Battle v. Anderson

• Decision Date: 16 April 1986
• Docket Number: No. 84-1026,84-1026
• Citation: 788 F.2d 1421
• Parties: Bobby BATTLE, et al. Plaintiffs/Appellants, v. Park ANDERSON, et al., Defendants/Appellees, and United States of America, Plaintiff/Appellee-Intervenor.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit

Page 1421

788 F.2d 1421

Bobby BATTLE, et al. Plaintiffs/Appellants, v. Park ANDERSON, et al., Defendants/Appellees and United States of America, Plaintiff/Appellee-Intervenor.

No. 84-1026.

United States Court of Appeals Tenth Circuit.

April 16, 1986.

Louis W. Bullock, Cooperating Atty., ACLU, Tulsa, Okl., for plaintiffs/appellants.

Robert A. Nance, Asst. Atty. Gen., Oklahoma City, Okl. (Michael C. Turpen, Atty. Gen. of Oklahoma, was also on brief), for defendants/appellees.

Michael A. Carvin, Atty., Dept. of Justice, Washington, D.C. (William Bradford Reynolds, Asst. Atty. Gen., Charles J. Cooper, Deputy Asst. Atty. Gen., Brian K. Landsberg and Dennis J. Dimsey, Attys., Dept. of Justice, Washington, D.C., Gary L. Richardson, U.S. Atty., were also on brief), for plaintiff/appellee-intervenor.

Before HOLLOWAY, Chief Judge, and BARRETT and DOYLE ^*, Circuit Judges.

HOLLOWAY, Chief Judge.

I

This Sec. 1983 class action was initially commenced by inmate Bobby Battle, pro se, challenging various conditions of confinement at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in 1972. The district court held that conditions in the Oklahoma prison system violated the Eighth Amendment proscription against cruel and unusual punishment. The subsequent history of the controversy is detailed in the opinions cited in the margin. ¹

In April, 1982, the district court entered an order that defendants "should have and do hereby have the authority indefinitely but not permanently to double-cell where necessary," 708 F.2d 1523 at 1526, following increases in the Oklahoma prison population. In October, 1982, the district court issued an opinion following an evidentiary hearing on its orders that had previously been entered. The court stated that although it would not conclude from the evidence that the system had become unconstitutional in its operation, it was clearly in a state of decline. 708 F.2d at 1539. The court continued jurisdiction over the case to insure that the Oklahoma prison system did not revert to an unconstitutional condition. Id. The court ordered that a statement of penal policy and detailed plan of action be filed.

This court affirmed, one judge dissenting. Battle v. Anderson, 708 F.2d 1523 (10th Cir. 1983), cert. dismissed, 465 U.S. 1014, 104 S.Ct. 1019, 79 L. Ed.2d 248 (1984). The majority of the panel held that the district court did not abuse its discretion in continuing its jurisdiction to assure compliance with past decrees and to prevent a recurrence of unconstitutional conditions despite its finding that the system was then currently constitutional. Id. at 1537-40.

The instant controversy concerns events following that decision. In compliance with the district court's order, the State filed a detailed "Plan of Measures to be Taken to Assure Continued Constitutionality of Oklahoma's Prisons" in June, 1983, and in July the State filed a supplement to the Plan. In September, 1983, the court held an evidentiary hearing on the State's Plan and the State's motion to dismiss the case. Judge Bohanon recused in December, 1983, and the case was assigned to Chief Judge Seay. Following review of a portion of the record, he entered the order on appeal herein on December 30.

The court concluded that "since October 1982 to the present date the conditions of confinement in the Oklahoma prison system are constitutional and are not cruel and unusual punishment." X Jt.App. 237. The court noted that there had been "disturbances, problems, and inadequacies in the Oklahoma prison system since the court's last findings." Id. at 235. The court noted that there were four subjects of previous court orders still found to be inadequate and not in compliance--racial integration, access to the courts, equal protection guarantees for women, and vacating for human habitation the East and West Cellhouses of the Oklahoma State Penitentiary at McAlester. Id.

The court concluded nevertheless that the system was constitutional and "each area of continued violation has been specifically addressed by the State and is subject to a specifically planned remedy." Id. The court found that the State legislature and prison officials were aware of and sensitive to the constitutional requirements and that the court was satisfied "that there is no reasonable expectation that unconstitutional practices will recur in the conditions of confinement in the Oklahoma prison system." Id. at 238. Concluding that it was mindful of its obligation to enforce the constitutional rights of all persons, the court granted defendants' motion to dismiss the case in its entirety. However, the court concluded that "[a]ll of this court's orders and injunctions as modified heretofore remain in full force and effect." Id. at 239.

In May, 1984, the district court denied a motion by plaintiffs to stay the dismissal order. Responding to a complaint that the judge had not had the full record to review, the judge noted that he had had four of seven transcripts from the September hearing for review before entering the order; that he had all the transcripts containing plaintiffs' case-in-chief; and that he had earlier had the transcript volume with the testimony of the Governor and the Director of the Corrections Department. In denying the request for a stay, the court concluded that "[a]fter a careful review and study of the entire transcript, the court finds no reason to change its order of December 30, 1983, and the court reaffirms that order." Id. at 248. The court stated that "[a]lthough the court noted problems of compliance in certain areas, those areas were not held to be constitutional violations." Id. (emphasis in original).

On April 25, 1984, a panel of this court denied an application by the plaintiffs for a stay of the dismissal order, pending appeal. On May 25, 1985, plaintiffs filed a further motion for a stay of the dismissal order, pending appeal, contending that the State was housing inmates in the East and West Cellhouses in violation of the district court's order of May, 1979. The State responded that the inmates were temporarily housed in those cellhouses on May 13, 1985, as a result of a disturbance at another State prison, and that the inmates were removed from them on May 28. Plaintiffs did not dispute these facts but did request that this court stay the dismissal order nevertheless. We denied the renewed application for a stay, stating that we would "consider the propriety and scope of the district court's December 30, 1983, order in our disposition of the pending appeal in this cause." A motion to reconsider that ruling was filed, but in view of our disposition of the case the motion becomes moot.

We turn now to the appellate arguments challenging the correctness of the district court's order of dismissal.

II

Plaintiffs challenge the district court's holding that the prison system is constitutional. They argue that the system is unconstitutional with respect to access to the courts, racial integration, and equal protection guarantees for women--areas that the district court found to be "inadequate and not in compliance" with previous court orders. Plaintiffs also contend that the Oklahoma prison system, considering the totality of the circumstances, is in violation of the Eighth Amendment.

A.

Access to the courts

Plaintiffs attack the defendants' reliance on inmate law clerks to provide meaningful access to the courts. ² Brief of Appellant 40-42; Reply Brief of Appellants 18-20. We have previously noted, however, that "[u]nder Bounds, the State is free to make a choice between affording law library facilities on a reasonable basis, or the alternative means of having available counsel on a reasonable basis." Ward v. Kort, 762 F.2d 856, 860 (10th Cir.1985). The district court's dismissal order stated:

The court finds that the mandated minimums of adequate library facilities has not yet been met. Bounds v. Smith, 430 U.S. 817 [97 S.Ct. 1491, 52 L.Ed.2d 72] (1976). However, testimony from Mr. Larry Meachum, Director of the Department of Corrections of Oklahoma, at the September 1983 hearing, indicates and assures this court that libraries will be fully stocked and that plaintiffs have and will be assured continued access to courts.

X Jt.App. 235. In this connection, the defendants' Plan stated that the State intended "to continue their current approach to access to courts by providing both law libraries and trained inmate law clerks to assist inmates in framing legal issues for presentation to the court." X R. 113; see id. at 113-14.

There is record evidence that the Department of Corrections has a large or small library at each of the prison facilities. Inventories were admitted in evidence as Defendants' Exhibits 29, 30, and 31 respecting the major law libraries at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary, the Mabel Bassett Correctional Center, and the Joseph Harp Correctional Center. V Jt.App. 1041. Each library has a supervisor. The fact finder appointed by the district court had found an "appalling lack of essential legal books and reference materials at both major and minor law libraries." VIII Jt.App. 119. However, we note that the inventories do list a substantial volume of basic materials in the libraries. See, e.g., Defendants' Exhibit 29 (containing extensive listing of law books at Oklahoma State Penitentiary Library). Further, defendants' Plan represented to the court that "the Department is continually updating and supplementing its law library inventories." X Jt.App. 114. ³

In light of the testimony, the documentary evidence, and the representations accepted by the district court, we hold that the finding of the court that there was no constitutional violation in this respect is not in error.

B.

The claim of racial discrimination

Earlier practices of racial discrimination in the Oklahoma prison system were chronicled in Battle v. Anderson, 376 F.Supp. at 410-11. In that opinion, the district court made conclusions of law on these practices, ...