Mann v. Reynolds

• Decision Date: 24 August 1993
• Docket Number: No. CIV-92-893-C.,CIV-92-893-C.
• Citation: 828 F. Supp. 894
• Parties: Anthony MANN, Alvin James Hale, John Duvall and Scotty Lee Moore, on their own behalf, and on behalf of a class of all current and future Oklahoma inmates sentenced to death and housed on Death Row at the McAlester State Penitentiary, Plaintiffs, v. Dan M. REYNOLDS, individually, and in his official capacity as Warden of the Oklahoma State Penitentiary; Rita Andrews, individually, and in her official capacity as Deputy Warden of the Oklahoma State Penitentiary; Fred Cook, individually, and in his official capacity as Unit Manager of H-Unit (Death Row Unit) of the Oklahoma State Penitentiary; Larry Fields, individually and in his official capacity as Director of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections; David Walters, in his official capacity only as Governor of the State of Oklahoma; and Robert Sanders, individually and in his official capacity as Coordinator, Substance Abuse/Mental Health Services, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Oklahoma

828 F. Supp. 894

Anthony MANN, Alvin James Hale, John Duvall and Scotty Lee Moore, on their own behalf, and on behalf of a class of all current and future Oklahoma inmates sentenced to death and housed on Death Row at the McAlester State Penitentiary, Plaintiffs, v. Dan M. REYNOLDS, individually, and in his official capacity as Warden of the Oklahoma State Penitentiary; Rita Andrews, individually, and in her official capacity as Deputy Warden of the Oklahoma State Penitentiary; Fred Cook, individually, and in his official capacity as Unit Manager of H-Unit (Death Row Unit) of the Oklahoma State Penitentiary; Larry Fields, individually and in his official capacity as Director of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections; David Walters, in his official capacity only as Governor of the State of Oklahoma; and Robert Sanders, individually and in his official capacity as Coordinator, Substance Abuse/Mental Health Services, Defendants.

No. CIV-92-893-C.

United States District Court, W.D. Oklahoma.

July 21, 1993.

Order Granting in Part Motion to Amend and Otherwise Denying Motion for New Trial or to Amend August 24, 1993.

Order Finding Compliance with Decision August 24, 1993.

Order Vacating Stays of Execution August 24, 1993.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Donald G. Bledsoe, Tulsa, OK, and Micheal C. Salem, Norman, OK, for plaintiffs.

Wellon B. Poe, Jr. and Guy L. Hurst, Office of the Atty. Gen., Oklahoma City, OK, for defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

CAUTHRON, District Judge.

This case was tried to the Court without a jury on June 17-18, 1993. Plaintiffs appeared personally and with counsel, Gregory Bledsoe and Micheal Salem; defendants appeared through Assistant Attorneys General Guy Hurst and Wellon Poe. In light of all the testimony and documentary exhibits, and having considered the closing arguments of counsel presented by written briefs, the Court enters the following findings of fact and conclusions of law.¹

History of Case

This case was filed May 21, 1992, seeking injunctive and declaratory relief regarding the policy and practice of Oklahoma State Penitentiary at McAlester, Oklahoma (OSP) as to attorney visitation with death row inmates. During or between various hearings set during the summer of 1992, counsel agreed on a stay of execution for the affected inmates and requested time and assistance in settling the remaining disputes. The Court directed monthly status reports regarding settlement negotiations, and pursuant to a joint request of counsel continued the case to allow the parties and counsel time to reach an agreeable compromise. In March 1993, a status and scheduling conference was held, at which pretrial deadlines and a trial date were set. Shortly before trial, the Court certified a class, pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(b)(2), consisting of persons now or in the future sentenced to death and housed on OSP's H-Unit. Class certification and, accordingly the trial, was restricted to the following two issues: (1) whether the class members are receiving confidential attorney visits; and (2) whether the class members are entitled to full-contact attorney visits. (Order at 3 (June 11, 1993)). In this same order, the Court denied motions to intervene filed on behalf of several death row inmates whose executions have been recently scheduled. The motion for stay was granted as to plaintiff Foster, whose execution was imminent, but denied as to the remainder of the class. After discussion with counsel in chambers before trial, the Court announced its intention to stay all execution dates until either an order denying relief, or the defendants' compliance with an order granting relief, assuming the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals would not reset execution dates until the expiration of 60 days from the triggering order. See 22 Okla.Stat. § 1001.1 (1993 Supp.). Counsel voiced no objection to this procedure, and consequently, specific proof regarding the various inmates' stays of execution was not offered. Likewise, the Court limited proof to the circumstances now existing at OSP, as only declaratory and injunctive relief is sought. All parties and the Court recognize that changes have been made since the institution of this suit, but proof on any pre-existing condition is now irrelevant. A significant issue raised in the initial pleadings was the need for full-contact settings for psychological experts to conduct tests and interviews with inmates. This has been resolved and such visits are now permissible under certain circumstances.

Findings of Fact

1. Plaintiffs Mann, Hale, Duvall, and Moore are inmates imprisoned at OSP. They are assigned to H-Unit, a new facility for death row and high-maximum security inmates. They sue on their own behalf and on behalf of a class of all present and future death row inmates.

2. Defendant Reynolds is the Warden of OSP; defendant Cook is Unit Manager of H-Unit; defendant Walters is sued only in his official capacity as the Governor of the State of Oklahoma. Defendants Andrews, Fields, and Sanders are respectively the Deputy Warden of OSP, the Director of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections (DOC), and the Coordinator of Substance Abuse/Mental Health Services. Each of these defendants is sued individually and in his or her official capacity. The Court has heard no proof regarding any personal acts of any of the defendants, and they are entitled to dismissal from the suit in their individual capacities. Any injunctive and declaratory relief, the only remedies sought, applies to these defendants only in their official capacities. However, defendant Sanders' presence as a defendant in this case is a mystery as there has been no evidence concerning him or his office and he is entitled to dismissal for a complete failure of evidence against him.

3. Jurisdiction is proper in this Court under 28 U.S.C. § 1331. Plaintiffs allege all defendants, while acting under color of state law, have deprived them of their rights to an attorney and to meaningful access to the courts under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution.

4. Venue has not been challenged and is proper in this Court.

5. OSP is the state's maximum security prison which operates in a facility built in 1908, with several later additions. From at least 1978 until November 1991, death row inmates were housed in F-Block in the main building at OSP. F-Block, while considered high maximum security, had cells with open-bar doors. Attorney visitation was in the Captain's office in a small room providing full contact between attorney and client. The room could be observed by a correctional officer (CO) through a glass window in one wall. The room was furnished with a table and chairs and prisoners were fully restrained with leg shackles, handcuffs, and a belly chain, while in the room with an attorney. The attorney was searched before, and the inmate both before and after, visitation.

6. There has never been an assault, an attempted assault, or a threatened assault on an attorney in the history of OSP. Witnesses familiar with other correctional institutions across the nation and/or with literature regarding corrections issues testified unanimously that in their knowledge there had been no such assault, attempt, or threat by a death row inmate against an attorney anywhere in the nation.

7. While death row was in F-Block and attorneys were allowed full-contact visitation, an attorney with the Oklahoma Indigent Defense System (OIDS) was reportedly observed by prison employees kissing a death row inmate in the attorney visitation room. This attorney was barred from contact visitation for a period of time. Whether what was observed was actually a kiss rather than a hug of sympathy is now in dispute. However, the Court accepts as true, for the purposes of this trial, the incident report as written.

8. This same attorney for OIDS, in an earlier incident, was found to have given a pack of cigarettes to a different inmate during a full-contact visit. The attorney later stated he did not know that such conduct was against prison policy or rules.

9. Although there is no documentation in the record, the Unit Manager testified that a different OIDS attorney, when found with food during the pre-visit search, indicated it was her lunch; yet she gave the food to the death row inmate she was visiting.

10. Prison witnesses testified generally that attorneys were likely to pass contraband to inmates during visits. This contraband was limited to pens, pencils, and paperclips (useful to make weapons or lock picks), chewing gum (effective at jamming locks), and cigarettes, money, and food. No specifies, either as to time, identity of attorney, or contraband involved, were given, other than those mentioned in ¶¶ 8 & 9. James Saffle, formerly warden at OSP and currently Regional Director of DOC, testified that he was aware of no attorney who repeated this conduct once informed it was inappropriate.

11. There was no written policy regarding attorney visitation until May 12, 1993. Prison officials testified that the general visitation policy applied to H-Unit, that is, nothing was to be given to any prisoner. It is undisputed that this policy was never followed, in that attorneys were observed to pass documents, papers attached with paperclips, pens, pencils, and all necessary accoutrements of legal representation to the prisoners, without objection, and indeed out of necessity. The real complaint appears to be that the attorneys did not always make sure that clients returned all items. There is no direct proof or inference that this conduct was out of any intent to break the rules or cause security problems, but was rather out of ignorance of the possible uses of these items as posing a security risk or otherwise against prison policy.

12. Death row inmates were allowed private telephone calls with attorneys in their cells in F-Block. The telephone had a cord approximately 15 feet long so that the inmate...