Canterino v. Wilson

• Decision Date: 26 July 1982
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 80-0545-L.
• Parties: Pat CANTERINO, et al., Plaintiffs, and United States of America, Plaintiff Intervenor, v. George W. WILSON, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Kentucky

546 F. Supp. 174

Pat CANTERINO, et al., Plaintiffs, and United States of America, Plaintiff Intervenor, v. George W. WILSON, et al., Defendants.

Civ. A. No. 80-0545-L.

United States District Court, W. D. Kentucky, Louisville Division.

July 26, 1982.

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Susan Deller Ross, Charles Ory, Terisa Chaw, U. S. Justice Dept., Civ. Rights Div., Sp. Litigation Section, Washington, D. C., for plaintiff-intervenor.

Walker Bledsoe Smith, David A. Friedman, Anne Marie Regan, Legal Aid Soc., Inc., Leslie W. Abramson, Louisville, Ky., Claudia T. Wright, ACLU National Prison Project, Washington, D. C., for plaintiffs.

Barbara W. Jones, Gen. Counsel, Linda G. Cooper, Corrections Cabinet, J. Gary Bale, Dept. of Education, Frankfort, Ky., for defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

JOHNSTONE, District Judge.

This action is before the Court for judgment following a four week trial, submission of post-trial briefs and oral arguments. Plaintiffs are inmates at the Kentucky Correctional Institution for Women (KCIW). They seek a broad range of relief concerning the conditions of their confinement, disparate treatment of men and women inmates in Kentucky's prisons, and the denial of opportunities for vocational training and education. This action was filed on October 31, 1980 and a class was certified on December 22, 1980 pursuant to Rule 23(a), (b)(1) and (b)(2) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure for purposes of declaratory and injunctive relief. Defendants are officials of the Kentucky Department of Corrections with responsibility for operating KCIW.

Plaintiffs' complaint was amended for the second time by motion made December 23, 1981 and sustained February 22, 1982. The second amended complaint joined the Superintendent of Public Instruction as a defendant, alleging the Department of Education operates vocational education programs for the Department of Corrections in a manner which discriminates against women in violation of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and Title II of the Vocational Education Amendments of 1976. The Court severed the claims against the Department of Education on April 6, 1982, pending trial of the claims against the Department of Corrections.

The United States Department of Justice filed a complaint in intervention on March 11, 1982, alleging discrimination against female inmates in the Kentucky prison system in violation of the equal protection clause of the fourteenth amendment and 20 U.S.C. § 1681.¹ This action is properly maintained as a class action and jurisdiction is proper under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1341, 1343, 1345 and 42 U.S.C. § 2000h-2. Venue is proper under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1391 and 1392.

KCIW is a multi-custody prison located on a compound of 276 acres, seven of which are fenced and contain the main institutional buildings. One building, opened in 1938, contains the dormitories, cafeteria, kitchen, infirmary, academic school, institutional offices, admissions and orientation unit, canteen, laundry, special management unit (cellblock), and law library (PX 55, DX 8). An annex to this building, constructed more recently, houses the vocational education program. In addition to the main building, KCIW has an honor cottage, a chapel, a recreation building called the "Barn", and a minimum security unit known as "staff house."

The institution was designed to house a maximum of 110 inmates. Its population reached a modern high of 145 in 1976, at which time the state opened a new minimum security institution in northern Kentucky for women to relieve overcrowding at KCIW. That minimum security facility, the Daniel Boone Career Development Center (DBCDC), which usually housed around thirty women, (DX 22, p. 5), was closed in September, 1981 for budgetary reasons.² The prisoners at DBCDC were all transferred back to KCIW. Thus KCIW houses all minimum, medium and maximum security female offenders in Kentucky.

Most inmates at KCIW (63%) are between 18 and 30 years old. The median education level is tenth grade. About two-thirds of the inmates come from broken homes and almost three-quarters were responsible for at least one dependent child before incarceration. All but a handful were the sole or primary support for at least one dependent. A large majority (74%) of KCIW inmates were being incarcerated for the first time. Property crimes of theft, fraud and forgery comprise nearly half of all convictions. Murder and manslaughter are the next most frequent crimes, followed by drug related offenses. (See Peachee, "A Description of Female Offenders at KCIW," PX 5).

KCIW has operated since 1977 under a Levels System in which all institutional privileges are allocated on the basis of behavior and seniority. This system is all encompassing and is at the heart of plaintiffs' allegations of sex-based disparities in conditions of confinement.

The Court has divided the case into three main parts: the Levels System, vocational education and training, and general conditions of confinement. Issues concerning the classification procedures used at KCIW overlap into each of these areas, but some aspects of the classification system will be addressed separately.

Although the findings and conclusions which follow dictate that substantial changes must be made at KCIW, this should not be taken as an adverse reflection on Superintendent Kassulke, Associate Superintendent Chandler or the other highly committed staff people at the institution. Officials at KCIW, contrary to the case in so many conditions of confinement lawsuits, have exhibited great dedication to their jobs and genuine concern for the welfare of the inmates in their charge. The Court respects the efforts of these officials in a difficult job.

I FINDINGS OF FACT

A. THE LEVELS SYSTEM

1. History and Purpose

The Levels System is a behavior modification program which regulates virtually every dimension of each inmate's life at KCIW. It controls visitation, phone calls, receipt of packages, bedtime, personal belongings, clothing, cosmetics, television viewing, recreation, bedding, and many other facets of daily existence. (See Plaintiffs' Exhibit # 122, Incentive Levels, 5th revision).

Each prisoner, upon admission to KCIW, is placed on Level 1, the status of all new inmates and inmates "who have normal privileges restricted." (PX 122, p. 5). Level 1 inmates are restricted to two one hour visits per week, and one five minute telephone call per month. They are denied access to the lounge and must be at their beds by 9:00 PM and in bed by 9:30. They cannot wear their own clothes, possess a hairdryer, display pictures of loved ones, or decorate their living areas. (PX 122). These restrictions on normal privileges are gradually lifted as an inmate progresses through the system.

A minimum amount of time must be spent on each level before promotion. The inmate must complete at least 30 days on Level 1, 60 days on Level 2, and 120 days each for Levels 3 and 4. There is a monthly review for all Level 5 inmates. Many inmates, solely because they are admitted after the third day of the month, when the Levels Committee meets, must spend up to 59 or 60 days on Level 1. (Testimony of Elizabeth Chandler, Assoc. Supt.). The average length of incarceration at KCIW is between eleven and thirteen months (DX 7). Most inmates, therefore, are not at the institution long enough to go beyond Level 3. (Chandler Testimony). Indeed, eighty (80) of the one hundred thirty (130) women who live in the main building were on Levels 1 and 2 at the time of the trial. (PX 2).

Inmates, to advance in the system, must avoid disciplinary infractions and meet certain minimum levels of performance in designated areas for which the correctional staff evaluates each prisoner. The areas of evaluation are work assignment, program participation, house cleaning³ and "4 to 12" (conduct during free time). (PX 135). The evaluations are based on the subjective judgment of the staff, but testimony established that in over 99% of all cases, the evaluations yield a score high enough to ensure promotion (Testimony of Elizabeth Chandler, Assoc. Supt.). As a practical matter, therefore, the evaluations are pro forma and one's ability to progress through the system is dependent on a single, overriding factor: the ability to avoid disciplinary write-ups. (See plaintiff's cross-examination of Elizabeth Chandler, May 10, 1982).

The stated goal of the Levels System is "to promote personal growth, a positive attitude and socially acceptable behavior." (PX 122). The Court finds that the system in actual operation, however, "probably does just the opposite," as Shirley Goins, plaintiffs' expert in corrections and the female offender, testified. Though the system purports to emphasize "positive reinforcements rather than punishment as a means of controlling behavior" (PX 122), in reality "it is primarily a punishment oriented system." (Testimony of Dr. Michael Nietzel, plaintiffs' expert in behavior modification). Dr. Michael Milan, professor of community psychology at Georgia State University, testified that, contrary to its stated goal, the system operates as if "intentionally designed to cause psychological and emotional damage." To understand why, the evolution of the system must be examined.

KCIW began to receive a new type of offender in the early 1970s. The staff, for the first time, was confronted with a group of inmates who were institutionally sophisticated, disruptive, and potentially dangerous. This posed special problems at KCIW, a small institution with open dormitory style living areas which housed all categories of offenders, from a wide variety of backgrounds. (Testimony of Betty Kassulke, Supt.). A series of incidents from 1972 to 1976 convinced Superintendent Kassulke that the institution "was out of control."

The monthly incident reports from the periods in question, (PX 181-83), show that...