Blake v. Hall, 80-1792

• Decision Date: 18 December 1981
• Docket Number: No. 80-1792,80-1792
• Parties: Albert BLAKE, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Frank A. HALL, et al., Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — First Circuit

Page 52

668 F.2d 52

Albert BLAKE, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Frank A. HALL, et al., Defendants-Appellees.

No. 80-1792.

United States Court of Appeals, First Circuit.

Argued Sept. 10, 1981.

Decided Dec. 18, 1981.

Judith A. Stalus, Boston, Mass., with whom Norman Zalkind and Michael Avery, Boston, Mass., were on brief, for plaintiffs-appellants.

Lee Carl Bromberg, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., Boston, Mass., with whom Francis X. Bellotti, Atty. Gen., and Bromberg, Sunstein & McGregor, Boston, Mass., were on brief, for defendants-appellees.

Before ALDRICH, CAMPBELL and BOWNES, Circuit Judges.

BOWNES, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiffs-appellants, inmates at the Massachusetts Correctional Institution Walpole (Walpole), brought a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 civil rights class action alleging that the conditions of their confinement amounted to cruel and unusual punishment. Declaratory and injunctive relief, as well as damages, were sought. Named as defendants were Frank A. Hall, former Commissioner of Correction, Larry R. Meachum, Commissioner of Correction at the time of trial, and Frederick A. Butterworth, former Superintendent of Walpole. The damages case was tried to a jury which returned a verdict in favor of the three defendants.

The judge, a year after the verdict, issued a written opinion finding no constitutional violations and denying injunctive relief.

The main issue on appeal is whether the evidence of conditions at Walpole compelled a finding of cruel and unusual punishment either as to the entire institution or as to certain sections of it. The attack on the jury verdict is confined solely to the claim that plaintiffs' motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict should have been granted. There is one related issue: whether the court should have amended its findings of fact and judgment and received new evidence in regard to a section of Walpole (New Man's Section).

We start with defendants' contention that the seventh amendment required the district judge to accept as binding the findings of fact made by the jury in reaching its verdict. The landmark case in the joint law-equity trial area is Beacon Theatres, Inc. v. Westover, 359 U.S. 500, 79 S.Ct. 948, 3 L.Ed.2d 988 (1959). In Beacon Theatres, the Court stressed the importance of the jury as a fact-finding body and held that, although the complaint sought only declaratory and injunctive relief, because the counterclaim demanded a jury trial of the factual issues, the jury issues had to be tried first. The Court was concerned that if the equitable issues were decided first by the trial judge, the defendant's seventh amendment right to a full jury trial of the counterclaim might be foreclosed by the doctrine of collateral estoppel. "The controlling principle of the Beacon Theatres case is the desire to protect jury determination of common issues." 9 C. Wright & A. Miller, Fed.Prac. & Proc.Civil § 2338, at 136 (1971). The problem in this case is determining what issues were decided by the jury in reaching its verdict. The charge instructed the jury in effect as follows. In order to recover, plaintiffs had to prove a deprivation of a constitutional right by one of the defendants. Such deprivation had to be the result of deliberate conduct or the reckless failure to act. The jury was also instructed that if plaintiff had deliberately created or substantially contributed to causing the unsanitary conditions (garbage and filth, including human excrement on the floors and walls of the cell blocks), which they alleged were unconstitutional, they could not recover.

Under these instructions, which have not been appealed, the jury could have made three findings in reaching its verdict: (1) that there were no constitutional violations; (2) if there were unconstitutional conditions, they were not caused by the deliberate or reckless conduct of the defendants; and (3) if there were unconstitutional violations, they were caused or substantially caused by the plaintiffs themselves. The jury could, of course, have reached all three conclusions. But the general verdict of no liability precludes further analysis. The district judge was not bound by the jury verdict in determining whether equitable relief should issue because there was no way to determine what common issues were decided by the jury. ¹

We turn now to the main issue of whether conditions at Walpole compelled a finding of cruel and unusual punishment either as to the institution or sections of it. We review the facts and all the reasonable inferences to be drawn from them in the light most favorable to the defendants. Hawkins v. Hall, 644 F.2d 914, 915 (1st Cir. 1981). And, "(f)indings of fact shall not be set aside unless clearly erroneous, and due regard shall be given to the opportunity of the trial court to judge of the credibility of the witness." Fed.R.Civ.P. 52(a).

Even in a prison setting, there are no rigid standards as to what does and does not amount to cruel and unusual punishment. Penal measures must be evaluated against "broad and idealistic concepts of dignity, civilized standards, humanity and decency" and "the evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society." Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97, 102, 97 S.Ct. 285, 290, 50 L.Ed.2d 251 (1976), quoting Jackson v. Bishop, 404 F.2d 571, 579 (8th Cir. 1968), and Trop v. Dulles, 356 U.S. 86, 101, 78 S.Ct. 590, 598, 2 L.Ed.2d 630 (1958). In Hutto v. Finney, 437 U.S. 678, 685, 98 S.Ct. 2565, 2570, 57 L.Ed.2d 522 (1977), the Supreme Court held that the punishment must not be grossly disproportionate to the offense and must not offend society's evolving sense of decency. This circuit has applied these two benchmarks for determining whether prison conditions violated the eighth amendment in Hawkins v. Hall, 644 F.2d at 917, and Nadeau v. Helgemoe, 561 F.2d 411, 413 (1st Cir. 1977).

The gravamen of the complaint is that the unsanitary and filthy conditions of Walpole compounded by inadequate lighting, heating and ventilation, amount to cruel and unusual punishment. Plaintiffs' evidence depicted Walpole as a charnel house out of the middle ages. Although defendants did not suggest that the prison was a rose garden, their evidence was that, while there was definite room for improvement, conditions did not violate eighth amendment standards.

Before summarizing the evidence, it is necessary to describe the prison. Walpole is not an old facility compared to many state prisons. It was opened in 1955 with a capacity for 666 inmates. At the time of trial, there were 580 prisoners; the average population is about 600.

There are thirteen cell blocks plus two small cell areas, the New Man's Section and the infirmary. ² Each inmate has his own cell which is furnished with a bed, bedding, mattress, table, chair, a sink with hot and cold running water and a toilet. The prisoners are classified into different groups and each group is assigned to separate cell block areas.

Blocks A 1-A 4 house medium-security inmates. There are a total of 261 cells. Blocks A 1, A 2 and A 3 are each rectangular with the cells located along two exterior walls. There are three tiers of cells consisting of twelve cells to a tier on each side of the central area of the block which is known as the "flats." The cells on the second and third tiers onto a catwalk with stairways going down to the "flats." Each cell has a window in the exterior wall looking outside onto the prison grounds. A solid steel door with a small observation window opens to the central area of the block. Block A 4 has three tiers of fifteen cells, each along an interior wall, facing a blank wall with an officer's observation gallery. These cells have three solid sides with a grille door facing onto the flats. Ventilation is supplied by a combination heat and air circulation system.

Cell Blocks B 6 and B 7 are occupied by those inmates who have recently arrived at Walpole and have not yet been classified. Each block contains forty-five cells and is identical to Block A 4.

Maximum security inmates are housed in Blocks B 1-B 4. Each block has forty-five cells arranged in three fifteen-cell tiers identical in layout and construction to Blocks A 4, B 6 and B 7.

Block 10 contains those inmates whom the administration believes to be the most disruptive, violent and difficult to control. It consists of four tiers of fifteen cells each, two tiers back-to-back on the ground level, and two tiers above them. The upper tier cells have three solid walls and a grille door opening onto the central corridor. The lower level cells have a solid steel door with an observation window that closes over the grille door.

Protective custody inmates, those who fear physical harm from other prisoners are housed in Blocks A 6 and B 9. Block A 6 is identical to Blocks B 1, B 4, B 6, B 7 and A 4. Block B 9 has an upper and lower level. The lower level consists of three five-cell tiers. Each cell has three solid walls, a grille wall with a grille door in it facing onto the corridor. The upper level has two back-to-back tiers of ten cells each. Each cell has a grille door in a solid wall and a solid steel door that can be closed over the grille.

The New Man's section is an eight-cell unit located beneath the infirmary. It has no natural light or ventilation.

There are showers for each cell block.

Walpole also includes a kitchen, food storage area, dining hall and inmate canteen. There are outdoor recreation yards, a gymnasium, indoor recreation rooms and places for program activities. A law library and regular library are provided. The prison also contains visiting rooms, an avocation area, a laundry, a barbershop, shop and industrial areas, an auditorium and chapels. There are administrative offices and security facilities. Walpole has its own power plant and maintenance facilities.

We focus first on the sanitary conditions in the maximum security section of Walpole, Blocks B 1 to B 4 and Block 10, because they...