Smith v. Fitzpatrick - Prisoners' Rights

We sued the Maine Department of Corrections (DOC) for denying treatment for opioid use disorder in violation of the Constitution and the Americans with Disabilities Act. In a settlement, the DOC agreed to continue providing necessary medication to our client while in custody.

Medication-assisted treatment (MAT) is the standard of care to treat opioid use disorder, but the Aroostook County Sheriff’s Office and Maine Department of Corrections (DOC) prohibited MAT. Denying needed medication to people with opioid use disorders – like our client, Zachary Smith – violates their rights and undermines the important goal of helping people navigate complex medical conditions.

We went to federal court, suing Dr. Joseph Fitzpatrick, DOC commissioner, and Shawn D. Gillen, chief deputy and acting Aroostook County sheriff, both in their official capacities.

We argued that by denying adequate medical care to prisoners, these policies violated the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. We further argued that the policies violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Under the ADA, people with substance use disorders who are in treatment are classified as having a disability, and denying necessary medicine to a person with a disability is illegal discrimination.

On September 27, 2018, the DOC agreed to continue providing necessary medication to Mr. Smith when he was in state custody, as part of a settlement out of court. While the case did not reach a court decision on the constitutional and ADA charges, the settlement makes it harder for other correctional facilities to argue that providing MAT to prisoners is not possible.

In a related case, the U.S. Court of Appeals issued a landmark ruling in 2019 establishing the right to MAT for people with opioid use disorder in jails.