The University of Minnesota Law School’s Clemency Project Clinic—in collaboration with the Civil Rights Appellate Clinic, ACLU-MN, and Mitchell Hamline School of Law’s Legal Assistance to Minnesota Prisoners Clinic—has secured a major victory for four individuals it was representing in a lawsuit against the Department of Corrections (DOC). In Tanya Wagner et al. v. DOC, the plaintiffs had challenged the DOC’s decision to return them to prison. All four previously had been granted a conditional medical release (CMR) because their medical conditions put them at high risk during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a settlement of the lawsuit filed December 15, 2023, the DOC agreed not to return the four plaintiffs to prison unless they violate the terms of their supervised release. In addition, they can work and attend classes on release, whereas they had been on home confinement since being granted CMR. The settlement came on the heels of a Court of Appeals (COA) victory in September 2023, in which the COA ruled that the DOC could not return the plaintiffs to prison while their lawsuit was pending.

“Our clients thrived on release, building strong relationships with their families, including a young mother, Ms. Wagner, who built a deep bond with her now two-year-old daughter,” said JaneAnne Murray, associate professor of clinical law and director of the Clemency Project Clinic. “We welcome the DOC’s humane decision to allow our clients to continue their law-abiding lives in their communities.”

The Clemency Project Clinic had been representing Tanya Wagner in her clemency application to the Board of Pardons when, in 2022, the DOC sought to return her to prison, saying the pandemic was over and she needed to serve the rest of her sentence in custody. Wagner had been released on CMR due to her pregnancy. While on release, during which she was on strict home confinement, Wagner had her baby. 

As the Clemency Project Clinic began addressing the DOC’s revocation decision regarding Wagner, others in similar situations reached out to Murray’s clinic for assistance. Given the volume of potentially affected individuals, Murray asked the ACLU-MN and LAMP to join forces.

“This is a complex subject because conditional medical release is designed for people who have a terminal illness,” said JaneAnne Murray, associate professor of clinical law and director of the Clemency Project Clinic. “During Covid, about 150 vulnerable people got released under this statute, which isn’t designed for temporary release. The DOC didn’t want to set a precedent for a get-out-of-jail-free.”

The clinics and ACLU-MN secured a temporary restraining order in 2022 from a Ramsey District Court judge to block the DOC’s move to reincarcerate. In response, the DOC initiated a review of each CMR recipient subject to the restraining order. In just a few weeks, students in the Clemency Project Clinic interviewed clients, subpoenaed records, obtained expert reports, and submitted letter-briefs documenting the reasons to keep these individuals out of prison. Ultimately, the DOC continued CMR for several but decided that four, including Wagner, needed to return to prison.

The DOC argued that it had given the plaintiffs the due process that they sought in their lawsuit, but the court denied the motion and the DOC took its case to the Minnesota Court of Appeals. This prompted Murray to propose to Professor Elizabeth “Betz” Bentley, who directs the Law School’s Civil Rights Appellate Clinic, that the two clinics work together.

In spring 2023, Murray and Bentley—along with two students from the Civil Rights Appellate Clinic —Adam Kolb ’24 and E. Isabel Park ’24 — and three students from the Clemency Project Clinic — Mary Hill ’23, Julia Kasbohm ’23, and Emma Kruger ’24—drafted the appeal to the Court of Appeals. In September 2023, the Court of Appeals issued its decision, agreeing with the plaintiffs’ arguments in their entirety and setting into motion the final negotiated settlement.

Murray said the appeal provided an ideal opportunity for the Clemency Project Clinic and the Civil Rights Appellate Clinic to work together. “The cross-clinic cooperation is an excellent way to model good practices,” she said. “Students learn to collaborate, brainstorm, and seek out different subject matter experts. It’s a really good learning opportunity.”

Another interesting aspect of the case is that Murray engaged the head of forensic psychiatry at the University of Minnesota Medical School, Dr. Chinmoy Gulrajani, to help with the unique medical and psychological issues related to Wagner’s case. “We were able to explain the impact that an abrupt separation of mother and baby would have on both, in particular the long-term adverse impact of acute attachment disorder for the child,” Murray said. “This helped us tell the full story. The heart of what my students do is storytelling, and many of our clients’ stories have never been told before. That was certainly the case for Ms. Wagner.”