Young v. Wall

• Decision Date: 14 April 2011
• Docket Number: No. 10–1862.,10–1862.
• Citation: 642 F.3d 49
• Parties: Edward Eugene YOUNG, Sr., Plaintiff, Appellant,v.Ashbel T. WALL, individually and in his capacity as the Director of the Rhode Island Department of Corrections, Defendant, Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — First Circuit

642 F.3d 49

Edward Eugene YOUNG, Sr., Plaintiff, Appellant,

v.Ashbel T. WALL, individually and in his capacity as the Director of the Rhode Island Department of Corrections, Defendant, Appellee.

No. 10–1862.

United States Court of Appeals, First Circuit.

Heard March 8, 2011.Decided April 14, 2011.

Andrew B. Prescott, with whom Gauri A. Patil and Nixon Peabody LLP were on brief, for appellant.Thomas A. Palombo, Assistant Attorney General, with whom Patrick C. Lynch, Attorney General, was on brief, for appellee.Before BOUDIN, Circuit Judge, SOUTER,^* Associate Justice, and SELYA, Circuit Judge.SELYA, Circuit Judge.

This appeal requires us to determine whether a prison's unilateral suspension of its internal policy of paying interest on inmate accounts violated the constitutional rights of an affected inmate. The district court thought not. Weighing in on an issue that has split the circuits, we conclude that prison inmates lack a constitutionally protected property right in interest not yet paid. Accordingly, the defendant was at liberty to abrogate the policy prospectively.

The material facts are not in dispute. By statute, Rhode Island authorizes inmates to pursue gainful, in-prison employment while incarcerated. R.I. Gen. Laws § 42–56–22. Their wages are deposited into inmate accounts maintained by the Rhode Island Department of Corrections (RIDOC).

RIDOC places twenty-five percent of an inmate's earnings (up to a maximum of $1,000) into what is known as an “encumbered account.” This sum is retained until the inmate's release, at which time it is tendered to him. Id. § 42–56–22(a). The balance of the inmate's earnings is deposited in what is known as an “available account.” That account may be supplemented through other sources (e.g., gifts from family and friends). An inmate has the option of transferring any unencumbered funds to a commercial bank account.

Despite the nomenclature, there are limits on what an inmate may do with the money in his available account. In accordance with Policy No. 2.17 (the Policy), some uses are permitted (e.g., purchasing items at the prison commissary) and others are prohibited (e.g., purchasing proscribed merchandise). Inmates also are prohibited from making cash withdrawals.

There is a set procedure for transferring funds from inmate accounts for approved expenditures.¹ Inmates get monthly statements detailing their transactions and confirming their account balances.

In bygone days, the funds in the individual inmate accounts were pooled and invested. Any return on this investment was then allocated to individual inmate accounts based on average daily balances. The Policy memorialized the practice of crediting interest, stipulating that interest on funds in inmate accounts would “accrue [ ] to the depositing inmates in an equitable fashion.” It is the putative right to the continued accrual of interest that is at the epicenter of this appeal.

In 2001, RIDOC decided to outsource management of a wide swath of back-room systems. Comments from prospective vendors prompted RIDOC to reevaluate the feasibility of paying interest on inmate accounts. As a result, the pooling arrangement was scrapped and, on June 1, 2002, RIDOC stopped paying interest. A few weeks later, RIDOC posted notices advising of this change in practice throughout the prison. A similar notice appeared in the prison newsletter.

During August, RIDOC formally suspended those provisions of the Policy that addressed interest on inmate accounts. Withal, it was not until May 6, 2003, that RIDOC promulgated a new policy, which stated explicitly that no interest would accrue on funds held in inmate accounts.

This about-face troubled plaintiff-appellant Edward Eugene Young, Sr., who was incarcerated at the prison both before and after the policy changed. While serving his sentence, he had performed various jobs for which he was paid; RIDOC had deposited his earnings in inmate accounts; and RIDOC had paid him interest until June 1, 2002 (when it stopped paying interest on inmate accounts). The plaintiff learned about this reversal of position on or about June 20, 2002.

Nearly a year later, the plaintiff sued RIDOC's director, individually and in his official capacity. It would serve no useful goal to track the tortuous travel of the case—including the morphing of the original action into a second action—as it wended its way through the district court. Suffice it to say that, after several years of legal wrangling, the case narrowed for all practical purposes to two federal claims: (i) that the denial of interest constituted an unconstitutional taking of the plaintiff's property and (ii) that RIDOC's failure to afford the plaintiff notice and an opportunity to be heard before abandoning the practice of accruing interest violated his right to procedural due process.² In a series of rulings, the district court dismissed the taking claim, see, e.g., Young v. Wall, 359 F.Supp.2d 84, 94 (D.R.I.2005), and granted summary judgment for the defendant on the due process claims, see Young v. Wall, No. 07–34, 2010 WL 2553572, at *3 (D.R.I. June 18, 2010). This timely appeal ensued.

In this court, as in the district court, the plaintiff claims that RIDOC's decision to stop paying interest on inmate accounts amounted to both an unconstitutional taking and a due process violation. That the district court disposed of the former claim on a motion to dismiss, Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6), and the latter claim on summary judgment, Fed.R.Civ.P. 56, is of no particular moment; after all, the material facts are uncontroverted and the appeal turns on questions of law.

Our review is de novo. See Ungar v. Palestine Lib. Org., 599 F.3d 79, 83 (1st Cir.2010); ConnectU LLC v. Zuckerberg, 522 F.3d 82, 91 (1st Cir.2008). In this undertaking, we are not wedded to the district court's reasoning but may affirm its rulings on any ground made manifest by the record. See InterGen N.V. v. Grina, 344 F.3d 134, 141 (1st Cir.2003); Houlton Citizens' Coal. v. Town of Houlton, 175 F.3d 178, 184 (1st Cir.1999).

Our inquiry is simplified because both of the plaintiff's claims hinge on the existence vel non of a property right in the accrual of interest on inmate accounts. As we explain below, the plaintiff lacks such a right. Consequently, his claims fail.

It is axiomatic that “the Constitution protects rather than creates property interests.” Phillips v. Wash. Legal Found., 524 U.S. 156, 164, 118 S.Ct. 1925, 141 L.Ed.2d 174 (1998). This means that a court charged with determining the existence of a constitutionally protected property interest must look to “existing rules or understandings that stem from an independent source such as state law.” Bd. of Regents of State Colls. v. Roth, 408 U.S. 564, 577, 92 S.Ct. 2701, 33 L.Ed.2d 548 (1972). Some such source must give rise to a “legitimate claim of entitlement” to the property in question. Centro Medico del Turabo, Inc. v. Feliciano de Melecio, 406 F.3d 1, 8 (1st Cir.2005) (quoting Roth, 408 U.S. at 577, 92 S.Ct. 2701). A unilateral expectation, by itself, is not sufficient to create a constitutionally protected property interest. Webb's Fabulous Pharmacies, Inc. v. Beckwith, 449 U.S. 155, 161, 101 S.Ct. 446, 66 L.Ed.2d 358 (1980); URI Student Senate v. Town of Narragansett, 631 F.3d 1, 11 (1st Cir.2011).

In this instance, the plaintiff posits that state law creates the requisite claim of entitlement three times over. In the pages that follow, we explore the three avenues to which he alludes: common law, statutory law, and policy and practice. Each proves to be a dead end.

Before embarking on this odyssey, we pause to explain that this case is not about either principal or interest previously credited to inmate accounts. It is clear beyond hope of contradiction that an inmate has a property interest in the balances held in his accounts. See Reynolds v. Wagner, 128 F.3d 166, 179 (3d Cir.1997) (collecting cases). This case is about interest not yet credited to an inmate's account.

The plaintiff's reliance on state common law as a source of his supposed property right is mislaid. He notes that he had a property right in the principal balances in his inmate accounts and adds that, at common law, interest follows principal. See Phillips, 524 U.S. at 165, 118 S.Ct. 1925; Webb's Fabulous Pharmacies, 449 U.S. at 162, 101 S.Ct. 446. In his view, the combination of these two facts signifies that he has a legitimate claim of entitlement to interest on an ongoing basis. We do not agree.

The most jagged rent in the fabric of the plaintiff's argument is his failure to recognize the highly idiosyncratic context that prison presents. Although criminals do not forfeit all of their constitutional rights upon conviction and incarceration, Wolff v. McDonnell, 418 U.S. 539, 555–56, 94 S.Ct. 2963, 41 L.Ed.2d 935 (1974), they traditionally enjoy a more modest constellation of rights than other persons. See, e.g., Turner v. Safley, 482 U.S. 78, 91, 93, 107 S.Ct. 2254, 96 L.Ed.2d 64 (1987); Hudson v. Palmer, 468 U.S. 517, 525–26, 104 S.Ct. 3194, 82 L.Ed.2d 393 (1984); French v. Butterworth, 614 F.2d 23, 24 (1st Cir.1980). This distinction has particular force when it comes to property rights. See Givens v. Ala. Dep't of Corr., 381 F.3d 1064, 1068 (11th Cir.2004) (explaining that “[a]lthough non-inmates enjoyed an assortment of property rights at common law, inmates did not”); see also Calero–Toledo v. Pearson Yacht Leasing Co., 416 U.S. 663, 682, 94 S.Ct. 2080, 40 L.Ed.2d 452 (1974); United States v. 221 Dana Ave., 239 F.3d 78, 90 n. 16 (1st Cir.2001).

At common law, prison inmates possessed no right to profit from their labors; they could be compelled to work without any recompense. See Washlefske v. Winston, 234 F.3d 179, 184–85 (4th Cir.2000) (holding that a policy of non-payment “would not violate any traditional principle of property law”). Rhode Island common law echoes this theme. See Anderson v. Salant, 96 A....