Battle v. Anderson
| Decision Date | 22 November 1977 |
| Docket Number | No. 77-1554,77-1554 |
| Citation | 564 F.2d 388 |
| Parties | Bobby BATTLE, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Park J. ANDERSON, Warden, Oklahoma State Penitentiary, Leo McCracken, Director, Department of Corrections, State of Oklahoma, Roy Sprinkler, Deputy Director of Institutions, Sam C. Johnston, Deputy Warden, Oklahoma State Penitentiary, Captain Black, Correctional Officer, Danny Nace, Correctional Officer, Otis P. Campbell, Correctional Officer, Oklahoma State Penitentiary, Defendants- Appellants, United States of America, Intervenor. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit |
Larry Derryberry, Atty. Gen. of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, Okl. , for defendants-appellants.
Dennis J. Dimsey, Washington, D.C. (Drew S. Days, III, Asst. Atty. Gen., and Frank D. Allen, Jr., Dept. of Justice, Washington, D.C., Richard A. Pyle, U.S. Atty., Muskogee, Okl., on the brief), for intervenor.
Louis W. Bullock, Stillwater, Okl. (Bullock & Hornbostel, Stillwater, Okl., American Civ. Liberties Union of Oklahoma, on the brief), for plaintiff-appellee.
Before McWILLIAMS, BARRETT and DOYLE, Circuit Judges.
Appellants, defendants below, hereinafter referred to as State of Oklahoma, appeal from an Order of the United States District Court dated and filed June 14, 1977, directing the State of Oklahoma to achieve specific inmate population reductions at two state penal facilities, i. e., the Oklahoma State Penitentiary at McAlester, Oklahoma, and the Oklahoma State Reformatory at Granite, Oklahoma. The State of Oklahoma, following its filing of its Notice of Appeal, moved this court for a stay of the Order of June 14, 1977, which was granted and is yet in force and effect. The appeal and motion for stay were combined for hearing before this court which was held on August 23, 1977. The Stay Order has been continued pending disposition of the appeal on the merits.
The genesis of the District Court's Order of June 14, 1977, is a Motion for Emergency Supplemental Relief filed by plaintiff Bobby Battle wherein he alleged "overcrowding" of the inmate population at the state penitentiary. The challenged Order was entered following full evidentiary hearing. It contains specific findings, inter alia, relative to the minimum amount of cell space required per prison inmate and, measured thereby, the District Court specially found that as of the May 23 hearing the Oklahoma prison system contained about 4,600 inmates in a system designed for 2,400, constituting an overcrowding situation of 191 percent. In addition to the overcrowding crisis, the Court found various and sundry physical and environmental conditions existing throughout the system which were offensive and substandard. The Court specially found that the overcrowding condition had reached such proportions that it constituted a per se unconstitutional condition violative of the Eighth Amendment commands prohibiting cruel and unusual punishment. The Order and Judgment required the State of Oklahoma to achieve specific goals in the reduction of inmate population commencing August, 1977, more fully hereinafter set forth.
On appeal, the appellant, State of Oklahoma, alleges error on the part of the District Court in that: (1) the evidence does not support a finding that there is a violation of the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution, (2) appellants were denied a fair hearing, (3) findings of fact were erroneously made because the trial court was misled and unduly swayed by the consideration of inadmissible exhibits and, further, because the facts were for the most part unsubstantiated by competent testimony of the witnesses, and (4) the court should have accepted the State's Plan as consented per agreement reached between the State and the appellees.
The seriousness of this matter is recognized by all parties concerned. This court, just as the trial court, is cognizant of the strain placed upon the federal-state relationship. We echo the consistent emphasis of the District Court relating to its reluctance to usurp or interfere with an area historically within the domain and control of the sovereign states. It is in this context that we must judge whether, from the record before us, there exists such a compelling interest in the protection of federal constitutional rights that the Order of the District Court must be upheld. A somewhat detailed recital of the factual-procedural background leading to this opinion should help in placing this difficult case in proper perspective.
The initial complaint alleged civil rights deprivations under 42 U.S.C.A. § 1983 challenging the Oklahoma State Penitentiary and penal system. It was filed by Bobby The District Court expressed the reluctance of federal courts to intervene in matters of prison administration, but observed that the United States Supreme Court had held that a policy of judicial restraint on the part of the federal courts in refraining from interference with state penal authorities in their administration of a state's penal system was not a justifiable basis for failure to take cognizance of valid federal constitutional claims relating to rights secured to inmates by the federal constitution and the laws of the United States. Procunier v. Martinez, 417 U.S. 817, 94 S.Ct. 2800, 41 L.Ed.2d 495 (1974); Cruz v. Beto, 405 U.S. 319, 92 S.Ct. 1079, 31 L.Ed.2d 263 (1972); Johnson v. Avery, 393 U.S. 483, 89 S.Ct. 747, 21 L.Ed.2d 718 (1969). The District Court retained jurisdiction, including that for "determination of all issues not dealt with expressly herein." The trial court's memorandum opinion consumed 30 pages, reported as Battle v. Anderson, 376 F.Supp. 402 (1974).
Battle, pro se, on April 24, 1972, when he was a prisoner at the penitentiary. He complained on behalf of himself and other inmates that they were deprived of rights secured by the federal constitution and civil rights laws. The action sought injunctive relief to correct the claimed deprivations and to obtain monetary damages. The defendants were various Oklahoma officials performing duties relating to the state's penal and correctional institutions and system. Upon motion and hearing, the United States was permitted to intervene on March 5, 1974. The complaint in intervention filed by the United States alleged that the defendants (the State of Oklahoma, in effect) had discriminated against black inmates in a number of instances. The trial of said cause commenced March 14, 1974, and concluded on March 15th. It had been preceded by extensive pre-trial discovery including depositions, inspections and investigations conducted by attorneys, FBI agents and experts in penology. The District Court made extensive findings and conclusions leading to its Order, generally finding for the plaintiffs. The Order directed the defendants to undertake certain remedial steps, granting them adequate opportunity within which to comply. Nothing in that proceeding, however, involved the general contention of prison inmate overcrowding, per se. The Court did deal with conditions existing in the "solitary confinement" or "the hole" isolation area of the penitentiary, noting that those confined in such dark, unventilated and unsanitary isolation cells were being subjected to intolerable treatment. The Order also reached and disposed of contentions going to racial discrimination and segregation, disciplinary rules, punishment and procedure, administrative lockup, use of chemical agents, medical care, correspondence rights, publications, access to the courts, and religious freedom. In apparent reliance on the rule that a § 1983 civil rights action in Federal District Court is supplemental to any other available remedy, no challenge to the federal court's jurisdiction has at any time been raised or urged on the grounds of exhaustion of available state remedies or as a matter of abstention. At oral arguments before this court, counsel for the State of Oklahoma did state belief that similar remedies are available to the inmates under the laws of the State of Oklahoma. It was acknowledged, however, that at no time or in anywise was the Federal District Court below moved or requested to invoke abstention or exhaustion of available state remedies. At oral argument, counsel for Bobby Battle, et al., contended that there are no remedies available under the laws of Oklahoma comparable to the class action remedies which may be compelled in a § 1983 proceeding. In any event, it is clear that the parties have acceded to the District Court's jurisdiction throughout these proceedings.
We, too, abhor any situation or circumstance requiring the intervention of the federal courts in matters involving the administration, control and maintenance by the sovereign states of their penal systems. It is a delicate role assigned to the federal courts to display that restraint so necessary "in the maintenance of proper federal-state relations." Townsend v. Sain, 372 U.S. 293, 83 S.Ct. 745, 9 L.Ed.2d 770 (1963). We are The District Court made particular reference to a serious riot which occurred at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in 1973 when it entered its Supplemental Order of June 14, 1977, following Plaintiff's Motion for Supplemental Relief as to Crowding:
cognizant of the complexity of problems confronting the states in upgrading not only a host of state institutions and facilities but in properly maintaining them both physically and with adequate personnel. If we were to close our eyes to the financial burdens a variety of "piecemeal" federal court orders would impose upon the states and their taxpayers we would refuse to come to grips with reality. We are in sympathy with the ever increasing budgetary demands upon state taxpayers. There are constitutional and statutory limits on a state's capacity to finance capital...
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