Court Opinion

ID: 9683469
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 13:29:20.945969+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:48.079779
License: Public Domain

SCHUDSON, J.
¶ 44. (dissenting). For more than four years, from July 1996 to November 2000, the circuit court ordered Shawn Schulpius1 supervised release. During those years, the court repeatedly reiterated its order and: (1) denied the State's motion for reconsideration; (2) concluded, given the State's assertion of its inability to follow the orders, that Wis. Stat. ch. 980 was unconstitutional as applied to Schulpius; (3) ordered his supervised release "forthwith;" and (4) found the Department of Health and Family Services in contempt. Still, the orders for Schulpius' supervised release were not followed.
¶ 45. Thus, for more than four years before the court vacated the supervised release orders, Schulpius remained confined in violation of court orders. And, throughout that time — and even to the present, as indicated by the Assistant Attorney General at oral argument before this court — the State was and is unable to implement court orders for supervised release of sex predators in Milwaukee County.
¶ 46. In short, Wis. Stat. ch. 980 is the law but, for some, it cannot be enforced. And when it cannot be enforced, individuals remain confined despite court orders to release them. Thus, if one accepts the underlying logic of ch. 980, these sex predators necessarily *465receive services that are ¿^appropriate or, at the very least, less appropriate than those the courts have found would provide the best treatment and community protection.
¶ 47. Are more than four years of unlawful confinement in violation of court orders " 'shocking to the universal sense of justice1"? See State v. Hyndman, 170 Wis. 2d 198, 208-09, 488 N.W.2d 111 (Ct. App. 1992) (quoting United States v. Russell, 411 U.S. 423, 432 (1973)). Does such governmental misconduct "shock[ ] the conscience," see Rochin v. California, 342 U.S. 165, 172 (1952), and thus constitute a denial of substantive due process?
¶ 48. The very questions seem sarcastic. Confining a person in violation of a court order, even for a day, is cause for concern. When unlawful confinement continues beyond a brief time, concern becomes constitutional cause, sometimes even triggering the "great writ" —habeas corpus. See Seling v. Young, 531 U.S. 250, 258 (2001). And that is so even when the unlawful confinement results from an innocent mistake, such as the misinterpretation of a sentencing order or the miscalculation of a release date. See generally Preiser v. Rodriguez, 411 U.S. 475, 484-86 (1973) (habeas corpus provides relief from illegal custody).
¶ 49. But here, Schulpius' more than four years of unlawful confinement did not result from an innocent mistake or misinterpretation. Schulpius' unlawful confinement continued notwithstanding: (1) the State's full understanding of the court orders for supervised release; and (2) the State's claimed inability to implement the orders.
¶ 50. Such governmental conduct is unconscionable; it constitutes deliberate indifference as a matter of law, even absent bad faith by any individual official. *466See Johnson v. Herman, 132 F. Supp. 2d 1130, 1140-41 (N.D. Ind. 2001) (The absence of procedure or policy where one is clearly needed, such as verifying the authority to confine a prisoner, gives rise to an inference of deliberate indifference and, where the resulting unlawful confinement could have continued "for months," the totality of the circumstances "shocks the conscience."); Armstrong v. Squadrito, 152 F.3d 564, 578-79 (7th Cir. 1998) ("In a constitutional sense, how much more basic could it get — -jails cannot confine people without the authority to do so. A policy that ignores whether the jail has the authority for long-term confinement seems to be a policy of deliberate indifference."). Indeed, "[i]n a constitutional sense, how much more basic could it get?" Armstrong, 152 F.3d at 578.
¶ 51. For Schulpius and others who qualify for supervised release in Milwaukee County, Wis. Stat. ch. 980 has become an ugly charade. And this charade is performed on what many consider a dimly lit stage. Lest we forget, ch. 980 keeps people confined and/or supervised after they have completed their sentences. It is one of the relatively new laws reflecting the efforts of some states to control and treat sex predators after they have fully paid their penalties. Powerfully (and appropriately, I believe), these laws respond to the growing body of knowledge about sex offenders, particularly pedophiles, and their virtually certain danger to society long after their sentences have been served. Still, we must recognize that these laws, like none before, seem to say, "Do the crime, do the time, and then do more time, indefinitely."
¶ 52. Understandably, therefore, sex predator commitment laws have raised serious due-process concerns and faced concerted constitutional challenges. See Majority at ¶ 34 (cases cited therein). Addressing those *467challenges, courts have sought to balance the rights of sex predators who have completed their sentences and the rights of the communities they endanger.
¶ 53. Balancing the scales, the Wisconsin Supreme Court concluded that, precisely because Wis. Stat. ch. 980 included certain procedural and substantive safeguards, it was constitutional. See generally State v. Carpenter, 197 Wis. 2d 252, 541 N.W.2d 105 (1995). Reiterating that conclusion, however, our supreme court commented: "As with all enactments, we presume good faith on the part of the legislature. We conclude that treatment is a bona fide goal .of this statute and we presume the legislature will proceed in good faith and fund the treatment programs necessary for those committed under chapter 980." State v. Post, 197 Wis. 2d 279, 308 (1995) (citation omitted).
¶ 54. But betray that good faith ... destroy those safeguards ... and the statutory structure falls. See id. at 313 ("At a minimum, the Supreme Court has stated that 'due process requires that the nature and duration of commitment bear some reasonable relation to the purpose for which the individual is committed.'") (quoted source omitted); see also State v. Sprosty, 227 Wis. 2d 316, 330, 595 N.W.2d 692 (1999) ("Wisconsin's sexual predator law survived constitutional challenge, in part, because the nature and duration of ch. 980 commitments are to be reasonably related to the purposes for those commitments."). And even more recently, Justice Ann Walsh Bradley punctuated that very point.
¶ 55. In 2002, the supreme court rejected constitutional challenges to certain amendments to Wis. Stat. ch. 980 affecting a sex predator's opportunity for supervised release. State v. Rachel, 2002 WI 81, ¶¶ 1-2, 254 Wis. 2d 215, 647 N.W.2d 762. Concurring, Justice Bra*468dley recalled her majority opinion's comment in Carpenter that the constitutionality of ch. 980 derived, in part, from the understanding that the State would not " 'simply warehouse'" sex predators. Rachel, 254 Wis. 2d 215, ¶ 72 (Bradley, J., concurring) (quoted source omitted). Justice Bradley then noted that she had joined with the majority in Post in "assuming] that 'the legislature will proceed in good faith and fund the treatment programs necessary for those committed under chapter 980.'" Id., ¶ 73 (quoted source omitted). She then wrote:
In response to the skepticism expressed by the dissent as to whether supervised release is a viable option, the majority in this case once again relies on an assumption that the State will meet its statutory and constitutional obligations. The majority writes: "we think it is more appropriate that the agencies and individuals that are charged with monitoring the treatment progress of institutionalized sexually violent persons be given the benefit of the assumption that they will carry out their responsibilities as the legislature has directed."
The court's assumptions and the State's good faith are wearing thin.
We continue to gain experience with the way that ch. 980 has played out in the real world. Since Carpenter and Post, the case law has become rife with examples of the State's inability to provide appropriate placements for those committed under ch. 980.
Id., ¶¶ 74-76 (citation omitted).
¶ 56. "[G]ood faith [was] wearing thin." See id., ¶ 75. Now it is threadbare. If repeated violations of court orders resulting in more than four years of unlawful confinement cannot convince our courts to restore *469the constitutional fabric, individual liberty will no longer be protected from the penetrating winds of governmental cynicism and neglect.
¶ 57. Clearly, Wis. Stat. ch. 980, unenforceable in Schulpius' case, was unconstitutional as applied to him. His more than four years of unlawful confinement should "shock the conscience" of all who respect the rule of law and remain dedicated to both civil liberties and community protection. And if, as one would reasonably infer from this record and from oral argument, supervised release of predators in Milwaukee County remains nothing more than a charade, the judiciary must respond with speed, wisdom and power.1
¶ 58. While to some it may seem poetically just that Schulpius, having unconscionably victimized others, has himself been victimized by unconscionable conduct, Wis. Stat. ch. 980 provides for no such ad hoc retribution. Where government's unconscionable conduct denies due process of law, courts must fashion appropriate remedies. See Epstein v. Benson, 2000 WI App 195, ¶ 49, 238 Wis. 2d 717, 618 N.W.2d 224.
¶ 59. So now, what about Schulpius? Years after he was to have been released, he finally was found to be inappropriate for supervised release. The circuit court, noting the irony, commented, "It would be fundamentally unfair if unlawful confinement were to cause behavior which is then used to justify lawful confinement." Still, the fact remains that Schulpius, by the *470time of the final operative order, was no longer appropriate for release. So what is the remedy?
¶ 60. At oral argument, Schulpius' counsel maintained that outright release was the only proper remedy to protect Schulpius' rights and deter the government's violations of court orders. The Assistant Attorney General disagreed. He suggested other remedies — perhaps an award of monetary damages; perhaps financial penalties for officials or departments responsible for failing to follow the court orders; perhaps, if no supervised-release facility in Milwaukee County exists, court direction of expenditures to create one. Or at most, the Assistant Attorney General urged, if Schulpius must be released, he should be supervised.
¶ 61. Interestingly enough, in the most fundamental way, the parties' positions are not far apart. Both Schulpius and the State seek compliance with court orders; both want enforcement of the law the legislature enacted, not a charade. But can any remedy give Schulpius his due, prevent such Kafkaesque confinement of others, and, at the same time, protect the community? I believe so; but to understand how, one must think through each of the several options.
¶ 62. Damages? That's silly; Schulpius' new-found wealth would be of little benefit behind bars, and the status quo would continue. Financial penalties for government officials or departments? That's spittin' into the wind; the government could continue to violate court orders and, ultimately, the penalties would pass on to the taxpayers. Continued confinement with, again, the false promise of possible supervised release? What could more certainly reduce incentives for confined predators to cooperate in treatment?
¶ 63. And where would such remedies lead? Just play them out — any one of them. Any remedy short of *471supervised release actually endangers our community more than release itself. The status quo would continue. The State, rather than creating a Milwaukee County facility to house, treat and supervise predators, would keep Schulpius and other predators confined even when courts ordered their supervised release. Wisconsin then would need to increase staff and eventually build institutions to make room for all the unlawfully confined predators who qualify for the supervised release that will never come.
¶ 64. Then what would happen? What, in all likelihood, would Wisconsin really do? Now swallow hard; here's the last bite of Kake-Kafkaesque. Faced with tight budgets and overcrowded institutions, Wisconsin could solve this fiscal and constitutional riddle in only one way: by no longer seeking commitment of sex predators in Milwaukee County (and, eventually, in other counties claiming to be unable to provide suitable facilities). Thus, quite certainly, judicial acquiescence in this governmental misconduct leaves not only a constitutional stain, but a more endangered community.
¶ 65. So we come full circle; once again, if we embrace our judicial responsibility, we see how the law-breaker becomes the law-enforcer. Schulpius, an unconscionable sex predator, has met unconscionable governmental conduct and, in the process, emerged as the rare individual who can force the government to obey the law — for the good of all. As one of the attorneys who had represented Clarence Earl Gideon wrote many years ago:
It has become almost axiomatic that the great rights which are secured for all of us by the Bill of Rights are constantly tested and retested in the courts by the people who live in .the bottom of society's barrel. Thus, many of our freedom-of-religion cases developed *472out of efforts by members of small sects to force religious tracts upon people who did not want them; our freedom-of-speech cases have developed from the efforts of the police to jail persons who ranted and raved against others, including Catholics, Jews and Negroes....
In the future the name "Gideon" will stand for the great principle that the poor are entitled to the same type of justice as are those who are able to afford counsel. It is probably a good thing that it is immaterial and unimportant that Gideon is something of a "nut," that his maniacal distrust and suspicion lead him to the very borders of insanity. Upon the shoulders of such persons are our great rights carried.
Anthony Lewis, Gideon's Trumpet 227-28 (Vintage Books 1964).
¶ 66. If we see Schulpius only as a sex predator, we warehouse him without regret. But if we recognize the constitutional rights Schulpius carries, we respond with the remedy as we must. And by completing the several possible remedy-scenarios, we see the results of judicial acquiescence in unconscionable governmental conduct: in the short run, Milwaukee County remains safe from Schulpius, but in the long run, Milwaukee County, along with the rest of Wisconsin, becomes more endangered by more sex predators whom the State should but won't commit.
¶ 67. Therefore, I accept the Assistant Attorney General's last option as, truly, the only option. Only immediate supervised release can address the more *473than four years of violations of court orders and, at the same time, offer the best possible community protection.2
*474¶ 68. Finally, lest this opinion be misconstrued, I am anything but hostile to legislative efforts to commit sex predators. Notwithstanding the compelling arguments against them, the sex predator commitment laws, properly drawn and applied, are constitutional and, I believe, essential to the protection of the community. I have authored and/or joined in the majority of several opinions rejecting challenges to Wis. Stat. ch. 980 commitments. See State v. Parrish, 2002 WI App 263, 258 Wis. 2d 521, 654 N.W.2d 273, review denied, 2003 WI 16, 259 Wis. 2d 101, 657 N.W.2d 706; State v. Brown, 2002 WI App 260, 258 Wis. 2d 237, 655 N.W.2d 157, review denied, 2003 WI 1, 258 Wis. 2d 107, 655 N.W.2d 127; State v. Treadway, 2002 WI App 195, 257 Wis. 2d 467, 651 N.W.2d 334, review denied, 2002 WI 121, 257 Wis. 2d 116, 653 N.W.2d 889; State v. Pletz, 2002 WI App 221, 239 Wis. 2d 49, 619 N.W.2d 97; State v. Pharm, 2000 WI App 167, 238 Wis. 2d 97, 617 N.W.2d 163; State v. Adams, 223 Wis. 2d 60, 588 N.W.2d 336 (Ct. App. 1998). And having developed some expertise in this and related fields, I also have been deeply involved in professional educational efforts to help judges better understand and respond to child sexual abuse. See Billy Weight Dziech & Charles B. Schudson, On Trial: America's Courts and Their Treatment of Sexually Abused Children (2d ed. 1991).
¶ 69. Thus, I need no convincing that sex predators endanger our communities in extraordinary ways and, therefore, that their control requires extraordinary measures. But those measures must be constitutional. See Kansas v. Hendricks, 521 U.S. 346, 356-58 (1997). A sex predator commitment law that, in the *475most fundamental way, cannot function as written cannot stand. See generally id.3
*476¶ 70. To repeat: a sex predator commitment law that, in the most fundamental way, cannot function as written cannot stand. This proposition, I trust, is so clear that, I fear, I belabor what should simply be known, without words. And yet, finding that my voice is crying out alone, I persist.
¶ 71. Thus I struggle to state the obvious: if the constitutionality of Wis. Stat. ch. 980 depends on the substantive rights it declares, the unconscionable removal of those rights destroys its constitutionality. I search for metaphors — without strings, a Stradivarius is silent... without wings, an eagle dies.
¶ 72. Thus, while appreciating the meticulous manner in which the Majority has traced the history of this case, and while finding little fault with the Majority's articulation of certain legal principles, I see a very different drama. The Majority, perhaps distracted by an ugly charade, has failed to perceive the classic tragedy Schulpius and the State have performed on our constitutional stage.
¶ 73. Accordingly, I respectfully dissent.

 Moreover, courts must remember that they do indeed have inherent authority to command resources to implement their orders, and contempt authority to enforce them.
Almost a century ago, the Wisconsin Supreme Court emphasized that a court "has inherent power to protect itself against any action that would unreasonably curtail its powers or materially impair its efficiency." In re Court Room, 148 Wis. 109, 121, 134 N.W. 490 (1912). Sixteen years later, our supreme court declared; "From time immemorial, certain powers have been conceded to courts because they are courts. Such powers have been conceded because without them they could neither maintain their dignity, transact their business, nor accomplish the purposes of their existence." State v. Cannon, 196 Wis. 534, 536, 221 N.W. 603 (1928); see also In re Kading, 74 Wis. 2d 405, 411, 246 N.W.2d 903 (1976) ("contempt power ... [may also be] used in ... situations in which judicial authority has been ... ignored").
"Once jurisdiction has been granted to a court, it must have the requisite power to enforce its orders. Indeed, it is the court's duty to insure that its orders are obeyed by invoking the appropriate remedial sanctions." D.L.D. v. Circuit Court for Crawford County, 110 Wis. 2d 168, 181, 327 N.W.2d 682 (1983). And those remedial sanctions may be sweeping and costly. See Seling v. Young, 531 U.S. at 266 (State of Washington's Special Commitment Center for sex predators, "assisted" by a "Special Master," "operates under an injunction that requires it to adopt and implement a plan for training and hiring competent sex offender therapists; to improve relations between residents and treatment providers; to implement a treatment program for residents containing elements required by prevailing professional standards; to develop individual treatment programs; and to provide a psychologist or psychiatrist expert in the diagnosis and treatment of sex offenders to supervise the staff.").

 As Judge Franke commented: "[A]t a minimum, the Department must arrange for the very elementary and reasonable programs of supervision and treatment which will enable such respondents to reside in the community. If such efforts are not required, the clear statutory command becomes an empty ringing of words."
In a related sense, this case presents the circumstances that, had they been present in Seling, would have welded the concurring opinion of Justice Thomas to that of the majority, which commented:
Justice Thomas, concurring in the judgment, takes issue with our view that the question before the Court concerns an as-applied challenge to a civil Act. He first contends that respondent's challenge is not a true "as-applied" challenge because respondent does not claim that the statute " 'by its own terms' is unconstitutional as applied ... but rather that the statute is not being applied according to its terms at all." We respectfully disagree. The Act requires "adequate care and individualized treatment," but the Act is silent with respect to the confinement conditions required at the [State of Washington Special Commitment] Center, and that is the source of many of [the] respondent's complaints.
Id., 531 U.S. at 264 (emphasis added) (citations omitted). Here, by contrast, Schulpius is not presenting an "as-applied" challenge based on the conditions of treatment. Rather, he is protesting that Wis. Stat. ch. 980 "is not being applied according to its terms at all." See id. For more than four years, the circuit court agreed.
Accordingly, regardless of whether, consistent with Seling, Schulpius could ever pursue a double-jeopardy or ex post facto "as-applied" challenge, he has properly presented a substantive due-process challenge. Therefore, whether termed an "as-applied" challenge or, as Justice Thomas might rightfully prefer, a "not.. . applied-according-to-its-terms-at-all" challenge, is of little consequence.