Burks v. Walsh
| Decision Date | 03 November 1978 |
| Docket Number | 77-4008-CV-C,75-CV-100-C and 78-4093-CV-C.,No. 75-CV-149-C,75-CV-149-C |
| Citation | 461 F. Supp. 454 |
| Parties | Calvin BURKS et al., Plaintiff, v. James F. WALSH et al., Defendants. Douglas THOMPSON, Plaintiff, v. Joseph P. TEASDALE et al., Defendants. Daryl HINES, Plaintiff, v. Joseph P. TEASDALE et al., Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Western District of Missouri |
Michael J. Hoare, St. Louis, Mo., Steven G. Gladstone, A.C.L.U., Columbia, Mo., for plaintiffs.
William F. Arnet, Michael Boicourt, Asst. Attys. Gen., Jefferson City, Mo., for defendants.
The above-styled consolidated actions are brought pursuant to Rule 23, F.R.Civ.P., wherein the named plaintiffs seek injunctive and declaratory relief on behalf of all inmates presently confined at the Missouri State Penitentiary in Jefferson City, Missouri hereinafter sometimes referred to as the Penitentiary and those to be confined there in the future.
With the consent of the parties, this Court, on August 10, 1978, severed the various issues raised by the Complaints and ordered that the September 25, 1978 trial be "limited to solely the issues of overcrowding and unsanitary conditions, the remaining issues raised by these actions to be tried at a date to be later set by the Court."1 Specifically, plaintiffs ask that the Court find that, upon consideration of the totality of the conditions which exist at the Penitentiary, (1) the Penitentiary is so overcrowded and unsanitary that it is deplorable and inhumane and wholly fails to provide a tolerable living environment; (2) the conditions of confinement at the Penitentiary complained of herein serve no legitimate correctional purpose. Plaintiffs then ask that the Court declare, as a consequence of such findings, that the overcrowding and unsanitary conditions violate the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution.
Defendants in these cases include Joseph P. Teasdale, Governor of the State of Missouri, James F. Walsh, Director of the Missouri Department of Social Services, Sheldon Bernstein, Deputy Director of the Department of Social Services, Donald R. Jenkins, Director of the Missouri Division of Corrections, and Donald W. Wyrick, Warden of the Missouri State Penitentiary at Jefferson City.
Jurisdiction is conferred by 28 U.S.C. § 1343(3) and (4).
THE PENITENTIARY: AN OVERVIEW
The Missouri State Penitentiary for Men at Jefferson City, Missouri covers 47.8 acres and is situated on a bluff overlooking the Missouri River. Buildings presently in use at the institution include Housing Units, a Maintenance Building, Clothing and Shoe Factories, Metal and Furniture Plants, a Soap Factory, Recreation Buildings, a Power Plant, a Hospital, an Administration Building, a Lower Yard Canteen, and a Garage Building.
Inmates at the Penitentiary reside in one of the seven housing units within the walls, the hospital, or in Housing Unit # 7, located outside the walls of the Penitentiary. Housing Unit # 1 contains the Diagnostic Center, which is the reception center for the entire Missouri prison system. Although it is located within the walls, defendants argue that it is not a part of the Missouri State Penitentiary. With this in mind, the parties have stipulated that the inmate population at the Penitentiary was as follows for the dates indicated:
Excluding Excluding
Including HU # 1 HU # 7
HU # 1 Including Excluding
Date and HU # 7 HU # 7 HU # 1
5-30-78 2,594 2,424 2,313
6-09-78 2,620 2,414 2,303
6-27-78 2,582 2,420 2,305
7-28-78 2,633 2,416 2,308
8-15-78 2,582 2,424 2,309
Although not the subject of a stipulation, Warden Wyrick did testify at trial that, as of September 28, 1978, the total inmate population at the Penitentiary, including both Housing Units 1 and 7, was 2,624; excluding Housing Unit # 1 only, the population was 2,442; excluding both Housing Units 1 and 7, the population was 2,330. According to defendants' Answers to Interrogatories, as of July 1, 1975, there were a total of 1,945 inmates housed at the Penitentiary, including both Housing Units 1 and 7; excluding Housing Unit # 1 only, the population was 1,729; excluding both Housing Units 1 and 7, the population was 1,621.
The Long-Term Housing Units
Housing Unit No. 2 is what is known as a "cell block." A cell block is a structure containing four tiers of cells. The first tier of each cell block is referred to as "the flag," and each tier has two walks. Thus, Walks 1 and 2 are located on the flag (the first tier), Walks 3 and 4 are located on the second tier, etc. Housing Unit No. 2 is divided into two wings, the wings being separated by a rotunda, where the Sergeant's office is located. One wing is known as Housing Unit 2A (also known as F Hall) while the other wing is known as Housing Unit 2B (also known as G Hall). There are 24 cells located on each walk of Housing Unit 2A and 24 cells located on each walk of Housing Unit 2B, for a total of 192 cells located in Housing Unit 2A and 192 in Housing Unit 2B. One of the cells, however, on each walk in Housing Unit 2A has been converted into a shower area, as has one of the cells on each walk in Housing Unit 2B, according to the testimony of Warden Wyrick. Each of these shower cells is equipped with two shower heads, for a total of 16 shower heads in Housing Unit 2A and 16 shower heads in Housing Unit 2B.
Of the remaining 368 cells in Housing Unit No. 2, 366 are used to house inmates. Ninety of these cells contained one inmate, as of September 16, 1978, while 276 cells contained two inmates, for a total population of 642. This compares with a population of approximately 357 on July 1, 1975.
There are sixty-four window frames in Housing Unit No. 2, each measuring sixty feet in width by thirty feet in height.
The Housing Unit was constructed in the late 1930's and the cells contained therein measure 6'7" by 7'2" by 8'2", for a total of 47.18 square feet. The entire Housing Unit is devoted to the housing of inmates in the Penitentiary's general population.
Housing Unit No. 3 is also a cell block. Like Housing Unit No. 2, it is divided into two wings, the wings being separated by a rotunda, where the Sergeant's office is located. One wing is known as Housing Unit 3A (also known as C Hall) while the other wing is known as Housing Unit 3B (also known as D Hall). Housing Unit 3A has four tiers of cells and eight walks, as does Housing Unit 3B. Each walk has one shower area with two shower heads each, for a total of sixteen shower areas containing a total of thirty-two shower heads in Housing Unit 3. There are thirty-two window frames in Housing Unit 3, each measuring eight feet wide by twenty-four feet high.
Housing Unit No. 3 was constructed in approximately 1865 and contains 222 cells, each measuring 6'6" by 10' by 7'10" (65 square feet). As of September 16, 1978, each of the 222 cells in Housing Unit No. 3 contained two men, for a total population of 444.2 This compares to a total population of 426 on July 1, 1975.
Housing Unit No. 4 was constructed in approximately 1865 and is what Warden Wyrick described as a "semi-honor dorm." Inmates must make written application to live in this unit, and that application is reviewed, together with the inmate's past conduct record, by the administration in order to determine whether the inmate in question has demonstrated an ability to live with his fellow inmates under a minimum of supervision. He described the beds contained in the unit as being wider and of superior quality, and further observed that they were not bunk beds, nor were they attached to the walls.
The unit contains 136 cells, each measuring 8'7" by 12'9" by 8'8" (109.437 square feet). It has one central shower area containing six shower heads.
Each cell in the unit has an individual window frame and, in addition, there are 32 window frames in the unit, each measuring approximately eight feet wide by twenty-four feet high.
As of September 16, 1978, each of the 136 cells contained in Housing Unit No. 4 housed two men, for a total population of 272. This compares to a total population of 240 on July 1, 1975.
Housing Unit No. 5 was constructed in the late 1930's and is a cell block, very similar to Housing Unit No. 2. It contains 364 cells which are used to house inmates, each measuring 6'7" by 7'2" by 8'2" (47.18 square feet). Like Housing Unit No. 2, it is divided into two wings, the wings being known as Housing Unit 5A (also known as J Hall) and Housing Unit 5B (also known as K Hall). The wings are separated by a rotunda, where the Sergeant's office is located.
Housing Unit No. 5A has four tiers of cells and eight walks, as does Housing Unit 5B. Each walk has one shower area with two shower heads each, for a total of sixteen shower areas containing a total of thirty-two shower heads in Housing Unit 5. There are sixty-four window frames in the Unit, each measuring eight feet wide by twenty-four feet high.
The first three tiers of Housing Unit No. 5A, containing 136 cells, constitute the Special Treatment Unit, to be discussed later. Including those inmates housed in the Special Treatment Unit, Housing Unit No. 5 contained 376 inmates on July 1, 1975 and 630 inmates on July 1, 1978. According to the stipulations of the parties, that figure had risen to 640 by September 16, 1978 and, according to Warden Wyrick's daily count sheet dated September 28, 1978, the figure had risen to 658.
If those inmates housed in the Special Treatment Unit are not included, then Housing Unit No. 5, as of September 16, 1978, contained 364 inmates, 88 in one-man cells, 138 in two-man cells.3
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