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Friday, July 18, 2008
Contact: Jason Brandeis, (907) 250-8503
ANCHORAGE, AK — July 18, 2008 — The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Alaska today reaffirmed its commitment to ongoing defense of the right to rehabilitation established in the Alaska State Constitution, subsequent to a ruling by the Court of Appeals that a superior court lacked subject matter jurisdiction to require the Department of Corrections to provide in-prison sex offender treatment as part of a sentencing order in a criminal case.
In State of Alaska v. Richard Lundy, Richard Callahan, and Donald Chase, the Alaska Court of Appeals reviewed a Superior Court Judge's sentencing orders requiring the Alaska Department of Corrections to provide in-prison sex offender treatment to three convicted offenders. The Department of Corrections, which stopped providing in-prison sex offender treatment several years ago, refused to comply and challenged the orders, claiming that the Superior Court did not have the authority to order sex offender treatment as part of a criminal sentence. The ACLU filed an amicus curiae, or friend of the court, brief arguing that the criminal sentencing judge did have the authority to order the Department to provide in-prison treatment and that the failure to do so violated the constitutional right to rehabilitation.
Jason Brandeis, Staff Attorney for the ACLU, noted: "Because this decision was based on jurisdictional grounds only, the court did not reach the constitutional question of whether the lack of in-prison sex offender treatment violates the constitutional right to rehabilitation. The court did, however, leave the door wide open for a subsequent challenge to the Department's nonexistent in-prison treatment program, writing that this is the kind of issue that should be litigated as a class action."
"While we are disappointed in the ruling," said Jeffrey Mittman, Executive Director of the ACLU of Alaska, "As an organization we remain committed to strongly defending the constitutional right to rehabilitation."
The ACLU of Alaska is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to the preservation and enhancement of the individual rights of all Alaskans under the U.S. and Alaska Constitutions, and is affiliated with the American Civil Liberties Union, the nation's oldest and largest organization dedicated to advocacy, public education, and litigation in support of civil rights and civil liberties.
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