Harris v. Pernsley
| Decision Date | 21 March 1985 |
| Docket Number | No. 84-1039,84-1039 |
| Citation | 758 F.2d 83 |
| Parties | HARRIS, Martin a/k/a Carmichael, Arthur Prison Number 8016203, et al., Appellants, v. Irene PERNSLEY, individually and in her official capacity as Welfare Commissioner of the City of Philadelphia, et al., Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit |
Before ALDISERT, Chief Judge, SEITZ, ADAMS, GIBBONS, HUNTER, WEIS, GARTH, HIGGINBOTHAM, SLOVITER, BECKER, Circuit Judges, and TEITELBAUM, District Judge. *
The petition for rehearing filed by appellees Ronald J. Marks and Jay C. Waldman in the above entitled case having been submitted to the judges who participated in the decision of this court, 755 F.2d 338, and to all the other available circuit judges of the circuit in regular active service, and no judge who concurred in the decision having asked for rehearing, and a majority of the circuit judges of the circuit in regular active service not having voted for rehearing by the court in banc, the petition for rehearing is denied.
Circuit Judge ADAMS dissents from the denial of the petition for rehearing in banc because he believes that this case raises important questions regarding the scope of the Younger abstention doctrine, and because it appears that the state court proceedings involving the Philadelphia County Prison system are being conducted in good faith and with due haste.
The petition for rehearing filed by City Appellees in the above entitled case having been submitted to the judges who participated in the decision of this court and to all the other available circuit judges of the circuit in regular active service, and no judge who concurred in the decision having asked for rehearing, and a majority of the circuit judges of the circuit in regular active service not having voted for rehearing by the court in banc, the petition for rehearing is denied.
Judge Adams dissents from the denial of the petition for rehearing in banc because he believes that this case raises important questions regarding the scope of the Younger abstention doctrine, and because it appears that the state court proceedings involving the Philadelphia County prison system are being conducted in good faith and with due haste.
GARTH, Circuit Judge, dissenting from the Court's denial of the City of Philadelphia's Petition for Rehearing:
My dissent from the refusal of the majority to order Williams v. Red Bank Board of Education, 662 F.2d 1008, 1009 (3d Cir.1981) abstention was grounded on the principle that Federal courts should not take over, manage and operate city or state prisons when the state courts are enforcing all constitutional--including federal constitutional--requirements. At the time that I dissented from the panel opinion, I wrote:
I do not believe that Supreme Court teachings, comity, or reason support a federal court's intrusion into a state's administration of its prison system when the state courts have been and presently are, exercising supervision over these institutions and are doing so in accordance with state and federal constitutional requirements.
The pleadings clearly reveal that since March 15, 1976, the Court of Common Pleas has not only imposed corrective measures on the Commonwealth Prison Administration, but has done so continuously through various consent decrees. As recently as June 22, 1984, additional orders have been entered by the state courts. For a federal court to step in and ignore the state's own corrective proceedings is, so far as I am concerned, as inappropriate and wrong as it is for a federal court to run state hospitals, see Pennhurst State School and Hospital v. Halderman, 465 U.S. 89, 104 S.Ct. , 908 (1984); Youngberg v. Romeo, 457 U.S. 307 [102 S.Ct. 2452, 73 L.Ed.2d 28] (1982), or schools, see Williams v. Red Bank Board of Education, 662 F.2d 1008, (3d Cir.1981). This is so particularly where the state court's have been strictly enforcing federal constitutional mandates.
The Petition for Rehearing that followed the filing of our opinions in Harris pointed out that Jackson v. Hendrick, No. 71-2437, slip op., (C.P.Phila. April 7, 1972), which resulted in a consent decree, affirmed by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, 457 Pa. 405, 321 A.2d 603 (1974), "... was originally brought as a broad challenge to conditions in the Philadelphia prisons, ... including ... overcrowding.... The case extends to every detention or prison facility within the city ... In recent years, the Jackson court has focused intensely on overcrowding.
"The supervision by the Jackson court has been active, and has involved not only the court but also the full time work of a master appointed by the court. During 1984, the Jackson court has taken the following steps:
1. On April 23, 1984, the Jackson court ordered an emergency release program and an expanded program of bail review hearings to expedite the release of detainees who do not pose a threat to the community. That same order required the city to construct new prison facilities, including an additional 1200 cells in 1986 and 1987.
2. On June 22, 1984, the Jackson court imposed population caps on the existing Philadelphia prisons effective October 1984 to decrease the prison population from 3600 to 2700 inmates."
City Appellees' Petition for Reconsideration in Banc.
The record before the panel of this court did not disclose the State Court's activities and orders after June, 1984. The Petition for Rehearing now reveals the following:
On October 11, 1984, after finding that the City was in contempt because the population exceeded the court-ordered cap, the state court fined the City in excess of $200,000 per month. In addition, the state court released approximately $300,000 in previously collected fines from the City and established a committee to distribute these funds. The City appealed the June 22, 1984 and the October 11, 1984 orders. On October 17, 1984, the Chief Justice of Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued a stay of these orders pending their appeals. On November 22, 1984, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court assumed plenary jurisdiction of the appeals at the request of the City. The Supreme Court also agreed to consider the legality of the "one man, one cell" rule which underlies all of the Jackson court's orders."
Thus, not only have the lower state courts in Pennsylvania been actively engaged in controlling and supervising the prison population and prison conditions of the Philadelphia...
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Harris v. Pernsley
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