Alberti v. Klevenhagen
| Decision Date | 23 February 1995 |
| Docket Number | Nos. 93-2079,93-2353 and 93-2651,s. 93-2079 |
| Citation | 46 F.3d 1347 |
| Parties | Lawrence R. ALBERTI, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellees, Cross-Appellants, v. Johnny KLEVENHAGEN, The Sheriff of Harris County, et al., Defendants-Third Party Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. Ann RICHARDS, The Governor of Texas, et al., Defendants-Third-Party Defendants-Appellants Cross-Appellees. Lawrence R. ALBERTI, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. Johnny KLEVENHAGEN, The Sheriff of Harris County, et al., Defendants-Third Party Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. Ann RICHARDS, The Governor of Texas, et al., Defendants-Third Party Defendants-Appellants. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
John B. Worley, Robert Ozer, Asst. Attys. Gen., Dan Morales, Atty. Gen., Javier Aguilar, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., Austin, TX, for appellants.
James T. Oitzinger, Gerald M. Birnberg, Williams, Birnberg & Andersen, Houston, TX, for Alberti, Collin, Langer, Pina, Reed & Sellers.
Eileen C. Begle, Asst. County Atty., Houston, TX, for Klevenhagen.
Lisa S. Rice, Sr. Asst. County Atty., Houston, TX, for Lindsay, Lee, Radack & Eversole.
Appeals from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas.
Before KING and BENAVIDES, Circuit Judges, and LAKE, District Judge. *
In this appeal, we are asked once again to examine proceedings involving the conditions of confinement at the Harris County jails and the respective responsibilities of the State of Texas and Harris County for ensuring that those facilities comply with constitutional standards. In the most recent district court proceedings surrounding the jails, the district court, sua sponte, entered a "final order" which, inter alia, modified a 1975 "Consent Judgment" and other subsequent orders. The final order also mandated the implementation of a remedial plan that was jointly submitted by the County and State. Further, the district court's order dictated that the State pay the full expense of the programs included in the joint remedial plan with the exception of certain programs falling within the traditional role of county detention facilities. Additionally, the district court set the constitutional capacity of the jails at 112.5% of design capacity, ordering the State to pay a fine for each inmate in excess of that cap housed in the Harris County jails. The district court also allocated the costs of monitors appointed to survey the conditions of the jails, taxing the State for ninety percent of fees incurred by the monitors and the County for the remaining ten percent of the monitors' fees. The State appealed and the plaintiff-prisoners cross-appealed. We affirm in part and reverse and remand in part.
Because so many of the issues raised in this appeal are controlled by the principle of law of the case, 1 we set forth the relevant history of this case and the rulings of prior panels of this case in some detail. This case originated almost two decades ago when Lawrence Alberti and his fellow inmates (the "plaintiff-prisoners"), complaining of the conditions in the Harris County jails, filed a class action lawsuit against certain Harris County officials (collectively the "County"). 2 The district court, based on extensive hearings, found the conditions in the jail to be inhumane. See Alberti v. Sheriff of Harris County, 937 F.2d 984, 987 (5th Cir.1991) (Alberti I ). Subsequently, on February 4, 1975, the plaintiffs and the County entered into a "Consent Judgment" calling for renovations of existing facilities, the development of a new jail, and improvements in staff and security at the jails. See Alberti v. Sheriff of Harris County, No. 72-H-1094, slip op. at 1 (S.D.Tex. Feb. 4, 1975); see also Alberti I, 937 F.2d at 987. The litigation, however, was far from over, and the "district court retained jurisdiction to issue interim orders." Id. Ten months later, in December of 1975, the district court issued an opinion providing guidelines for streamlining the criminal justice system, implementing an effective pretrial release program, and improving the living conditions in the jails. See Alberti v. Sheriff of Harris County, Texas, 406 F.Supp. 649, 654 (S.D.Tex.1975).
By 1982, the County had completed a new jail (the "Franklin Jail"), with more than three times the capacity of the old central jail (the "old San Jacinto Jail"). The County also maintained a detention center in Humble, Texas, and upon the opening of the Franklin Jail, the County closed the old San Jacinto Jail. Alberti I, 937 F.2d at 987. The district court, however, remained involved in the jails' operation and addressed staffing and supervision concerns in the jails. Id. (). After consulting with an expert, the County determined that it would need additional space, and therefore the County authorized construction of a third jail (the "new San Jacinto Jail") and the renovation of the old San Jacinto Jail. Id.
Eager to be free from the yoke of litigation, in February of 1987, the County filed a motion for final judgment and permanent injunction. In order to assess the County's compliance with its prior orders and to determine the maximum capacity of the jails, the district court appointed three monitors--a special master, a medical monitor-assessor, and a jail monitor-assessor (collectively the "monitors"). Alberti I, 937 F.2d at 987. The monitors examined eighteen conditions and found that the County had complied fully with nine conditions, had complied partially with seven conditions, and had failed to comply with only two conditions of the court's prior orders. Additionally, the monitors found that, as of June 1, 1987, the county jails' population exceeded their design capacities by only five percent. Id. Although the County had made substantial progress in conforming the jails to constitutional requirements, the monitors recommended that the court continue supervising the jails in light of the County's "inordinate delay in achieving substantial compliance." Id.
Meanwhile, the State of Texas was embroiled in a separate controversy involving the conditions of its own prisons. After years of litigation, in 1985, the State entered into a stipulation, requiring it to limit its prison population to ninety-five percent of capacity. Alberti I, 937 F.2d at 987 (discussing Ruiz v. Lynaugh, 811 F.2d 856 (5th Cir.1987)). This agreement translated into difficulties for the County; in order to stay within the limits set by its stipulation, the State periodically refused to admit "convicted felons sentenced to the State prison system, and ready for transfer, but awaiting transfer in the county jails." Id. Two years later, the State attempted to create a more orderly system of admissions by adopting a "scheduled admissions policy" which set daily quotas on the number of transfer-ready felons from each County that the State would accept into its prisons.
The State's policies were disastrous for the County. Whereas the County had been near compliance with the district court's orders in 1987, by September of 1988, the monitors found that the population of the county jails had swelled to thirty percent over design capacity, resulting in dangerous overcrowding. 3 The monitors determined that the appropriate population levels at the Franklin Jail and the detention center were ninety-five percent of design capacity, and the monitors recommended that the district court set population caps that, in time, would allow the proper population level to be obtained. See Alberti I, 937 F.2d at 988.
After receiving the monitors' report, the court sua sponte ordered the County to deliver at least 290 transfer-ready felons per week to the Texas Department of Corrections (later Texas Department of Criminal Justice--Institutional Division). The State, however, refused to accept the transfers, and admitted only the number of prisoners from the County specified in its scheduled admissions policy. See id. Thus, the County was unable to comply with the court order. See id.
The County's inmate population continued to balloon, and in December of 1988, the County argued that it could not comply with the court's order without the State's participation. Thus, the County moved the district court to force the plaintiff-prisoners to join the State as a defendant. The court refused the motion, but allowed the County to file a third-party complaint against the State. 4 Alberti I, 937 F.2d at 988; see also In re Clements, 881 F.2d at 148. After several months of procedural wrangling, the plaintiffs and the State entered a joint request that certain pending motions be transferred to the court adjudicating the state prison conditions case, the Ruiz court. Although the district court denied the requests, we granted a writ of mandamus and transferred to the Ruiz court:
so much of the relief portion of the third-party complaint as seeks an injunction of ordering our individual petitioners (in their official capacities) [the third-party State defendants] to receive or take prisoners into TDC confinement or to otherwise take action in the operation or management of the TDC-operated confinement facilities.
Alberti I, 937 F.2d at 989 (quoting In re Clements, 881 F.2d at 154). We, however, declined to stay the impending bench trial in the Alberti case, noting that "until the liability merit issues in the third-party complaint [were] determined, there [was] no occasion to transfer any portion of the third-party complaint." In re Clements, 881 F.2d at 154.
Meanwhile, the monitors continued their work, and they saw the population of the county jails continue to swell. "To put this in some perspective," the monitors noted, "Harris County now has more prisoners sleeping on the floor of its detention facilities than the total number of convicted offenders incarcerated in fourteen states." Alberti I, 937 F.2d at 989. In a report issued...
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