WISCONSIN SUPREME COURT RULES

JAILS MAY BE USED ONLY AS LAST RESORT FOR CONFINING NON-COMPLIANT TUBERCULOSIS PATIENTS

For immediate Release: July 17, 2007

Today, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled unanimously that a person with tuberculosis may not be jailed for non-compliance with treatment, unless a jail is the “least restrictive” place the person can be safely and adequately treated.  Milwaukee Attorney Colleen Ball, along with American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin legal director Larry Dupuis, filed a friend of the court brief on behalf of the ACLU, urging the Court to reject the Court of Appeals’ decision that would have allowed health officials to jail any tuberculosis patient who needed to be under supervision to protect public health.

The case, City of Milwaukee v. Washington, involved a Milwaukee woman who repeatedly failed to comply with outpatient treatment for her TB.  A court initially ordered her confined to a hospital, but her continued noncompliance landed her in jail.  Although the Supreme Court found the jail confinement in the unusual circumstances of this case was proper, it also ruled that a patient must be placed in the least restrictive facility possible – which will not normally be a jail. The Court also expressed doubts about the ability of many jails to adequately treat tuberculosis or prevent its spread to other prisoners.

"The Supreme Court clarified that a jail must be a last resort for people who cannot comply with treatment for tuberculosis,” Attorney Ball said.  “Jails are designed to hold people accused of crime, not those who need medical treatment.  There will almost always be less drastic ways to treat TB patients who don’t follow doctors’ orders.”

“Untreated tuberculosis is a serious public health concern,” added Dupuis.  “But putting patients in jail is not only unconstitutional unless absolutely necessary, it is also likely to backfire.  If people who suspect they have been exposed to tuberculosis think they might end up in jail, they won’t get the testing and voluntary treatment they need.  Public health authorities should do everything in their power to help people get treatment, but routinely imprisoning the sick will just trample on liberty without improving public health.”