Smith v. Zachary

• Decision Date: 28 June 2001
• Docket Number: No. 99-4084,99-4084
• Citation: 255 F.3d 446
• Parties: (7th Cir. 2001) TERRENCE SMITH, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. ROBERT ZACHARY, JAMES P. NICKERSON, Lieutenant, HERMAN S. NELSON, GRACIANO ARROYO, JAMES A. PHILLIPS, et al., Defendants-Appellees
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

Page 446

255 F.3d 446 (7th Cir. 2001)

TERRENCE SMITH, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. ROBERT ZACHARY, JAMES P. NICKERSON, Lieutenant, HERMAN S. NELSON, GRACIANO ARROYO, JAMES A. PHILLIPS, et al., Defendants-Appellees.

No. 99-4084

In the United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit

Argued April 9, 2001

Decided June 28, 2001

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois. No. 96 C 507--Gerald B. Cohn, Magistrate Judge. [Copyrighted Material Omitted] Before POSNER, EVANS, and WILLIAMS, Circuit Judges.

EVANS, Circuit Judge.

The issue presented in this case is whether a federal prisoner must satisfy the exhaustion requirement of the Prisoner Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) when he claims he was beaten by prison guards. The prisoner, Terrence Smith, argues that his claim--the result of an alleged act of excessive force against him--is exempt from the PLRA's exhaustion requirement because it's outside the scope of the phrase "prison conditions" under the Act.

In 1996 Smith filed this suit pro se¹ seeking $3.5 million in damages for allegedly being beaten, in 1995, by prison guards in retaliation for participating in a prison riot. The federal prison system has an administrative review process which requires prisoners to notify the prison staff of a complaint within 20 days. If the prisoner is not satisfied with the warden's response, he can appeal on a formal basis to the regional and then to the central office of the Bureau of Prisons. Smith filed an informal complaint 55 days late and failed to appeal the warden's response through the various tiers of administrative review.

The amended version of the PLRA sec. 1997e(a) provides: "No action shall be brought with respect to prison conditions under section 1983 of this title, or any other Federal law . . . ." 42 U.S.C. sec. 1997e(a) (1996). Because the word "conditions" is plural, Smith argues that the plain meaning of the term "prison conditions" can only refer to on-going circumstances that affect the prison population as a whole. It was not intended, he says, to include an isolated event, such as an assault in which a specific inmate is singled out and harmed. Moreover, he contends it would not be cricket to look to a related statute--Title 18 U.S.C. sec. 3626--as an aid in determining the meaning of "prison conditions" in sec. 1997e.

We do not interpret statutes in a vacuum. The plain meaning rule is applicable when the statutory language is clear, unambiguous, and not controlled by other parts of the act or other acts on the same subject. 2A Norman J. Singer, Sutherland Statutory Construction sec. 46:01 (rev. 6th ed. 2000). Thus, "the meaning of statutory language, plain or not, depends on context." Holloway v. United States, 526 U.S. 1, 7, 119 S. Ct. 966, 970 (1999) (quoting King v. St. Vincent's Hosp., 502 U.S. 215, 221 (1991)). "It is a fundamental canon of statutory construction that the words of a statute must be read in their context and with a view to their place in the overall statutory scheme." FDA v. Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp., 529 U.S. 120, 133, 120 S. Ct. 1291, 1301 (2000) (quoting Davis v. Michigan Dept. of Treasury, 489 U.S. 803, 809, 109 S. Ct. 1500 (1989)). Thus, the meaning of a statute may be affected by a related act, especially if that act provides greater specificity on the issue at hand. Id.

Here, although sec. 1997e does not define the term "prison conditions," another section of the PLRA does. Amended on the same day, Title 18 U.S.C. sec. 3626 is part of the same legislation as sec. 1997e and addresses the same subject--the appropriate remedies for and limitations on prisoner litigation. Smith argues that the two statutes have entirely different objectives that sec. 3626 limits prospective relief while sec. 1997e prevents prisoners from bringing frivolous suits. We think Smith's reading of both statutes is a tad too narrow. Both sections are devoted to various aspects of prison litigation, including: settlement agreements, the appointment of special masters, attorneys' fees awards, the use of telephonic hearings, waiver, and limitations on recovery. Neither statute is a one-issue act and both are tailored to address problems unique to incarcerated litigants. More importantly, both are part of the same legislation with the same overarching objectives--to enable prison officials to resolve complaints internally and to limit judicial intervention in the management of state and federal prisons. Thus, it makes good sense to assume that a definition provided by Congress in one statute applies to another related statute. On this point, three of our sister circuits are in agreement. See Higginbottom v. Carter, 223 F.3d 1259 (11th Cir. 2000); Booth v. Churner, 206 F.3d 289 (3d Cir. 2000), cert. granted, 121 S. Ct. 377 (Oct. 20, 2000) (No. 99- 1964);² Freeman v. Francis, 196 F.3d 641 (6th Cir. 1999).

In sec. 3626, Congress defines the term "a civil action with respect to prison conditions" to mean either "an action with respect to the conditions of confinement" or a suit arising from the "effects of actions by government officials on the lives of persons confined in prison." 18 U.S.C. sec. 3626(g)(2). Smith's claim falls within the second half of this definition. He was affected by an action, allegedly an assault, by government officials, viz., prison guards. However, Smith argues that the designation "government official" does not apply to prison guards, but rather refers only to "senior policy- making and administrative officials." We find no basis for adding these qualifiers to the plain language of the statute.

Even were we to disregard the guidance provided by Congress in sec. 3626(g)(2) and to look only to the term "prison conditions" to determine the scope of sec. 1997e, we would reach the same result. Smith asks us to apply the plain- meaning rule concluding that the plural word "conditions" cannot include a single or momentary matter such as an assault. First, the distinction between plural and singular words is not scrupulously observed in legislative language. 2A Sutherland Statutory Construction sec. 47:34. For instance, the opening section of the United States Code, of which sec. 1997e(a) is a part, contains the following rule of construction: "In determining the meaning of any Act of Congress, unless the context indicates otherwise . . . words importing the plural include the singular." With this guidance, we assume Congress intended the plural word "conditions" to include a singular event.

Second, Smith crafts his claim as an isolated event, a freak occurrence that will not be repeated. However, the nature of the event is open to interpretation. An assault by a prison guard could be a by-product of systemic problems, including poor hiring procedures, insufficient training and supervision, or an inadequate procedure for responding to prison riots or insubordinate behavior by prisoners. Given that part of a prison guard's job is to control inmates, the use of excessive force in achieving this end can be viewed as a management failure, not only as a random act of violence. We read the term "prison conditions" in context--not only as it relates to other statutory provisions, but with regard to the real-world environment in which sec. 1997e applies. Matter of Handy Andy Home Improvement Ctrs., Inc., 144 F.3d 1125, 1128 (7th Cir. 1998) ("When context is disregarded, silliness results"). In the context of prisons, harassment from correctional officers or government officials is not equivalent to an unsolicited attack on the street; rather, the harassment is made possible by the correctional environment. Thus, a remedy lies in addressing prison conditions that facilities or tolerates aberrant behavior by guards.

Finally, we note the obvious: no canon of statutory interpretation requires us to abandon common sense. Here, Smith hangs his hat not on a single word, but on a single letter. Based on this, he asks us to create an exception allowing for speedy review of factually rich, excessive force claims affecting a single inmate, while requiring claims concerning prison policies affecting the entire prison population to proceed through administrative review. This is counterintuitive. Not only would claims affecting the least number of people be addressed first, but judges would be required to review these factually intense claims of assault and harassment without the benefit of the administrative review process, where, at a minimum, the basics of who-did-what-to-whom are at least given some initial consideration. Again, the plain meaning rule does not strap us to every word and letter if, in animating such words, we would reach an absurd result. See Johnson v. United States, 529 U.S. 694, 707, 120 S. Ct. 1795, 1804 (2000); United States v. Balint, 201 F.3d 928, 932 (7th Cir. 2000) ("[O]ur interpretation is guided not just by a single sentence or sentence fragment, but by the language of the whole law . . . .").

Next, Smith argues that regardless of the statutory language, the legislative history and purpose of the PLRA supports his position. He contends that the only purpose of sec. 1997e is to ferret out frivolous claims and implies that excessive force claims are never frivolous. Smith views the addition of the words "with respect to prison conditions" to the amended version of sec. 1997e as a signal that Congress wanted to create a narrow exhaustion requirement that would not apply to claims involving particularized instances of force. He looks to a recent decision of the Second Circuit for support. Nussle v. Willette, 224 F.3d 95, 101 (2d Cir. 2000), cert. granted, __ U.S. __, 121 (term "prison conditions" does not refer to single or momentary matters directed at particular individuals).³

While we will concede that restricting frivolous claims was one of the objectives served by sec. 1997e, it was not the only purpose, nor is it the only benefit garnered from requiring litigants...