Vitek v. Jones

Background

Larry D. Jones is a state prisoner convicted of robbery and serving a three-to-nine year sentence in Nebraska. After an incident in prison in 1975 that left him badly burned, prison officials had him examined and then moved him to a state mental hospital under a Nebraska law that allows such transfers when a physician or psychologist finds a mental disease and inadequate treatment in the prison. The District Court found the transfer involuntary and ruled that the statute, as applied, violated the prisoner’s right to due process, enjoining transfers except under specified procedures.

Reasoning

The central question in this appeal was whether the transfer and the statute permitting it raised a live constitutional controversy. The District Court had required transfer procedures like those in earlier Supreme Court decisions and had ordered notice and counsel for indigent inmates. While this case was pending, the Nebraska Parole Board granted Jones limited parole so he could receive inpatient psychiatric care in Illinois. Counsel told the Court that Jones accepted the parole, is cooperating with treatment, and is taking prescribed medication. Because these developments might make the dispute moot, the Supreme Court, in a brief per curiam order, vacated the District Court judgment and remanded the case for the lower court to consider mootness.

Real world impact

The decision means the District Court’s protections are not final here and the question of required hearings before involuntary transfers remains unresolved. The ruling affects inmates threatened with transfer and state officials who carry out transfers, but it is not a final ruling on the constitutional merits and could change on further review.

Dissents or concurrances

Justice Stevens dissented, arguing the case remains live because Jones is still in State custody and receiving hospital care, so the injunction should continue to protect him from arbitrary transfer.