Lake v. Lee
| Decision Date | 30 June 1971 |
| Docket Number | 5582-69,5650-69 and 5796-69.,5563-69,Civ. A. No. 5532-69 |
| Citation | 329 F. Supp. 196 |
| Parties | Richard E. LAKE, Jr., an inmate of Atmore State Prison, on behalf of himself and others similarly situated, Plaintiffs, v. Frank LEE, Commissioner of the Alabama State Board of Corrections, et al., Defendants. Richard E. LAKE, Jr., Petitioner, v. A. Frank LEE, etc., Respondent. Lee Henry COMER, Petitioner, v. ALABAMA PENAL SYSTEM, etc., Respondent. Enoch DICKINSON, Jr., Petitioner, v. Alexander Frank LEE, Respondent. Enoch DICKINSON, Jr., Petitioner, v. WARDEN OF KILBY PRISON, Respondent. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of Alabama |
U. W. Clemon, Birmingham, Ala., A. J. Cooper, Jr., Mobile, Ala., for plaintiffs and petitioners.
Paul T. Gish, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., Robert B. Stewart, D. Coleman Yarbrough, Montgomery, Ala., for defendants and respondents.
The petitions in this cause are treated as complaints filed pursuant to 42 U.S.C.A. Section 1983 seeking declaratory and injunctive relief on behalf of these black citizens, and on behalf of other persons similarly situated, pursuant to Rule 23(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The plaintiffs seek a declaration that they are incarcerated under conditions so base as to constitute cruel and unusual punishment in contravention of the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. While the nominal plaintiffs are all incarcerated at the new Holman Prison, Atmore, Alabama, each plaintiff has shown past use of the Atmore State Prison facilities, and a reasonable expectation of future use. Consequently, all are deemed to have standing to challenge conditions and practices at both penal institutions. Singleton v. Board of Commissioners, 356 F.2d 771 (5th Cir. 1966).
The contentions of the plaintiffs may be categorized as relating to:
By its order of June 1, 1970, the court consolidated Civil Actions Nos. 5532-69, 5563-69, 5582-69, 5650-69, and 5796-69 filed by petitioners Richard E. Lake, Lee Henry Comer and Enoch Dickinson, Jr. These petitions contained numerous allegations, some of which, if found to be true, present questions of cruel and unusual punishment, violations of the First Amendment, due process in Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments, and equal protection in Fourteenth Amendment. A hearing, which lasted five days, was conducted as to the merits of those allegations beyond the scope of Washington v. Lee, 263 F.Supp. 327 (M.D.Ala.1966), and Beard v. Lee, an unpublished opinion rendered by this court on January 24, 1969.
Washington v. Lee, supra, governs racial desegregation as it pertains to inmates in the place of incarceration. Beard v. Lee relates to conditions in the punitive isolation unit (solitary confinement), and requires that:
Additionally, the defendants have agreed to alter certain of their administrative policies which have given rise to inmate complaints.
The defendants agree to be, and are hereby enjoined from failing to do the following:
(1) Inmates in punitive isolation are to be given an opportunity to exercise outside the building in open air for not less than one hour and not less than once each eleven (11) days, weather permitting; if the weather is inclement, they will be allowed to exercise in a suitable area inside the building.
(2) All prison inmates not in segregation or punitive isolation may be allowed the use of the facilities for religious worship at least once a week. There shall be free and unrestricted use of religious literature regardless of faith or creed.
(3) Mail to and from any attorney at law, licensed to practice in the State of Alabama, will not be opened except where there is reasonable cause to believe sealed communications are enclosed.
(4) Mail to and from public officials is not to be opened.
(5) While all other outgoing and incoming mail may be opened and read, there is to be no deletion except for reasons of prison security, drugs, and hard-core pornography and obscenity, which will be judged in accordance with Roth v. United States, 354 U.S. 476, 77 S.Ct. 1304, 1 L.Ed.2d 1498 (1957), and A Book named "John Cleland's Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure" v. Massachusetts, 383 U.S. 413, 86 S.Ct. 975, 16 L.Ed.2d 1 (1966).
Highly inflammatory writing which could affect prison security may be deleted from incoming mail. But, criticism of the institutions, its personnel, or public officials is not to be deleted from any outgoing mail.
(6) The free flow of magazines, books, newspapers, etc., is to be permitted and there shall be no deletions except for reasons of prison security, including highly inflammatory writings, and no censorship for obscenity except under Roth and Memoirs, supra, subject to reasonable limitations of such materials in segregation and punitive isolation.
(7) Inmates in segregation are to be given an opportunity to bathe not less than twice a week with the free use of hot and cold water; but, the prison personnel may operate the on and off controls.
(8) Inmates in punitive isolation are to be given an opportunity to bathe not less than once each week with the free use of hot and cold water; but, prison personnel may operate the on and off controls. Inmates are to have daily access to materials for brushing or cleaning their teeth.
(9) Before a hearing is held on any charge wherein credit for good time can be deprived an inmate, the inmate is to be given written notice not less than 24 hours before the hearing; and, if he cannot read, the notice and charge are to be read to him. The inmate must be given an opportunity and reasonable time in which to speak in his own behalf and he must be allowed to see all exhibits and hear all oral testimony presented against him.
(10) Before a hearing is held in which an inmate may be placed in segregation or punitive isolation as punishment he is to be given written notice of the charge a reasonable time before the hearing. If he cannot read, it is to be read to him before the hearing. He must in every instance at the hearing be allowed to speak a reasonable length of time in his own behalf and hear all oral testimony and see any exhibits presented against him.
(11) All hearings which may result in segregation or punitive isolation as punishment are to be held promptly subject to reasonable delays which may be occasioned by reasons of prison security.
(12)...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Sweet v. South Carolina Dept. of Corrections
...were on a daily basis. 442 F.2d at 186. These regulations for prisoners in segregative security were sustained. 32 See Lake v. Lee (S.D.Ala.1971) 329 F.Supp. 196, 199, re-affirmed on this point in McCray v. Sullivan, supra, 509 F.2d at 1335 (twice a week); Krist v. Smith, supra, 309 F.Supp.......
-
Holloway v. Gunnell
...of harsh conditions, including restriction to two showers a week), aff'd per curiam, 439 F.2d 146 (5th Cir. 1971); Lake v. Lee, 329 F.Supp. 196, 199 (S.D.Ala.1971) (see also McCray v. Sullivan, 509 F.2d 1332, 1335 (5th Cir.) (refusing to reopen this part of Lake v. Lee decree), cert. denied......
-
Stover v. Carlson, Civ. No. B-75-290.
...inmate's presence. McCray v. Sullivan, 509 F.2d 1332 (5th Cir. 1975); Bach v. Coughlin, 508 F.2d 303, 307 (7th Cir. 1974); Lake v. Lee, 329 F.Supp. 196 (S.D.Ala.1971). Mail with a Department of Justice return address or the return address of a state or local prosecutor may not be opened out......
-
Jordan, In re
...such mail. Prison inmates are now permitted to send sealed letters to attorneys under the rules followed in Alabama (Lake v. Lee (S.D.Ala.1971) 329 F.Supp. 196); Maine (Smith v. Robbins (D.Me.1971) 328 F.Supp. 162 (affirmed 1 Cir., 454 F.2d 696)); Massachusetts (Nolan v. Fitzpatrick (D.Mass......