Clemency Project Clinic and Civil Rights Appellate Clinic Collaborate to Secure Major Victory in Tanya Wager et al. v. DOC

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.

Read the full article in the digital edition of Minnesota Law magazine.