MinnLawyer Blog

Mark Schroeder and Michael Wilhelm

The state has agreed to modify its administrative restriction policy used at Moose Lake treatment center for sex offenders in its settlement of a lawsuit that resulted in a $408,500 verdict against the state. The settlement includes a six-page exhibit that modifies the discipline that can be meted out against offenders placed in administrative restriction – essentially isolation – and includes details such as continuation of treatment, written notice of grounds for restriction and criteria for release, other due process procedures, and a privileges and possessions policy that details, among other things, the right to clean clothing and bedding, reading material, and toilet paper. Click here for the exhibit, here for the order, and here for the amended order.

The agreement comes in the case of Holly v. Konieska , where a jury awarded the plaintiff, a sexual psychopath, $8,500 in compensatory damages and $400,000 in punitive damages for violating his due process rights by putting him in isolation for 46 days without a hearing. Minnesota Lawyer’s prior coverage of the case is available here.
The state also agreed to pay the plaintiff $30,000 and deposit $3,600 per year for three years in the plaintiff’s canteen account at Moose Lake, and to pay attorney fees up to $400,000 in an amount to be determined by U.S. District Court Judge James Rosenbaum to Minneapolis lawyers Michael Wilhelm and Mark Schroeder. The state had previously been ordered to release the plaintiff from administrative restriction immediately.