ICAP represented Rachel Harris, the guardian of Steven Jessie Harris, in a significant federal civil rights case challenging the six-year detention of an incompetent, non-convicted man in a Mississippi jail. Mr. Harris, who suffered from severe schizophrenia, was held in the Clay County Jail from 2010 to 2016 without ever being brought to trial or receiving a court hearing to determine the legality of his continued detention. ICAP argued that the county sheriff and other officials violated Mr. Harris’s Fourteenth Amendment Due Process rights by intentionally keeping him in custody long after they knew they lacked the legal authority to hold him.
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals initially ruled that the officials were not entitled to immunity, finding that a reasonable officer would know that holding a person indefinitely without a legal basis is unconstitutional. The defendants petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court for review in 2022, and ICAP successfully led the opposition to that petition. In March 2023, the Supreme Court ultimately dismissed the case after the parties reached a settlement. This outcome ensured that the Fifth Circuit’s precedent—affirming that officials cannot hide behind procedural delays to justify the indefinite detention of the mentally ill—remained intact.
