Johnson v. Robinson, 92-6231
| Citation | 987 F.2d 1043 |
| Decision Date | 22 February 1993 |
| Docket Number | No. 92-6231,92-6231 |
| Parties | Charles E. JOHNSON; Charles A. Hunter; Rodger W. Osborne; Thomas L. Wells, Individually and On Behalf of All Others Similarly Situated; Frank Domneys; George Brown; Ralph Broadway, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. Bishop L. ROBINSON, Secretary, Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services; Richard A. Lanham, Commissioner, Division of Correction; Paul J. Davis, Chairman, Maryland Parole Commission; William L. Smith; Warden, Maryland House of Correction; Lloyd Waters, Superintendent, Maryland Correctional Institution--Hagerstown; Leronia A. Josey, Former Maryland Parole Commissioner, Defendants-Appellants. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (4th Circuit) |
Carmen Mercedes Shepard, Asst. Atty. Gen., Baltimore, MD, argued , for defendants-appellants.
David Cyrus Fathi, Nat. Prison Project of the American Civ. Liberties Union, Washington, DC, argued (Adjoa A. Aiyetoro, Elizabeth Alexander, Nat. Prison Project of the American Civ. Liberties Union, Washington, DC, Ward B. Coe, III, Whiteford, Taylor & Preston, Baltimore, MD, on the brief), for plaintiffs-appellees.
Before HALL, WILKINSON, and LUTTIG, Circuit Judges.
At issue here is an order entered by the district court pertaining to the Maryland system of corrections. The order specified a timetable within which Maryland prison officials must make eighty-three improvements at two prison facilities. Our review of the record indicates that the district court exceeded its authority in issuing this order. The parties never formally agreed upon the duties specified in the timetable, and these duties add substantially to those accepted by the prison officials in the original consent decree. Absent a proper modification of the consent decree, the district court had no authority to bind state prison officials to the timetable's terms. Accordingly, we reverse and remand the case with instructions to deny the plaintiff prisoner group's motion for further relief.
This appeal represents the latest round in an ongoing dispute that began in 1977 over conditions of confinement at the Maryland House of Correction ("MHC") and the Maryland Correctional Institution in Hagerstown ("MCI-H"). Prisoners at each of the facilities brought class action suits claiming that their conditions of confinement violated the Eighth Amendment. The suits were brought against the Secretary of the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services and various other prison officials. This court consolidated the cases in 1981. Nelson v. Collins, 659 F.2d 420 (4th Cir.1981). The litigation has produced a series of judicial decrees, stipulations, and modifications since 1978, the most recent and relevant being a 1987 Stipulated Agreement approved by the district court.
The 1987 Agreement calls for prison officials to implement preventive maintenance plans and "immediately [to] correct and maintain in good condition all environmental deficiencies" at both facilities. The 1987 Agreement requires that prison officials do thirteen things: (1) repair or replace all broken windows; (2) repair all inoperable plumbing; (3) repair roof leaks and exposed electrical wiring; (4) eliminate all cross-connections; (5) maintain a clean, properly painted and plastered environment; (6) use properly maintained and operated equipment; (7) correct all fire safety deficiencies in accordance with the National Fire Protection Association Code; (8) insulate pipes properly; (9) provide twenty foot-candles of lighting in all living, work, academic, and library areas; (10) provide at least ten cubic feet of outside or recirculated air per minute per occupant during the summer; (11) use best efforts to maintain noise decibels at specified levels; (12) correct all public health, sanitation, and fire safety violations in punitive isolation units; and (13) provide laundry facilities at MCI-H. The 1987 Agreement also provides that the district court retains discretionary authority to modify the agreement, subject to the applicable law concerning modification; in addition, "[e]ither party may seek enforcement of the provisions of this agreement by appropriate motion."
The 1987 Agreement was reached at a time when the inmate population in the Maryland Division of Corrections (the "MDOC") was projected to reach 13,338 by 1995. Instead, the male population within MDOC reached 16,182 by July of 1991. The MDOC responded to this rapid population growth by opening a new facility in 1987, another in early 1989, and by funding and opening six other units in 1990 and 1991. Even while undertaking such expensive construction, the MDOC made substantial progress in improving MHC and MCI-H and complying with the 1987 Agreement. Prison officials provided a preventive maintenance plan, and made numerous repairs of windows, plumbing, roof leaks, equipment, pipe insulation, and laundry facilities. Officials also improved other aspects of the facilities as called for in the 1987 Agreement, including food service, health care, and program availability. MHC and MCI-H each have current operating budgets in excess of $35 million, an increase of over 50% since 1987.
Dissatisfied with the rate of progress being made at the two facilities, the inmate plaintiffs moved to have prison officials held in contempt on August 2, 1990, for allegedly violating several requirements of the 1987 Agreement. Specifically, the plaintiffs alleged that officials were not complying with provisions regarding fire safety and the housing of inmates in basement areas. This motion was never ruled upon. Instead, the parties again entered negotiations in the hope of reaching a settlement agreement as they had on prior occasions. These 1990 negotiations, however, never culminated in any sort of formal agreement.
During negotiations, the parties compiled a list of eighty-three repairs to be made at the two facilities. Prison officials provided a timetable of projected dates for completing the repairs. The officials anticipated that the completion of at least some items on the timetable would help to narrow the remaining areas of dispute. The officials further maintained that the timetable was developed with the understanding that its dates of completion were tentative and conditional at all times on obtaining needed funding. The timetable was submitted to the district court on several occasions, but only as part of a monthly status report on progress with respect to prison repairs. At no time did the prisoners or the prison officials submit the timetable to the court as part of a formal settlement agreement or proposed consent decree.
The timetable consists of both a list of repairs and a specific schedule for completing them. Several of the eighty-three specified improvements, as well as the completion schedule, go well beyond the general requirements of the 1987 Agreement. The 1987 Agreement provides for only twenty foot-candles of lighting in living, work, academic, and library areas. The timetable, by contrast, requires the installation of contractor-supplied, tamper-proof, fluorescent light fixtures throughout MHC. The timetable also provides for a complete electrical upgrade project at MCI-H, including improvement of the transformer distribution system and installation of a new emergency generator. Neither of these repairs is mentioned in the 1987 Agreement. In terms of specific electrical repairs, the 1987 Agreement calls only for the repair of all exposed wiring.
As for plumbing, the 1987 Agreement requires merely the repair of all inoperable plumbing. The timetable, however, calls for daily plumbing inspections and repairs, as well as for a complete plumbing upgrade project at MCI-H to renovate shower areas, and to replace supply lines, steam lines, and sewer lines. Similarly, the 1987 Agreement specifies only minimum requirements for outside or recirculated air between the months of May and October, but the timetable indicates that the prison officials will request $350,000 from the legislature for the design and installation of a "mechanical supply and exhaust ventilation system" for MCI-H.
In 1990 and 1991, prison officials made substantial progress in completing all of the eighty-three repairs. As of July 31, 1991, officials had completed sixty-nine of the eighty-three items (83%): the remaining repairs, however, included the large capital projects to upgrade lighting, plumbing, electrical, and ventilation systems. Progress on the repairs is continuing. Not all repairs at MHC and MCI-H were completed by the dates projected in the timetable, but officials have labored under at least two handicaps. First, MDOC has had to continue building new facilities to house an ever-growing inmate population. Second, an inmate uprising at MCI-H in May of 1991 damaged repairs that already had been made. Some work had to be redone, and joint projects at both facilities were delayed.
On June 7, 1991, the prisoners filed a motion for further relief. They specifically requested that the district court convert the timetable into a court order, so as to bind prison officials to the completion of all eighty-three repairs and upgrades by the projected dates. The prisoners also asked the district court to fine prison officials $1,000 a day for each day that the improvements were delayed, following a thirty-day grace period.
The district court heard oral argument on the motion on September 9, 1991. On September 19, the court issued a brief order granting in part and denying in part the motion. Specifically, the district court approved "the timetable agreed upon by" the parties, but denied the request for prospective, automatic sanctions. The language of the order itself barely covers half a page, and the district court made no specific findings of...
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