Garza v. Miller
| Decision Date | 10 September 1982 |
| Docket Number | No. 81-2681,81-2681 |
| Parties | Albert GARZA, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Harold G. MILLER, Warden, Defendant-Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit |
Edna S. Epstein, Sidley & Austin, Chicago, Ill., for plaintiff-appellant.
Richard H. Lloyd, Asst. U. S. Atty., James R. Burgess, Jr., U. S. Atty., East St. Louis, Ill., for defendant-appellee.
Before PELL and BAUER, Circuit Judges, and DECKER, Senior District Judge. *
In this originally pro se action 1 under 28 U.S.C. § 1331(a) (1976), the appellant Albert Garza claims that a purported "lockdown" in effect at the Marion, Illinois, federal penitentiary (Marion) violates his due process and equal protection rights. He also claims that his security level classification is arbitrary and capricious and that he was denied equal protection when his request to transfer to another prison was denied. Garza seeks declaratory and injunctive relief to require the Warden of Marion to provide him with prison industry employment and living conditions equivalent to those prior to the "lockdown." Alternatively, Garza seeks transfer from Marion to another federal facility. After a hearing before a federal magistrate, the magistrate in an oral opinion found against Garza on all issues. This appeal followed.
In February of 1979, Marion was designated as a level six institution in the Federal Bureau of Prisons system. Level six is the highest security classification in the prison system, and Marion is the only prison in the system with a level six classification. There was testimony during the hearings before the magistrate that Marion is the institution to which inmates that are prone either to violence or escape are committed.
Each inmate in the federal prison system is given a security designation and a custody designation. The security designation is predicated on factors such as the nature of the offense committed and prior offenses. The custody designation is an evaluation of a prisoner's behavior in custody, including escape attempts and violence. Inmate placement within the prison system is determined by an inmate's overall security classification, which includes both the security and custody evaluations. A request to be transferred to another prison by Garza was denied by the Federal Bureau of Prisons because its Executive Review Panel concluded that he still "required the security offered only at Marion." Garza's security classification is level six. There was testimony that thirty to forty percent of the inmates at the time of the strike were transferred to other facilities, and that some of these inmates had level six classifications.
On September 15, 1980, the inmates at Marion staged a work strike. It was the third such strike that year. Also within the prior eighteen months, two inmates had been murdered and an associate warden had been stabbed, although no correlation with the work strike was established. On September 15, Garza was confined in the "H- Unit," a maximum security unit, of the penitentiary due to an escape attempt in 1979 and an assault upon a sheriff during the escape for which he was convicted of assault. It is uncontested that Garza did not participate in the work strike and was at all times willing to work. On September 17, 1980, Garza was released into the general population of the prison.
In response to the September 15 work strike and prior incidents of violence, security precautions within the prison were intensified. Prior to the strike, there had been approximately 100 to 115 inmates employed in the prison's industries programs. After the strike there were three work calls, but an insufficient number of inmates reported to work to keep the institution industry program functioning at its past capacity. There were still, however, jobs available as barbers and orderlies within each unit of the prison.
To strengthen security after the work strike, the prison began to be operated on a cellhouse basis. For recreation prior to September 15, the inmates had access to either the main yard outside or the inside recreation area, containing a track, card tables, pool tables, ping-pong tables, and weight-lifting area, for approximately twelve hours a day. Team sports were also arranged within the prison population as a whole and with outside groups. After September 15, one cellhouse at a time was given access to the recreational facilities, with the result that each prisoner had access to either the main yard or inside recreation area for twelve hours a week. Team sports are arranged only between inmates within the same cellhouse. Each week a two-hour movie is also provided as well as two hours of hobbycrafts. When not using this recreational time, an inmate is confined to the "range" outside his cell. The range is the walkway approximately ten feet wide by one hundred feet long in each individual cellhouse, which contains card tables and televisions.
As to the remaining living conditions prior to September 15, the law library was open to inmates from 8 in the morning until 9 in the evening on weekdays and 8 until 3:30 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. An adult education program and high school equivalency program were available, as well as college classes in the prison. After the work strike, each inmate had access to the library for ten hours a week at specified times during the week. Special approval for additional time due to involvement in litigation could be obtained by filing a request slip. Library books could be checked out by an inmate overnight. Garza's own requests for additional time had been on occasion granted and at other times denied. Garza indicated to the magistrate that he had been represented by counsel in two of his five pending cases, and that none of his cases had been dismissed for untimely filings. The in-prison college courses were replaced by correspondence courses.
Garza, a member of the Jewish faith, raised objections concerning the availability of Jewish services and programs. Both before and after the strike, no rabbi made regular visits or performed services because there were no such requests from the Jewish inmates and there were too few Jewish inmates to constitute a minyan. 2 Similarly, no Jewish religious holidays were observed due to the absence of requests. Visits from a Jewish layman are available upon request and Kosher meals are provided.
An associate warden testified before the magistrate that, although the increased security at Marion was initiated in response to the September 15 work strike and prior incidents of violence, its continuation was predicated on the demonstrated inclination of Marion's population toward violence and escape attempts, combined with a lack of cooperation on the part of prisoners with the prison staff which we assume in part refers to the disinclination of the prisoners to return to work.
On October 13 and 14, 1981, by agreement of the parties, a bench trial of Garza's complaint was conducted by a magistrate for the District Court for the Southern District of Illinois. In his oral opinion, the magistrate concluded:
So basically, what it comes down to is that number one, the institution is not on a lockdown status, and inmates are not being locked in their cells. Number two, there have been certain restrictions placed on inmates at Marion Penitentiary which were not imposed prior to September 1980. There is no showing that the actions of the institution constitute cruel and unusual punishment. There is no showing of any protected liberty or property interest over which due process requirements should have been applied, and there has been no showing that the institution acted arbitrarily or capriciously toward the inmates. I think the evidence has been that it was based on a series of events that justified their actions. So after I reach that conclusion, I have no alternative but to render judgment for the defendant and against the plaintiff.
The magistrate rejected Garza's contention that 18 U.S.C. § 4122(b) (1976) created a statutory entitlement to prison industry jobs for all physically fit inmates in the federal prison system. He also found that there was an absence of evidence from which to conclude that the respondent had acted arbitrarily or capriciously in its security classification of Garza and its denial of his request for a transfer.
Generally Garza challenges the individual security measures installed at Marion on September 15 and their continuation as a whole as a denial of his due process and equal protection rights. The individual measures to which Garza objects are: (1) the general unavailability of jobs within the prison; (2) an alleged failure to provide Jewish religious services and programs; (3) restrictions on recreation; (4) changes in the availability of educational programs; and (5) limits on access to the law library. This opinion will address the validity of each of these security precautions individually and the constitutionality of their continuation as a whole after the end of the strike. It is also necessary to examine Garza's claim that his security classification was erroneous and his equal protection claim based on the denial of his transfer request.
Garza's claim that the prison officials violated his rights by limiting jobs within the prison has both a statutory and constitutional basis. For his statutory claim of entitlement to a job, Garza relies upon the first clause of 18 U.S.C. § 4122(b) (1976): "Its (the Federal Prison Industries') board of directors shall provide employment for all physically fit inmates in the United States penal and correctional institutions ...." 3 Garza asserts that this provision grants all physically fit inmates in federal prisons a statutory right to...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Lucas v. Hodges
...Mazaleski v. Treusdell, 562 F.2d 701, 717-19 (D.C.Cir.1977).21 See, e.g., Jones v. Mabry, 723 F.2d 590 (8th Cir.1983); Garza v. Miller, 688 F.2d 480, 486 (7th Cir.1982), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 1150, 103 S.Ct. 796, 74 L.Ed.2d 1000 (1983). Cf. Jolly v. Listerman, 672 F.2d at 941 (in personnel......
-
Campbell v. Miller
...to others or to the orderly operation of the institution. See, e.g., McCollum v. Miller, 695 F.2d 1044 (7th Cir.1982); Garza v. Miller, 688 F.2d 480 (7th Cir.1982), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 1150, 103 S.Ct. 796, 74 L.Ed.2d 1000 (1983); Bono v. Saxbe, 620 F.2d 609 (7th Campbell, acting pro se, ......
-
Caldwell v. Miller
...388, 91 S.Ct. 1999, 29 L.Ed.2d 619 (1971); Bell v. Hood, 327 U.S. 678, 684, 66 S.Ct. 773, 777, 90 L.Ed. 939 (1946); Garza v. Miller, 688 F.2d 480, 482 (7th Cir.1982), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 1150, 103 S.Ct. 796, 74 L.Ed.2d 1000 (1983). Hence, we shall review the disposition of Caldwell's com......
-
Wade v. Farley
...adequate law libraries, or persons trained in the law. Bounds v. Smith, 430 U.S. 817, 97 S.Ct. 1491, 52 L.Ed.2d 72 (1977); Garza v. Miller, 688 F.2d 480 (7th Cir.1982). Even so, inmates appearing before prison disciplinary boards have no right to counsel. Baxter v. Palmigiano, 425 U.S. 308,......