Union County Jail Inmates v. Di Buono
| Decision Date | 11 August 1983 |
| Docket Number | No. 82-5310,82-5310 |
| Citation | 713 F.2d 984 |
| Parties | UNION COUNTY JAIL INMATES, Timmie Lee Barlow, Elbert Evans, Jr., Raymond Skinner, James Wysocki, on behalf of themselves and all other persons similarly situated v. V. William DI BUONO, Assignment Judge; Joseph G. Barbieri, Criminal Assignment Judge; Cuddie E. Davidson, Jr., Bail Judge; as Representatives of the Judges of the Criminal Courts of Union County; Ralph Froelich, Union County Sheriff; James Scanlon, Jail Administrator; Thomas Hefferson, Jail Warden; Rose Marie Sinnot, Chairman, Board of Chosen Freeholders; George Albanese, County Manager; and their Successors in Office, in their official capacities, Randolph Pisane and Louis J. Coletti v. William H. FAUVER, Commissioner, Department of Corrections, State of New Jersey, and his Successor in his official capacity. Appeal of William H. FAUVER, Commissioner, New Jersey Department of Corrections. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit |
Irwin I. Kimmelman, Atty. Gen. of New Jersey, Joseph T. Maloney (argued), Deputy Atty. Gen. (Michael R. Cole, Trenton, N.J., of counsel), Trenton, N.J., for appellant.
Joseph H. Rodriguez, New Jersey Public Advocate-Defender, Office of Inmate Advocacy, T. Gary Mitchell (argued), Director, Office of Inmate Advocacy, Phyllis G. Warren, Asst. Deputy Public Defender, Dept. of the Public Advocate, Trenton, N.J., for Union County Jail Inmates, Barlow, Evans, Skinner, Wysocki, et al.
Robert C. Doherty (argued), County Counsel for the County of Union, Elizabeth, N.J., for appellees, Froehlich, Scanlon, Jefferson, Sinnott, Albanese and their Successors in Office, in their official capacities.
Before HUNTER and GARTH, Circuit Judges and WEBER *, District Judge.
This case raises serious and complex questions of the constitutionality of conditions under which pre-trial detainees and sentenced inmates are confined at the Union County Jail (the Jail). All parties agree that the Jail is seriously overcrowded and dispute exists only as to whether that overcrowding and the conditions that result from it are so shocking that confinement in the Jail amounts to punishment of the pre-trial detainees in violation of the due process clause or to cruel and unusual punishment of the sentenced inmates in violation of the Eighth Amendment. The district court held that the conditions are unconstitutional for both classes of inmates and that the unconstitutionality could only be remedied if the Commissioner of the Department of Corrections of the State of New Jersey removed those inmates sentenced to state prison. We cannot agree.
On March 25, 1981, inmates of the Union County Jail (hereinafter inmates) filed this civil rights action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging that the Jail was over-populated 1 and that the "totality of conditions" at the Jail violated the inmates' constitutional right to due process and equal protection of the laws and their right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment. The complaint sought a declaration that the conditions at the Jail were unconstitutional and an injunction ordering the County to reduce the population to constitutional levels. The complaint was brought as a class action, the class consisting of all persons who were then, or who during the pendency of the suit would become, incarcerated in the Jail. The class, certified by the district court, included pre-trial detainees 2 (inmates awaiting trial and not considered bailworthy) and inmates sentenced to terms either in the Jail or in state prison. The complaint named as defendants various judges, 3 administrators of the jail, and county officials (hereinafter known collectively as the County).
On April 3, 1981, the County filed an answer to the complaint, admitting that the inmates were held in the overcrowded conditions specified in the complaint. In a third-party complaint filed on the same day against the Commissioner of the New Jersey State Department of Corrections (the Commissioner), the County attributed any unconstitutionality of conditions at the Jail to overcrowding resulting from the refusal of the Commissioner to accept for custody those prisoners who had been sentenced to state prison. The County argued that, pursuant to N.J.Stat.Ann. 2C:43-10(e) (West 1982), the Commissioner was required to remove from county facilities, within 15 days after sentencing, those inmates sentenced to terms in state correctional facilities (state prisoners). The County sought a declaration that the Commissioner's refusal to accept state prisoners was unconstitutional and sought an injunction permanently preventing him from refusing to take custody of state prisoners.
On June 19, 1981, responding to the state-wide prison overcrowding problem, Governor Byrne issued Executive Order No. 106, 4 in which he declared that overcrowded conditions in New Jersey's State Prisons and county facilities constituted a state of emergency, and that flexibility was needed in the assignment of inmates in order to maximize the use of space. The Order suspended the operation of N.J.Stat.Ann. 2C:43-10(e) (West 1982), and empowered the Commissioner of Corrections to designate the place of confinement for both state and county inmates, whether pretrial detainees or sentenced inmates. The Commissioner, exercising the discretion conferred by the Executive Order, designated the Jail as the place of confinement for state prisoners sentenced in Union County. The Commissioner determined that the Jail, with modifications of the existing structure, could accommodate a number of inmates greater than its rated capacity.
On October 22, 1981 the district court approved a consent agreement between the County and the inmates. The Commissioner was not a party to the agreement. This agreement specified a maximum population capacity of 238 for the Jail (assuming there would be one person in each general population cell) and designated a procedure whereby the County could request an immediate hearing before the district court in the event the population of the Jail approached or reached the maximum capacity specified. The agreement contemplated that the district court might, under such circumstances, order the release or transfer of enough inmates to reduce the population below the stated maximum. On that same date, the court entered an order directing the Commissioner to show cause why he should not be compelled to accept custody of all state prisoners in the Jail.
On November 10, 1981, the Commissioner filed a motion to vacate and set aside the consent judgment under Fed.R.Civ.Proc. 60(b)(1) and 60(b)(6), on the grounds that it was entered without the consent of the Commissioner, and that the consent given by the County was illegal as ultra vires under state law. The Commissioner contended that the County was without the authority to enter such an agreement, under the terms of Governor Byrne's Executive Orders Nos. 106 and 108.
On December 16, 1981, the district court stayed scheduled hearings on the County's order to show cause and the Commissioner's motion to vacate the consent judgment, pending the decision of the New Jersey Supreme Court in Worthington v. Fauver, 88 N.J. 183, 440 A.2d 1128 (1982). On January 6, 1982, the Supreme Court of New Jersey in that case unanimously held that Executive Orders Nos. 106 and 108 (Byrne) were a valid exercise of the power delegated to the Governor under the Civil Defense and Disaster Control Act, N.J.Stat.Ann.App. A:9-30 et seq. (West 1982), that the Orders did not violate the state constitutional doctrine of separation of powers, and that the Commissioner's actions pursuant to the orders were not arbitrary or capricious.
On December 21, 1981 the inmates made a motion to hold the County in contempt for failure to abide by the consent decree. On January 8, 1982 the County made a motion to vacate the consent judgment. The district court held a hearing on January 20, 1982 in order to consider the two motions previously stayed (the County's motion for a preliminary injunction against the Commissioner, and the Commissioner's motion to vacate the consent judgment) as well as the two new motions. The district court reasoned that if the County could comply with the consent judgment, then the necessary actions would be within the scope of the County's authorized responsibility and the Commissioner would lack standing to attack the consent order.
On January 29, 1982, the district court, pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 53(b), appointed a Special Master to investigate conditions at the Jail and to assess the County's efforts under the consent judgment. Pending return of the Special Master's Report within 45 days, the district court denied without prejudice the Commissioner's motion to vacate the consent order and deferred ruling on the other motions.
The Special Master filed his Report and Recommendations on March 1, 1982. Most notably, the Special Master found that, because of overcrowding, general population cells designed for one inmate were being used to house two inmates by use of mattresses placed on the floors of these 5' X 7' cells next to the toilet. The better part of the men's exercise area and all of the women's recreation area had also been converted into temporary dormitories, in which inmates slept on mattresses placed on the floor. Altogether, with respect to the pretrial detainees, the Special Master found six specific conditions that he regarded as constitutional violations. See note 11, infra. 5
With respect to the sentenced inmates, the Special Master found two conditions that he regarded as constitutional violations. The Special Master recommended that these specific violations should be cured, and that the Commissioner should be given a reasonable time to bring the population of the Jail down to the limit specified by the consent judgment. He also found that the County had made a good faith attempt to...
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