# Amicus Curiae Brief — McKune v. Lile

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## Record

- **Collection:** Supreme Court brief
- **Document type:** Amicus Curiae Brief
- **Published:** January 1, 2002
- **Citation:** 536 U.S. 24

## Text

No. 00-1187 JU

In the Supreme Court of the United States

DAVID R. MCKUNE, WARDEN, ET AL.,
PETITIONERS

U.

ROBERT G. LILE

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI
TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT

BRIEF FOR THE UNITED STATES
AS AMICUS CURIAE SUPPORTING PETITIONERS

THEODORE B. OLSON
Solicitor General
Counsel of Record
STUART E. SCHIFFER
Acting Assistant Attorney
General

PAUL D. CLEMENT
Deputy Solicitor General
GREGORY G. GARRE
Assistant to the Solicitor
General
VICKI MARANI
Attorney

Department of Justice
Washington, D.C. 20530-0001

(202) 514-2217

ys

QUESTION PRESENTED

Whether the Fifth Amendment privilege against com-
pelled self-incrimination prevents a State from encouraging
incarcerated sexual offenders to participate in a clinical
rehabilitative program, in which participants must accept
responsibility for their offenses, by conditioning the avail-
ability of certain institutional privileges on participation in
the program.

— —

=> 2

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Interest of the United States 8

Statement

Summary of argument

Argument:
The Fifth Amendment does not prevent a State
from advancing legitimate penological objectives by
conditioning the availability of institutional privi-
leges on participation in a rehabilitation program
that requires convicted sexual offenders to accept
responsibility for their offenses

10

A. The determination whether an inmate has been
“compelled” to incriminate himself should take
into account the nature of the regime to which

he has been committed 1

B. In finding unconstitutional compulsion, the
court of appeals misconstrued this Court's
precedents and overlooked the history and pur-

pose of the privilegge

C. Even if the Kansas SATP implicates inmates’
Fifth Amendment rights, it reasonably ad-
vances legitimate penological goals and there-

fore is valid under Turner —

D. If the Court concludes that the Kansas Sa TP
violates the Fifth Amendment, it should be
careful to avoid casting doubt on the validity

of other treatment programwmes

TABLE OF AUTHORITIES
Cases:

Baltimore City Dep't of Soc. Servs. v. Bouknight,
9000.

(IID)

— 11

— 16

* &

17-18, 22

IV
Cases—Continued: Page
Bankes v. Simmons, 963 P.2d 412 (Kan.), cert.

denied, 525 U.S. 1060 (1998) 15
Baxter v. Palmigiano, 425 U.S. 308 (1976) 12, 17
Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520 (1979) 11
Bordenkircher v. Hayes, 434 U.S. 357 (1978) 18
Brady v. United States, 397 U.S. 742 (1970) 18
Corbitt v. New Jersey, 439 U.S. 212 (1978) 18
Couch v. United States, 409 U.S. 322 (1973) 19
Ferguson v. City of Charleston, 121 S. Ct. 1281

(2001) 22
Garrity v. New Jersey, 385 U.S. 493 (1967) 17, 18
Griffin v. California, 380 U.S. 609 (1965) 12
Hewitt v. Helms, 459 U.S. 460 (1983) 13, 15
Jaffee v. Redmond, 518 U.S. 1 (1996) 26
Jones v. North Carolina Prisoners’ Labor Union,

Inc., 433 U.S. 119 (1977) 11
Kansas v. Lile, 699 P. 2d 456 (Kan. 1985) 6
Lewis v. Casey, 518 U.S. 343 (1996) 12
Meachum v. Fano, 427 U.S. 215 (1976) 13, 15
Minnesota v. Murphy, 465 U.S. 420 (1984) 12, 16, 22, 23
Murphy v. Waterfront Comm’n, 378 U.S. 52 (1964) ....... 20
O’Lone v. Estate of Shabazz, 482 U.S. 342 (1987) 11, 21
Ohio Adult Parole Auth. v. Woodard, 523 U.S. 272

(1998) 11,18
Pell v. Procunier, 417 U.S. 817 (1974) 13, 21
Sandin v. Conner, 515 U.S. 472 (1995) 9, 11, 12,

13, 15, 16, 21
Shaw v. Murphy, 121 S. Ct. 1475 (2001) 12, 20
Spevack v. Klein, 385 U.S. 511 (1967) 19
Turner v. Safley, 482 U.S. 78 (1987) 8, 9, 12,

20, 21, 25, 26
Ullmann v. United States, 350 U.S. 422 (1956) ............... 20
United States v. Mezzanatto, 513 U.S. 196 (1995) 18
United States v. Monia, 317 U.S. 424 (1943) 10

PPE Oy py HAE

Cases—Continued: , Page
United States v. Washington, 431 U.S. 181
(1977) 11
Ward v. Rock Against Racism, 491 U.S. 781
(1989) 21
Constitution, statute and regulations:
US. Const.:
Amend. I 12, 21
Amend. V passim
Self Incrimination Clause 1, 8, 10, 14, 15, 17
Due Process Clause 15
Amend. XIV 1
18 U.S.C. 3563(b)(9) (1994 & Supp. V 1999) 14
42 C. F. R.:
Section 2.22(b) 26
Section 2.22(b)(4) 26
Kan. Admin. Regs. § 44-5-105(c)(1) 5
United States Sentencing Guidelines § 3E1.1 14
Miscellaneous:
Henry J. Friendly, The Fifth Amendment Tomor-
row: The Case for Constitutional Change, 37
U. Cin. L. Rev. 671 (1968) 19
4 Kansas Dep’t of Corrections, Offender Programs
Evaluation (2000) 3, 21
Leonard W. Levy:
Constitutional Opinions: Aspects of the Bill of
Rights (1986) — 19
Origins of the Fifth Amendment (1968) 19
Stefan J. Padfield, Self-Incrimination and Accep-
tance of Responsibility in Prison Sex Offender
Treatment Programs, 49 U. Kan. L. Rev. 487
ee 22
The Sexual Predator: Law, Policy, Evaluation and
Treatment (Anita Schlank & Fred Cohen eds.,
1999) a 3

vl In the Supreme Court of the United States

Miscellaneous—Continued: Page
U.S. Dep't of Justice: No. 00-1187

Bureau of Prisons, Sex Offender Treatment Program
(2001) 2, 27

Bureau of Justice Statistics, Child Victimizers: * 1 —
Violent Offenders and Their Victims (1996) 2

Recidivism of Prisoners Released in 1983 (1997) 3 V.

Sex Offenses and Offenders (1997) ins 2, 3

Federal Bureau of Investigation, Uniform Crime RoBERT G. LILE
— 2

National Institute of Corrections, A Practitioner’s
Guide to Treating the Incarcerated Male Sex ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI
EE 3, 22 TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT

BRIEF FOR THE UNITED STATES
AS AMICUS CURIAE SUPPORTING PETITIONERS

INTEREST OF THE UNITED STATES

The court of appeals in this case held that the Self Incri-
mination Clause of the Fifth Amendment, applied to the
States through the Fourteenth Amendment, prevents a
State from seeking to advance legitimate penological objec-
tives by conditioning the availability of certain institutional
privileges on convicted sexual offenders’ participation in a
clinical rehabilitative program in which participants must
accept responsibility for their sexual offenses. The Federal
Bureau of Prisons (BOP), which operates more than 90 penal
institutions across the country, has its own sexual offender
treatment program. Like the state program challenged in
this case, the overriding objective of the federal program is
“to help sexual offenders manage their sexual deviance in

(1)

2

order to reduce sexual recidivism.” U.S. Dep’t of Justice,
Bureau of Prisons, Sex Offender Treatment Program 1
(2001) (Program Description). As we explain below,
although the federal program differs in important respects
from the state program here, it shares the critical treatment
goal of having inmates demonstrate “[c]omplete acceptance
of responsibility for [their] sexual crime(s).” Jd. at 2. The
United States has a strong interest in establishing the
validity of such treatment programs and, more generally, in
ensuring that prison officials have appropriate discretion in
seeking to advance legitimate penological goals such as
reducing sexual recidivism.

STATEMENT

1. Sexual offenders inflict a terrible toll each year on this
Nation and its citizens. In 1995, nearly 355,000 rapes and
sexual assaults were reported nationwide by victims older
than 12 years. U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Bureau of Justice
Statistics, Sex Offenses and Offenders (1997); see also U.S.
Dep’t of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Uniform
Crime Reports 24 (1999).' Between 1980 and 1994, the aver-
age number of individuals imprisoned for sexual offenses
increased at a faster rate than that for any other category of
violent crime. Sex Offenses and Offenders 18. In 1994,
nearly 100,000 inmates were serving time in state prisons for
rape or sexual assault; another 134,000 convicted sexual of-
fenders were under community supervision, such as
probation or parole. Jd. at 15. More than 42,000 of those
inmates victimized children. U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Bureau of
Justice Statistics, Child Victimizers: Violent Offenders and
Their Victims 2 (1996).

These figures understate the incidence of sexual offenses because
many sexual offenses go unreported and others involve children under the
age of 12, who are not covered by this survey.

3

When they reenter society at large, convicted sexual of-
fenders are much more likely to repeat the offense of con-
viction than any other type of felon. Sex Offenses and
Offenders 27; U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Bureau of Justice
Statistics, Recidivism of Prisoners Released in 1983 6
(1997). At the same time, however, it is widely accepted by
correctional officials and therapists alike that clinical reha-
bilitative programs can enable sexual offenders to manage
their criminal sexual impulses and thereby reduce the risk of
sexual recidivism. U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Nat’) Institute of
Corrections, A Practitioner’s Guide to Treating the Incar-
cerated Male Sex Offender xiii (1988) (Practitioner’s Guide).
A vital component of those programs is for participants to
come to terms with their sexual misconduct. /d. at 73.

2. a. Like most States and the federal government,
Kansas has established a sexual abuse treatment program
(SATP) for convicted sexual offenders as a means of enabling
such inmates “to contro] deviant behavior and reduce [the
risk of] reoffending” behavior. 4 Kansas Dep’t of Cor-
rections, Offender Programs Evaluation 31 (2000); J.A. 99.
The Kansas SATP utilizes a number of generally accepted
treatment techniques, including individual and group coun-
seling, as well as polygraph and penile plethysmograph
testing. See Practitioner’s Guide 219-224 (discussing model
treatment programs from more than 20 States). A critical
treatment goal of the Kansas program—like that of virtually
every other successful program—is for participants to accept

2 The rate of recidivism of treated sexual offenders is fairly con-
sistently estimated to be around 15%,” whereas the rate of recidivism
for untreated offenders has been estimated to be as high as 80%.
Practitioner's Guide xiii. “Even if both of these figures are exaggerated,
there would still be a significant difference between treated and untreated
individuals.” Ibid.; see also, e.g., The Sexual Predator: Law, Policy,
Evaluation and Treatment 11-25 (Anita Schlank & Fred Cohen eds., 1999)
(In seems generally recognized * * that given an appropriate
trea..nent regimen, many sexual offenders do respond positively.”).

1

responsibility for their offenses. J. A. 100, 107. To that end,
participants must complete an “Admission of Responsibility”
form (J.A. 31), fill out a sexual history form discussing
offending behavior (J.A. 32-34), and discuss their past sexual
behavior in individual and group counseling sessions.

SATP staff generally keep such information confidential.
However, inmates are informed before entering the program
that confidentiality is limited. J.A. 35-36. In particular,
SATP counselors must report any incidents of child abuse, as
well as “situations which could be harmful to [the inmate] or
others, or a threat to the orderly operation of the facility.”
J.A. 35. SATP staff also provide treatment evaluations of
participants to the Kansas Parole Board, and SATP records
may be subpoenaed. Ibid. We understand that no SATP
participant has ever been charged with (or convicted of) a
criminal offense based on information disclosed during treat-
ment, but an inmate’s participation in the program none-
theless could result in the disclosure of potentially incrimi-
nating information.

b. Correctional officials recommend convicted sexual of-
fenders who meet certain criteria for participation in the
SATP. Those inmates are advised that the SATP is
“voluntary,” and that participants must sign a consent form
before enrolling. J.A. 31; Pet. App. 20a. Nevertheless,
prison officials encourage participation in the SATP, just like
other prison programs, to advance their penological objec-
tives. Pet. App. 27a; J.A. 100.

As an Overall means of “managing the offender population
and reinforcing constructive behavioral changes in of-
fenders,” the State’s Internal Management Policy and Pro-

3 Information about sexual offenses other than the offense of con-

viction may come up during counseling, but SATP staff do not view it as
their role to “investigate” such offenses and, thus, try to use identifiers for
prior victims other than their full names. J.A. 154; see J.A. 109-112, 154-
155.

5

cedure (IMPP) for prisons establishes “a comprehensive
system of earnable offender privileges,” including those
governing TV ownership, inmate organizations and activi-
ties, canteen expenditures, property, incentive pay, and
visitation. J.A. 13-14. The IMPP establishes certain
incentive levels—Intake Level, Level I, Level II, and Level
III that reward inmates who meet correctional goals by
granting them additional privileges. J.A. 14-15, 27, 52.
Although applicable regulations state that an “inmate shall
not be penalized for refusal to participate in a formal
program plan,” Kan. Admin. Regs. § 44-5-105(c)(1), an in-
mate’s decision not to participate in a recommended pro-
gram, including the SATP, results in a reduction in
his incentive level and, thus, in his privileges. J.A. 19, 73-74.

Declining to participate in the SATP may also affect
where an inmate is housed. Kansas operates minimum,
medium, and maximum security facilities. An inmate may
not be housed in a facility with a security designation below
his custody level, but may be housed in a facility with a
security designation above that level. J.A. 60, 62; see J.A.
103-104 (“There are probably hundreds of medium security
inmates today, and probably a good number of minimum
security—or custody inmates, that are living in maximum
security settings today.”). Prison officials do not base
housing decisions on the IMPP’s incentive system, but in-
stead rely, inter alia, on an inmate’s custody level, the
availability of space in a particular facility, and whether an
inmate is enrolled in a program or has a job in a facility. J.A.
62-63, 68, 70-71, 99.

The SATP is conducted at only a few facilities in Kansas,
including at the medium-security facility in Lansing. An
inmate’s refusal to participate in the SATP may result in his
transfer from a facility that hosts the program to another
facility, consistent with his custody level. J.A. 83. As the
Secretary of Corrections has explained, “it makes no sense
to have someone who’s not participating in a program taking

6

up a bed in a setting where someone else who may be willing
to participate in a program could occupy that bed and
participate in a program.” J.A. 99.

3. In 1982, respondent flagged down a high school girl
and forced her at gunpoint to commit oral sodomy on him,
then drove her to a field and raped her. He was convicted of
rape, aggravated sodomy, and aggravated kidnaping, and
sentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole
after 15 years. Kansas v. Lile, 699 P.2d 456, 457 (Kan. 1985).
Respondent was assigned a medium-custody level and impri-
soned in the maximum-security facility in Lansing, along
with other medium-custody inmates. In 1989, he was trans-
ferred to the medium-security facility in Lansing. In 1994,
prison officials recommended that respondent participate in
the SATP at that facility, but he declined to do so. Pet.
App. 4a.

Under the IMPP, respondent’s decision not to enroll in the
SATP reduced his incentive level from Level III to Level I
and, thus, diminished his privileges. Pet. App. 10a. At Level
III, respondent could, inter alia, purchase his own personal
TV; participate in approved organizations or activities;
receive any approved visitor; and spend $140 per payroll
period in the canteen. At Level I, he remains eligible for
general TV viewing; may participate in certain self-help
programs and enjoy library and religious services and gym
and yard activities; may receive visits from immediate family
members, attorneys, and clergy; and may spend up to $20
per payroll period. See J.A. 27 (chart).

Although he retained his medium-custody level, respon-
dent received notice that he would be transferred from
Lansing’s medium-security facility—where the SATP is
conducted—to its maximum-security facility, where he
would be housed in the C-2 unit with other medium-custody
inmates. Pet. App. 17a; J.A. 73. The conditions in C-2 are
less favorable than those at the medium-security facility.
For example, more inmates share a cell in C-2; it has inferior

« *

7

athletic facilities; and C- 2 inmates enjoy less flexibility than
inmates in the medium-security facility, who, for example,
have keys to their dormitory-style cells. J.A. 64-68; C.A.
App. 47-48. In addition, respondent asserts that the
potential for violence is greater in the C-2 unit, though
prison officials dispute that contention. See J.A. 78-79.

4. In 1995, respondent filed this action, claiming that
prison officials violated his Fifth Amendment privilege
against compelled self-incrimination by reducing his pri-
vileges and noticing his transfer for not participating in the
SATP.‘ The district court found that the SATP is a genuine
“clinical rehabilitative program,” supported by a “legitimate
penological objective”—rehabilitation. Pet. App. 52a. In
addition, the court acknowledged that respondent’s refusal
to participate in the program may not result in any “atypical
[prison] hardship.” Jd. at 43a. Nonetheless, the court held
that “the hardship attendant to [respondent’s] refusal to
participate in the SATP Program is sufficient compulsion for
purposes of the Fifth Amendment,” and granted summary
judgment for respondent. /d. at 44a.

The court of appeals affirmed. Pet. App. la-32a. The
court held that the consequences flowing from respondent’s
refusal to participate in the SATP “are sufficiently potent
and substantial to constitute impermissible compulsion”
under the Fifth Amendment. Id. at 26a. In so holding, the
court reasoned that in the prison context unconstitutional
“{cJompulsion can be established by hardships that may not
be atypical and that do not constitute enforceable liberty
interests.” Jd. at 15a. Because it found impermissible com-

4 Respondent also claimed that the SATP violated his constitutional
“right to privacy and bodily integrity” by requiring him to submit to a
plethysmograph examination. Pet. App. 46a. The court of appeals did not
consider the merits of that claim, and that issue is not before this Court.
Id. at 32a.

8

pulsion, the court rejected the proposition that the SATP
was truly voluntary.” Id. at 20a.

The court also considered respondent’s claim under the
inquiry established by Turner v. Safley, 482 U.S. 78 (1987).
The court agreed with Kansas that the SATP served
legitimate penological interests—“promoting rehabilitation
and increasing public safety”—and recognized that requiring
inmates to accept responsibility for their offenses advanced
those interests, as “most mental health experts agree that ‘a
sex offender must admit his guilt for treatment and
rehabilitation to be successful.’” Pet. App. 27a-28a. Never-
theless, the court concluded that “the Turner balancing
weighs in favor of the inmate,” reasoning that the State
could achieve its objectives “by implementing a system of
confidentiality or granting immunity.” Id. at 32a.

SUMMARY OF ARGUMENT

Kansas encourages incarcerated sexual offenders to
participate in a sexual abuse treatment program by con-
ditioning the availability of certain privileges upon an in-
mate’s agreement to participate. The program recognizes
that successful treatment requires participants to come to
terms with their past history of sexual misconduct.
Although counselors seek that information to facilitate treat-
ment, in some instances, counseling sessions may elicit
information about past sexual history that indicates a
current risk to the safety of children or other inmates.
Kansas warns program participants that such information
will not necessarily remain confidential. Nothing in the Self
Incrimination Clause precludes Kansas from adopting, or
encouraging inmates to participate in, this common-sense re-
habilitative program.

The privilege against self-incrimination does not termi-
nate with incarceration. Nonetheless, the fact of incar-
ceration and the resulting restrictions on an inmate’s liberty
clearly inform the Fifth Amendment analysis. In the due

— ee —

9

process context, this Court recognizes that the elimination of
privileges and minor changes in incarceration status do not
implicate constitutional liberty interests. E. g., Sandin v.
Conner, 515 U.S. 472 (1995). Those same principles support
the proposition that, absent arbitrary state action, the minor
changes in detention status at issue here do not result in
unconstitutional compulsion. The court below reached a
different conclusion by relying on cases that prohibit the
government from penalizing the assertion of a Fifth Amend-
ment privilege by loss of public employment or contracts.
But this Court has never applied those so-called “penalty”
cases in the prison context, and with good reason. The
granting and withdrawing of privileges to which inmates
have no entitlement does not create the same kind of com-
pulsion as the penalties discussed in this Court’s precedents.
Moreover, the court of appeals lost sight of the basic point
that what constitutes impermissible “compulsion” must take
account of the significant restrictions already inherent in any
sound penal regime.

Even if Kansas’ treatment program implicates the Fifth
Amendment rights of inmates, it does not violate the Consti-
tution because any burdens on those rights are reasonably
related to legitimate penological interests. See Turner v.
Safley, 482 U.S. 78 (1987). Kansas’ interest in reducing
recidivism among convicted sexual offenders is unassailably
legitimate. The treatment program advances that interest
directly because it is almost universally acknowledged that
accepting responsibility for past sexual misconduct is neces-
sary for successful treatment. By providing incentives for
inmates to participate, prison officials further the interests
of other inmates, the facility, and society as a whole. Al-
though not questioning those interests, the court of appeals
held that the Kansas program was unconstitutional by rea-
soning that the State could achieve those objectives, without
implicating inmates’ constitutional rights, by the simple
expedient of immunization. But decisions concerning the

10

scope of confidentiality in the prison rehabilitative setting
are no less deserving of deference than other difficult
judgments that correctional officials must make. Moreover,
the limits that Kansas has placed von confidentiality, includ-
ing those requiring counselors to report information
concerning child abuse or the safety of inmates, clearly pro-
mote legitimate penological objectives.

Finally, if this Court concludes that the Kansas program is
unconstitutional, it should do so on grounds that do not cast
doubt on the validity of other treatment programs, including
the federal program. Although there is almost universal
agreement that acceptance of responsibility is key to suc-
cessful treatment of sexual offenders, there are a variety of
ways to contour such a treatment program. BOP has chosen
not to condition the availability of privileges on inmates’
agreement to participate in its treatment program. Even if
the Court concludes that the Kansas program is invalid, it
should leave room for the operation of a treatment program
like the federal one.

ARGUMENT

THE FIFTH AMENDMENT DOES NOT PREVENT A
STATE FROM ADVANCING LEGITIMATE PE-
NOLOGICAL OBJECTIVES BY CONDITIONING THE
AVAILABILITY OF INSTITUTIONAL PRIVILEGES
ON PARTICIPATION IN A REHABILITATION PRO-
GRAM THAT REQUIRES CONVICTED SEXUAL
OFFENDERS TO ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR
THEIR OFFENSES

The Self Incrimination Clause of the Fifth Amendment
states that no person “shall be compelled in any criminal case
to be a witness against himself.” Because “(t]he Amendment
speaks of compulsion,” United States v. Monia, 317 U.S. 424,
427 (1943), this Court has emphasized that “[t)he consti-
tutional guarantee is only that the witness be not compelled

11

to give self - ineriminating testimony.” United States v.
Washington, 431 U.S. 181, 188 (1977) see Ohio Adult Parole
Auth. v. Woodard, 523 U.S. 272, 286 (1998). The overriding
issue in this case is whether Kansas’ decision to condition
certain privileges on whether convicted sexual offenders
avail themselves of the State’s SATP creates impermissible
compulsion within the meaning of the Fifth Amendment
privilege. As we explain below, that question should be
resolved in light of the settled principles governing the
constitutional rights of those who have been lawfully
committed to a correctional system.

A. The Determination Whether An Inmate Has Been
“Compelled” To Incriminate Himself Should Take
Into Account The Nature Of The Regime To Which He
Has Been Committed

1. “{PJrisoners do not shed all constitutional rights at the
prison gate, but IIlawful incarceration brings about the
necessary withdrawal or limitation of many privileges and
rights, a retraction justified by the considerations under-
lying our penal system.“ Sandin v. Conner, 515 U.S. 472,
485 (1995) (citation omitted); see Shaw v. Murphy, 121 S. Ct.
1475, 1479 (2001); O Lone v. Estate of Shabazz, 482 U.S. 342,
348 (1987); Jones v. North Carolina Prisoners’ Labor Union,
Inc., 433 U.S. 119, 129 (1977). A broad range of conditions
and choices that would infringe constitutional rights in free
society fall within the “expected conditions of confinement”
of those who have been lawfully convicted and incarcerated.
Sandin, 515 U.S. at 487 n.11.

“The limitations on the exercise of constitutional rights
{by inmates] arise both from the fact of incarceration and
from valid penological objectives—including * * *
rehabilitation of prisoners.” O Lone, 482 U.S. at 348; see Bell
v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520, 546 (1979). Courts owe broad defer-
ence to the judgment of those who administer our Nation’s
penal institutions in determining how to promote such legiti-

12

mate penological objectives. See Shaw v. Murphy, 121 S. Ct.
at 1480; Lewis v. Casey, 518 U.S. 343, 349-350 (1996).
Moreover, when, as here, “a state penal system is involved,
federal courts have * * * additional reason to accord
deference to the appropriate prison authorities.” Turner v.
Safley, 482 U.S. 78, 85 (1987).

Those principles apply to the Fifth Amendment just as
forcefully as they do with respect to the First Amendment
and other cherished rights. To be sure, al defendant does
not lose [Fifth Amendment] protection by reason of his
conviction of a crime.” Minnesota v. Murphy, 465 U.S. 420,
426 (1984). But, as this Court has recognized, lawful con-
viction and incarceration necessarily place limitations on the
exercise of a defendant’s Fifth Amendment privilege. See,
e.g., Baxter v. Palmigiano, 425 U.S. 308 (1976). In Bazter,
the Court declined to extend to prison disciplinary proceed-
ings the rule of Griffin v. California, 380 U.S. 609 (1965),
that the prosecution may not comment on a defendant’s
silence at trial. 425 U.S. at 319; see id. at 320. As the Court
explained, “(dJisciplinary proceedings in state prisons * * *
involve the correctional process and important state
interests other than conviction for crime.” Id. at 319.

2. a. The uniqueness of the prison environment informs
the determination whether an individual has been “com-
pelled” to act in a manner proscribed by the Fifth Amend-
ment. As the Court explained most recently in Sandin, the
“expected perimeters of the sentence imposed by a court of
law” include a wide range of actions that may adversely
affect an inmate’s life within the penal system, without
implicating any protected liberty interest. 515 U.S. at 485.
For example, le lonfinement in any of the State’s institutions
is within the normal limits or range of custody Which the
conviction has authorized the State to impose.” Meachum v.
Fano, 427 U.S. 215, 225 (1976). Accordingly, the fact It lhat
life in one prison is much more disagreeabile than in another”
does not in itself give rise to any constitutional objection

3331

13

“when a prisoner is transferred to the institution with the
more severe rules.” Ibid.

The same follows for any number of additional privileges
or conditions affecting the “ordinary incidents of prison life,”
including the entitlement to particular types of food, rec-
reational facilities, or jobs. See Sandin, 515 U.S. at 483.
Indeed, in Hewitt v. Helms, 459 U.S. 460, 467 n.4 (1983), this
Court concluded that an inmate’s transfer to another facility
did not in itself implicate a liberty interest, even though that
transfer resulted in the loss of “access to vocational, educa-
tional, recreational, and rehabilitative programs.” Short of
the type of “atypical, significant deprivation in which a State
might conceivably create a liberty interest,” or “arbitrary
state action,” an inmate may be required to endure many de-
privations without being denied any liberty interest.
Sandin, 515 U.S. at 486-487 & n.11.

When, as an incidental consequence of a valid rehabilita-
tive program, an inmate experiences nothing more than the
type of deprivations or hardships that are within the
expected conditions of his confinement, he has not been sub-
jected to compulsion proscribed by the Fifth Amendment.
One of the basic realities of incarceration is that prison
officials may establish incentives for inmates to behave in a
manner that advances legitimate penological goals, including
rehabilitation. See Pell v. Procunier, 417 U.S. 817, 823
(1974) (Slince most offenders will eventually return to
society, [a] paramount objective of the corrections system is
the rehabilitation of those committed to its custody.”).

Prison officials may promote such behavior in numerous
ways, including by linking the availability of institutional
privileges in which inmates enjoy no liberty interest to
whether inmates act in a manner that advances legitimate
penological goals. Asking inmates to choose between for-
going such privileges, on the one hand, and enrolling in a
clinical rehabilitative program that requires them to accept
responsibility for their sexual offenses, on the other, does not

14

subject them to any pressure that is not already inherent in
the regime to which they have been committed.

To be sure, forgoing institutional privileges may make pri-
son life more difficult for inmates. But when that is the
result of a choice that involves legitimate penological inter-
ests, it does not exert the compulsion necessary for a Fifth
Amendment violation. Where a correctional program—
rehabilitative or otherwise—does not advance a legitimate
objective, but instead is simply a pretext for gathering in-
criminating evidence on inmates, a State could not deny in-
mates privileges for refusing to participate. But nothing in
the Self Incrimination Clause prevents a State from estab-
lishing a valid rehabilitative program and encouraging in-
mates to participate in it by conditioning privileges in which
they do not enjoy a liberty interest on their decision to enter
the program.

b. The loss of privileges experienced by respondent
clearly did not implicate any protected liberty interest. As
discussed above, under the IMPP, the reduction in respon-

5 The breadth of the reasoning that led the Tenth Circuit to a con-
trary conclusion invites Fifth Amendment challenges by inmates to
virtually any effort by prison officials to allocate privileges or conditions,
even incidentally, based on whether a prisoner has accepted responsibility
for his offenses. For example, if the decision below is affirmed, prisoners
can be expected to challenge the use of offense severity scores to assign
prisoners to more restrictive facilities if (as in the federal system) offense
levels take account of whether the prisoner accepted responsibility for the
offense of conviction. Cf. Sentencing Guidelines § 3E1.1. Likewise, the
Tenth Circuit’s expansive rationale could lead to challenges to the routine
imposition of rehabilitative treatment (whether for sexual offenders or
substance abusers) as a condition of probation, parole, or supervised re-
lease. Cf., e.g., 18 U.S.C. 3563(b)(9) (1994 & Supp. V 1999).

6 Respondent has not argued, nor could he, that his decision not to
participate in the SATP increased the sentence that he received for his
crimes of rape, aggravated sodomy, and kidnaping. Moreover, respon-
dent’s decision not to participate in the SATP did not affect his eligibility
for good-time credits or his eligibility for parole. See Pet. App. 10a-12a.

—
—

ae aa"

— — —

15

dent’s incentive level diminished (but did not eliminate) his
privilege to enjoy, inter alia, TV ownership, inmate activi-
ties, canteen expenditures, visitation, incentive pay, and
intake property. See J.A. 27. Those are precisely the sort of
“ordinary incidents of prison life” that, as this Court re-
affirmed in Sandin, are not protected by the Due Process
Clause. 515 U.S. at 483; see Bankes v. Simmons, 963 P.2d
412, 420 (Kan.) (reduction in privileges stemming from
refusal to participate in the SATP or other program is “not
atypical and dofes] not pose a significant hardship within a
prison” and, thus, does “not involve a liberty interest”), cert.
denied, 525 U.S. 1060 (1998). Accordingly, the loss of those
privileges here does not create the degree of compulsion re-
quired to trigger the Self Incrimination Clause.

The same goes for the proposed change in respondent’s
housing. Indeed, that change is analogous to—and, if
anything, less consequential than—the transfer challenged in
Meachum, where this Court held that the Due Process
Clause does not in itself protect an inmate from being trans-
ferred from a medium-security facility to a maximum-
security facility with less favorable living conditions. 427
U.S. at 228-229." As the Court explained, “[wJhatever ex-
pectation the prisoner may have in remaining at a particular
prison so long as he behaves himself, it is too ephemeral and
insubstantial to trigger procedural due process protections
as long as prison officials have discretion to transfer him for
whatever reason or for no reason at all.” Id. at 228. See
Sandin, 515 U.S. at 486; Hewitt, 459 U.S. at 468.

7 Respondent has asserted that the conditions in the C- A unit would
expose him to a “greater threat of personal harm.” Opp. 2 (citing Pet.
App. 18a). But prison officials have contradicted that contention. J.A. 78-
79. Although the change in conditions does not appear any less favorable
than the one involved in Meachum, if the Court concludes that that fact is
material to the Fifth Amendment analysis in this case, it is genuinely
disputed and should preclude summary judgment for respondent.

16

In sum, any pressure that was placed on respondent by
the State’s rules for encouraging inmates to participate in
prison programs was entirely consistent with the nature of
the regime to which he was lawfully committed, and did not
rise to the level of compulsion proscribed by the Fifth
Amendment.

3. The foregoing analysis establishes a clear and pre-
dictable regime for prison administrators seeking to encour-
age inmate participation in rehabilitative programs with
acceptance-of-responsibility treatment goals, and builds on
the framework that this Court has established for reviewing
the constitutional claims of prisoners. Moreover, the Court’s
existing due process precedents not only provide a helpful
baseline for evaluating claims of unconstitutional compulsion
in the prison context, but also minimize the line-drawing
problems that the Court sought to foreclose in Sandin. See
515 U.S. at 483-484.

B. In Finding Unconstitutional Compulsion, The Court
Of Appeals Misconstrued This Court’s Precedents
And Overlooked The History And Purpose Of The

Privilege
1. In finding impermissible compulsion, the court of

appeals relied upon “the so-called ‘penalty’ cases.” Min-
nesota v. Murphy, 465 U.S. at 434; see Pet. App. 15a-16a. In

Ik the loss of privileges in which inmates enjoy no liberty interest
may amount to impermissible compulsion, then courts will certainly be
called upon to decide which privileges are of constitutional magnitude.
For example, it could not plausibly be argued that conditioning an in-
mate’s privilege to receive “a tray lunch rather than a sack lunch”
(Sandin, 515 U.S. at 483) on whether he agreed to participate in a sexual
offender treatment program requiring acceptance of responsibility estab-
lished unconstitutional compulsion. Presumably, the same could be said of
the privilege to be housed in a cell with “electrical outlets for televisions.”
Ibid. But at some point, this Court would have to discover a limiting
principle for deciding when impermissible compulsion arises due to the
loss of such privileges.

—

17

those cases, the Court ruled that “the State could not consti-
tutionally seek to compel testimony that had not been im-
munized by threats of serious economic reprisal,” such as the
termination of public “employment or eligibility to contract
with the State.” Baxter, 425 U.S. at 317. As the Court put it
in Garrity v. New Jersey, 385 U.S. 493, 497 (1967), t jhe
option to lose [one’s] means of livelihood or to pay the
penalty of self-incrimination is the antithesis of free choice to
speak out or remain silent.”

Whatever the precise effect the fact of incarceration has
on the scope of the Self Incrimination Clause, the court of
appeals below erred in relying on the Court’s penalty cases.
This Court has never applied those cases to find a Fifth
Amendment violation in the prison context, and with good
reason. The penalty cases represent a significant extension
of the protection against self-incrimination to preclude not
only incrimination in a criminal case, but also being put to a
choice between invoking the right and pursuing a livelihood
or other important economic interests. Those principles are
not easily extended to the prison context, where inmates
already have surrendered their rights to pursue a livelihood
and to contract freely with the State, as well as their liberty
interests in many other basic freedoms.

In addition, there is no indication in this Court’s decisions
that the state provisions invalidated in the penalty cases
were supported by a government interest other than ob-
taining potentially incriminating information from public em-
ployees or contractors. Here, by contrast, the correctional
program is directly related to legitimate government objec-
tives, including the rehabilitation of those who have been
lawfully committed to its custody. “The Court has on several
occasions recognized that the Fifth Amendment privilege
may not be invoked to resist compliance with a regulatory
regime constructed to effect the State’s public purposes
unrelated to the enforcement of its criminal laws.” Balti-
more City Dep't of Soc. Servs. v. Bouknight, 493 U.S. 549,

18

556 (1990) (citing cases). That the regulatory program chal-
lenged in this case is amply supported by such purposes
provides an additional reason to uphold it.

The penalty cases likewise must be considered in light of
this Court’s precedents recognizing that criminal defendants
confront numerous difficult choices from investigation to
conviction and release that do not create unconstitutional
pressures. See, e.g., Woodard, 523 U.S. at 287; United States
v. Mezzanatto, 513 U.S. 196 (1995); Corbitt v. New Jersey,
439 U.S. 212 (1978); Bordenkircher v. Hayes, 434 U.S. 357
(1978); Brady v. United States, 397 U.S. 742 (1970). Those
cases establish that the Constitution allows the State to ask
defendants and inmates to choose between exercising a con-
stitutional right and forgoing that right in exchange for a
hope or promise of some benefit. To the extent that the
penalty cases invalidate such choices when imposed as
generic conditions in particular civil contexts, different con-
siderations apply in the criminal justice system.”

Moreover, the penalty cases involved choices that were
different in both kind and degree from the choice presented
to respondent here—a reduction in privileges governing
matters such as TV ownership or recreational activities and
transfer to less favorable though still more than adequate
housing. Cf., e.g., Garrity, 385 U.S. at 497 (“The choice given
petitioners was either to forfeit their jobs or to incriminate

ln the prison ecntext, correctional officials may present inmates
with choices that require them to weigh the continued enjoyment of cer-
tain privileges against the perceived disadvantages of submitting to a
valid treatment program, even when that program incidentally may
require the inmate to disclose potentially incriminating information. That
a program requires an inmate to weigh the benefit of retaining existing
privileges as opposed to the benefit of obtaining new privileges is not a
difference of constitutional dimension. The constitutionality of Kansas’
program should not turn on whether it moves inmates who agree to
participate from Level I to Level III, or moves those who decline to
participate from Level III to Level I.

1 — ee

19

themselves.”); Spevack v. Klein, 385 U.S. 511, 516 (1967)
(“(T]Jhreat of disbarment and the loss of professional stand-
ing, professional reputation, and of livelihood are powerful
forms of compulsion.”). Thus, even if the prison context did
not make any difference in this case, the penalty cases would
still be inapposite.

2. Likewise, nothing in the history of the Fifth Amend-
ment indicates that the privilege against compulsory self-
incrimination was intended to proscribe the type of choice
presented to respondent. “Historically, the [Fifth Amend-
ment] privilege sprang from an abhorrence of governmental
assault against the single individual accused of crime and the
temptation on the part of the State to resurt to the expedient
of compelling incriminating evidence from one’s mouth. The
Court has thought the privilege necessary to prevent any
‘recurrence of the Inquisition and the Star Chamber, even if
not in their stark brutality.’” Couch v. United States, 409
U.S. 322, 327 (1973) (citation omitted); see Leonard W. Levy,
Origins of the Fifth Amendment 328 (1968) (“The element of
compulsion or involuntariness was always an essential ingre-
dient of the right [against self-incrimination].”)."°

Justice Frankfurter observed for the Court that At jhe
privilege against self-incrimination is a specific provision of
which it is peculiarly true that ‘a page of history is worth a
volume of logie. Ullma:zin v. United States, 350 U.S. 422,

10 The penalty decisions have been criticized for stretching the Fifth
Amendment privilege beyond its historical moors. As Judge Friendly ob-
served, In lothing in the historical development of the [Fifth Amendment]
privilege suggests that threatened loss of employment was the kind of
compulsion against which the amendment aimed to protect.” Henry J.
Friendly, The Fifth Amendment Tomorrow: The Case for Constitutional
Change, 37 U. Cin. L. Rev. 671, 707 (1968); see id. at 708 & n.158; see also,
e.g., Leonard W. Levy, Constitutional Opinions: Aspects of the Bill of
Rights 208 (1986). As noted above, finding unconstitutional compulsion in
this case would require extending the Fifth Amendment privilege even
further beyond its original design.

20

438 (1956). Asking inmates to choose between certain insti-
tutional privileges and participation in a rehabilitative pro-
gram requiring acceptance of responsibility does not subject
inmates to an “inquisition,” or even the “cruel trilemma of
self-accusation, perjury or contempt.” Murphy v. Water-
front Comm’n, 378 U.S. 52, 55 (1964). To the extent that an
inmate fears that participation may result in self-incrimina-
tion, he may simply decline to participate. While it may
make the conditions of his confinement less comfortable, that
decision has no incriminating effect whatever.

C. Even If The Kansas SATP Implicates Inmates’ Fifth
Amendment Rights, It Reasonably Advances Legiti-
mate Penological Goals And Therefore Is Valid Under
Turner

Even if Kansas’ treatment program implicates respon-
dent’s Fifth Amendment rights, the SATP is nonetheless
constitutional under Turner. As the court of appeals recog-
nized, a finding of constitutionally impermissible compulsion
begins rather than ends the constitutional analysis. “[WJhen
a prison regulation impinges on inmates’ constitutional
rights, the regulation is valid if it is reasonably related to
legitimate penological interests.” Turner, 482 U.S. at 89. As
the Court underscored just last Term, “under Turner and its
predecessors, prison officials are to remain the primary
arbiters of the problems that arise in prison management.”
Shaw v. Murphy, 121 S. Ct. at 1480.

Turner identifies several potentially relevant factors in
determining whether a prison regulation implicating pri-
soners’ constitutional rights furthers legitimate penological
goals, including the extent to which the regulation has a
rational connection to the State’s legitimate interests, and
the existence of ready and reasonable alternatives. 482 U.S.
at 89-90. To the extent that those factors are relevant to a
self-incrimination claim, they point decidedly to the consti-

—_—- <i. —

21

tutionality of Kansas’ SATP."" The Tenth Circuit’s contrary
conclusion is based on a fundamental misapplication of
Turner.

1. Kansas’ program furthers the indisputably legitimate
goal of reducing recidivism among convicted sexual of-
fenders. Rehabilitation is a “paramount objective” of any
penal system. Pell, 417 U.S. at 823; see Sandin, 515 U.S. at
485; O’Lone, 482 U.S. at 348; Pet. App. 28a. Respondent does
not deny that the SATP is a genuine “clinical rehabilitative
program.” Id. at 52a. As discussed above, that program
utilizes generally accepted treatment techniques for sexual
offenders, and has as its primary objective reducing sexual
recidivism among such offenders. See p. 3, supra; J.A. 99-
100. What is more, the available statistics indicate that the
Kansas program actually has succeeded in promoting that
objective. 4 Offender Programs Evaluation 34 (discussing
reduction in sexual recidivism among inmates receiving
treatment compared with those who eschewed it).

11 In Turner, this Court also identified as relevant considerations the
availability of alternative means to exercise the constitutional right, and
the impact of the regulation on guards, other inmates, and the allocation of
prison resources generally. See 482 U.S. at 90. Although the former
factor may be instructive in a First Amendment case like Turner, we do
not believe that it affects the analysis of respondent’s Fifth Amendment
claim. While the First Amendment makes the existence of alternative
channels of communications constitutionally relevant, see, e.g., Ward v.
Rock Against Racism, 491 U.S. 781, 797 (1989), there is no analogous Fifth
Amendment doctrine. With respect to the latter factor, everyone in the
prison environment—including inmates, guards, and other prison
officials—benefits from encouraging sexual offenders to receive treatment
that may enable them to control their sexual impulses. Sexual offenses
within prison remain a serious problem in the Nation’s penal institutions.
In addition, to the extent that information disclosed during the program
may be used to prevent inmates from abusing one another or guards, that
consideration only bolsters the constitutionality of the Kansas program
under Turner. See p. 26, infra.

22

At the same time, no one disputes that acceptance of re-
sponsibility is a critical component of sexual offender treat-
ment programs. See Pet. App. 28a-29a; Practitioner’s Guide
73; J.A. 100, 107. As one commentator has explained: “With-
out acceptance of responsibility, the key goals of treatment
are stymied. Denial precludes addressing cognitive dis-
tortions, developing empathy for victims, identifying risk
factors that may serve as warning signals, developing much
needed social skills, and examining deviant sexual arousal.”
Stefan J. Padfield, Self-Incrimination and Acceptance of
Responsibility in Prison Sex Offender Treatment Programs,
49 U. Kan. L. Rev. 487, 498 (2001).

Respondent has not argued that the Kansas SATP and, in
particular, its acceptance-of-responsibility goal are merely
subterfuges for gathering incriminating evidence with re-
spect to either the offense of conviction or prior sexual
offenses. Cf. Ferguson v. City of Charleston, 121 S. Ct. 1281,
1291 (2001); Minnesota v. Murphy, 465 U.S. at 423 n.2. That
argument would not be plausible in any event. No inmate
has been charged with any offense based on information dis-
closed during treatment and, although information about
other offenses may be disclosed, SATP staff do not
“investigate” such offenses during treatment sessions. See
p. 4, supra. To be sure, treatment presents the potential for
eliciting information that may implicate criminal activity, but
that potential incidental effect does not in itself render the
entire program illegitimate.”

In addition, the deprivations about which respondent
complains directly promote the State’s legitimate penological
objective of reducing sexual recidivism. Not every convicted
sexual offender welcomes treatment. Because denial is a

2 To the extent that the program were in fact abused by the State as
a subterfuge for investigating criminal offenses, an inmate could challenge
the use of any incriminating information obtained as a result of that abuse.
Cf. Bouknight, 493 U.S. at 561-562.

— — —

23

common obstacle to seeking rehabilitative treatment, prison
officials must be free to create incentives for convicted
sexual offenders to participate in such treatment programs.
Indeed, if it were not for the incidental effects of partici-
pation on asserted Fifth Amendment interests, nothing in
the Constitution would even arguably prevent a State from
directing inmates to participate in a valid rehabilitative
program. Extending or withholding the type of privileges at
issue in this case to provide an incentive for participation in
the SATP strikes an appropriate balance between the
inmate’s interest in avoiding self-incrimination and society’s
interest in fostering rehabilitation.”

Providing more favorable housing to inmates who agree to
participate in such programs is also an appropriate incentive.
That is especially true when, as here, the differences in hous-
ing reflect incidental differences between the treatment
facility and other facilities, and when housing changes allow
additional inmates to receive rehabilitative treatment de-
clined by others. See J. A. 99."

13 Indeed, in our view, programs that involved substantially greater
incentives would nonetheless strike a constitutional balance. For example,
the Fifth Amendment privilege should not pose an obstacle to a program
that conditions early release or parole on participation in a sexual treat-
ment program similar to Kansas’ SATP. A fortiori, encouraging partici-
pation in a treatment program within the prison walls is constitutional.

14 The court of appeals objected to the “automaticity” of the change in
institutional privileges resulting from respondent’s decision not to partici-
pate in the SATP. Pet. App. 25a. Although this Court has relied upon the
fact that a consequence did not automatically follow from a decision to
invoke the Fifth Amendment privilege as a reason for finding no
compulsion, e. g., Minnesota v. Murphy, 465 U.S. at 438, it has never held
that the “automaticity” of a consequence is in itself a basis for finding
compulsion, and this case would be a singularly inappropriate vehicle for
doing so. In the prison context in particular, prison officials and inmates
alike benefit from clear guidelines establishing the consequences flowing
from an inmate’s decision to behave in a particular fashion.

24

2. The absence of ready and reasonable alternatives for
reducing recidivism among convicted sexual offenders
bolsters the constitutionality of the SATP under the Turner
analysis. Instead of considering the availability of alter-
native treatments, the Tenth Circuit seized upon the alter-
native of simply immunizing any statements made during
treatment. Id. at 30a. That analysis is flawed on three
levels: it takes all self-incrimination claims outside of Turner;
it denies deference to prison officials in advancing legitimate
penological goals; and it ignores that the program’s con-
fidentiality limits themselves are reasonably tailored to
legitimate penological goals.

The most fundamental problem with the Tenth Circuit’s
analysis is that it would ensure that the government could
never satisfy the reasonable-alternatives prong of the
Turner analysis in a case that implicated a prisoner’s
interests in avoiding self-incrimination. Immunization is
always an alternative, at least in theory, to giving an inmate
the choice between forgoing a potential benefit and partici-
pating in a rehabilitative program that incidentally may
elicit potentially incriminating statements. The Tenth
Circuit described immunization as the “obvious, easy alter-
native” and “one that has been contemplated by the
Supreme Court since the very inception of the Fifth
Amendment right against self-incrimination.” Pet. App. 30a.
In light of this supposedly “obvious, easy alternative,” the
Tenth Circuit discounted Kansas’ penological interests and
concluded that this “factor weighs heavily in favor of
{respondent].” Jd. at 3la. But that proves too much. It
effectively holds that whenever a prison regulation
implicates a prisoner’s self-incrimination right, the govern-
ment must offer complete immunity to avoid a constitutional
violation. Turner stands for the opposite proposition—that
prison regulations do not violate the Constitution simply
because they implicate constitutional rights.

— — — — —

25

The Tenth Circuit’s singular focus on the possibility of im-
munization deprived prison officials of the deference that
they are due under Turner. The Tenth Circuit was so con-
vinced of the sensibility of granting immunity that it nakedly
substituted its judgment for that of the relevant state
officials, stating: “We are inclined to believe that prisons
may better accomplish their goal of rehabilitation if they
encourage inmates to admit their sex offenses by granting
immunity or making statements privileged.” Pet. App. 30a.
But decisions concerning whether to immunize prisoner
statements and the scope of confidentiality or im:aunity are
precisely the kind of decisions that state officials, rather than
federal courts, should be making. Although immunization is
always an option in theory, it is not always a realistic or
desirable option in practice. If officials must choose between
immunizing incriminating statements concerning child abuse
and offering effective treatment, treatment goals may suffer.
That is not to say courts should ignore the possibility of
offering immunity in the Turner analysis. But government
decisions as to the scope of confidentiality and immunization,
no less than other decisions that implicate constitutional
interests, should be accorded deference.

The Tenth Circuit’s analysis ignored the substantial con-
fidentiality provided inmates under the SATP, and that the
limitations on that confidentiality are “reasonably related to
legitimate penological interests.” Turner, 482 U.S. at 88.
The SATP broadly grants participants confidentiality for
statements made during treatment. That broad grant of
confidentiality has three principal limits. Participants are
warned at the outset that statements will not remain
confidential to the extent they involve child abuse, “situa-
tions which could be harmful to [the inmate] or others, or a
threat to the orderly operation of the facility.” J. A. 35.
BOP’s own treatment program has three parallel exceptions
to confidentiality. See p. 27, infra.

26

Those exceptions clearly further legitimate penological
and public safety interests. To begin with, the State mani-
festly has an overwhelming interest in preventing and re-
dressing the sexual abuse of children and, accordingly,
numerous States and the federal government make an
exception to patient-therapist privileges for information
relating to child abuse. See Jaffee v. Redmond, 518 U.S. 1,
34 (1996) (Scalia, J., dissenting) (listing state laws); see also
42 C. F. R. 2.22(b)(4) (establishing similar exception for
federally assisted drug and alcohol counseling programs).

Prison officials have an equally obvious interest in re-
dressing threats to individuals within the prison system,
such as ongoing sexual abuse of other inmates. Indeed,
protecting “institutional security and safety” is within the
heartland of legitimate penological concerns. Turner, 482
U.S. at 93. BOP’s treatment program recognizes that and
places similar limits on confidentiality, see p. 27, infra, as do
other federal counseling programs. See 42 C.F.R. 2.22(b)
(information about commission of crimes on premises or
against individuals involved in program must be reported).
When “[o]ther well-run prison systems, including [BOP],
have concluded that substantially similar restrictions on
[confidentiality] were necessary to protect institutional
order and security,” it is clear that blanket immunization is
not a ready or reasonable alternative. Turner, 482 U.S. at 93.

D. If The Court Concludes That The Kansas SATP
Violates The Fifth Amendment, It Should Be Careful
To Avoid Casting Doubt On The Validity Of Other
Treatment Programs

If this Court concludes that the Kansas SATP violates
respondent’s Fifth Amendment rights, we urge it to avoid
casting doubt on the validity of other sexual offender treat-
ment programs, including the federal program, which may
differ in material respects from the program at issue here.

— — ~e

27

BOP’s program is conducted at a single facility in Butner,
North Carolina and has only 112 spaces. The program
“adheres to the notion that * * * criminal sexual behavior
can be effectively managed in most cases through competent
treatment and intensive supervision.” Program Descrip-
tion 1. “[EJach program participant is expected to *
[demonstrate] lelomplete acceptance of responsibility for
his] sexual crime(s).” Jd. at 2. The “confidentiality [of
disclosures] is protected at all times, except in cases where
there is potential harm to self or others, when the security of
the correctional institution is threatened, or when there is
suspected child abuse.” Id. at 3. Inmates are advised of
those limits at the outset, and inmates who choose to partici-
pate in the program must agree to them in writing.

BOP does not condition the availability of institutional
privileges on participation in its treatment program, in
which there are only a limited number of spaces. Inmates
must “volunteer for participation in the treatment program
and demonstrate a commitment to behavioral change.” Pro-
gram Description 3. In addition, BOP seeks only “the most
motivated and psychologically suitable offenders” for treat-
ment. Id. at 1. “[FJailure to achieve treatment goals may
result in programmatic probation or immediate expulsion,”
which may in turn result in the inmate’s transfer to his
“parent facility.” Id. at 3, 4.

Even under the expansive reasoning of the court of
appeals, there is no basis for concluding that the possibility
of such a transfer exerts impermissible compulsion within
the meaning of the Fifth Amendment. No loss of insti-
tutional privileges flows from an inmate’s decision not to
participate in the program. Moreover, the federal goal of
reducing sexual recidivism is undeniably legitimate and
directly promoted by offering this type of treatment to
convicted sexual offenders. In short, the federal program is
clearly constitutional under the Fifth Amendment and
Turner.

Studies increasingly indicate that rehabilitative programs
that promote acceptance of responsibility may enable sexual
offenders to manage their criminal sexual impulses and
thereby reduce sexual recidivism. The Court should leave
correctional officials with the leeway that the Constitution
and our laws afford them to develop and encourage inmate
participation in such commendable treatment efforts.

CONCLUSION
The judgment of the court of appeals should be reversed.

Respectfully submitted.

THEODORE B. OLSON
Solicitor General

STUART E. SCHIFFER
Acting Assistant Attorney
General
PAUL D. CLEMENT
Deputy Solicitor General

GREGORY G. GARRE
Assistant to the Solicitor
General

VICKI MARANI
Attorney -

JULY 2001

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/documents/brief%3Amicro_IA40385014_0447%3A07. Public record. Not legal advice.
