Craig v. Hocker
| Decision Date | 20 February 1975 |
| Docket Number | Civ. No. R-2662 BRT. |
| Citation | 405 F. Supp. 656 |
| Parties | Robbie CRAIG and Charles Hayter, Plaintiffs, v. Carl HOCKER, Warden, Nevada State Prison, et al., Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Nevada |
COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED
COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED
Charles R. Zeh, Washoe County Legal Aid Society, William K. Lohse, William O'Mara, Reno, Nev. and Paul Lamboley, Reno, Nev., for plaintiffs.
Robert List, Atty. Gen., of Nev., Carson City, Nev., for defendants.
This is a prisoners' civil rights action which involves many facets of prison administration and discipline of prisoners at the Nevada State Prison. It is a class action and all inmates of the Prison are members of the class.
The action was initiated by a pro se complaint filed in forma pauperis on May 1, 1972. Thereafter, counsel were appointed to represent plaintiffs and the Court desires to express its deep appreciation to counsel and Mr. Charles Zeh in particular for the tremendous amount of work, investigation and research which went into the preparation, trial and briefs of the case. The trial was held in April 1974. Both the named plaintiffs, Robbie Craig and Charles Hayter, testified. Several experts, including psychiatrists and people knowledgeable in prison administration and reform, offered their informed opinions.
During the course of the proceedings, there have been changes, not only in the administration of the Prison but in the staffing. Edwin Pogue has succeeded Carl Hocker as Warden. A competent physician in internal medicine, a dentist and a psychiatrist have been added to the staff. Other improvements have been made. But the obstacles to humane treatment which are inherent in the character of the physical plant have not changed.
The Nevada State Prison is approximately one hundred years old. The maximum security institution adjacent to Carson City, Nevada, was constructed of stone quarried on the site of the edifice by prisoners. Early in the 1960's, a medium security prison was constructed near Stewart, Nevada, a few miles south of Carson City. Also a women's prison was constructed adjacent to the maximum security facility. The administration of the women's prison is not involved in this action.
The manager of the State Public Works Board testified that the 1973 Nevada Legislature initiated a program with the ultimate objective of abandoning the maximum security prison. An addition to the medium security facility was under construction at the time of trial. Further, plans were being formulated for construction of a new two hundred inmate prison, perhaps in Southern Nevada, and money was appropriated for construction of a thirty-two capacity security unit at the Nevada State Hospital in Reno to house psychotic patients deemed to be unmanageable or dangerous. It depends upon the will of subsequent Legislatures whether additional institutions shall be constructed and staffed to permit the abandonment of the maximum security prison.
A considerable portion of the expert testimony concerned the need for prison reform. The obvious was emphasized that is, that our present system does not work. It neither deters the commission of crime nor reforms the offender. It serves only two ends — to punish the offender and to safeguard society from his criminal activities so long as he is confined. This, however, is a sociological problem within the jurisdiction of the Legislature and does not become a judicial problem unless the means and methods adopted for the care and treatment of persons convicted of crime offend constitutional safeguards. The system of confining convicts in penitentiaries is not itself unconstitutional.
At the time of the trial, there were eight hundred fifty inmates in the Nevada State Prison. Half of these were in the maximum security prison, thirty-four in the women's prison, and the remainder in the medium security facility. This action is not concerned with conditions at the medium security facility or in the administration of that facility except in one respect only, that is, the procedures resulting in the re-transfer of a prisoner from the medium security prison to the maximum security prison. The medium security prison has dormitory housing, high school and college level educational programs, vocational training, hobby crafts, work release programs (N.R.S. 209.483, et seq.), a gymnasium, playing fields and recreational directors.
Initially, all convicts committed to the Nevada State Prison are received at the maximum security prison for orientation, screening and classification. At that institution, there are three general classes of confinement, (1) isolation or punitive segregation, in which ten inmates were confined at the time of trial; (2) maximum housing, which was then harboring about fifty prisoners; and (3) the general population (the yard). Approximately ten trustees in the general population live on the short line, a dormitory outside the main security area. There is also a psychiatric ward or unit which was housing about ten persons, not necessarily inmates. More of this later.
Inmates in the general population are housed mostly in single cells which have bunks with mattresses. There are also three dormitories. There is a toilet and sink in each cell with cold running water. Two sheets, two blankets and a pillow case are supplied and three towels. One sheet is changed each week. Towels are exchangeable at will. Inmates may shave and shower at will. The inmates eat in the dining hall, three meals a day. Each inmate has clean underclothes, socks, shoes blue denim pants, shirts and jacket. He may supply and wear his own shirt of a specified style. He is permitted to have personal possessions, such as cigarettes, cosmetic supplies, a record player, a television set, books and magazines.
Opportunities for recreation in the yard are limited. There is no gymnasium. An inmate may engage in weight lifting, basketball, volley ball, badminton and soft ball. Hobby crafts consist mostly of leather work and art crafts.
Employment opportunities for general population inmates include culinary work, maintenance work, the license plate factory, the book repair or bindery shop and the plasma program. Good time credits against the sentence may be earned by work. N.R.S. 209.285.
At the time of trial, the prison administration was planning an educational program for these inmates. The recent development of the Western Community College in Carson City has brought about the possibility of an expanded educational program.
Maximum security confinement contrasts with the freedom of the yard. The inmate is locked up in a cell and remains there most of the time. He is fed three times a day in the cell. The morning and late afternoon meals are the standard menu, but the food is usually cold by the time it is delivered. Sandwiches are served in the late evening. The clothing is standard. An inmate may have a radio, record player, television set, books and magazines. There is no employment opportunity, vocational training or educational program, except individual study courses. There is an outside exercise yard adjacent to the maximum security cell block which is seldom used because of insufficient supervisory personnel. A maximum security inmate may use the bullpen, an inside exercise room, about twice a week for an hour or so. The bullpen is essentially an oversized cell in the cell block, devoid of furniture or exercise equipment except a wooden table. A "max" inmate may take one shower a week, but has running water in his cell and can shave at will.
A sub-class of maximum housing prisoners are prisoners in institutional lockup or administrative segregation. These are prisoners who are classified to this form of confinement primarily for their own protection, perhaps because of anticipated homosexual assaults or because it is known that another prisoner is out to get him. The cells are typical of those provided for the general population, but movement is restricted. At the time of trial, there were forty inmates in institutional lockup. They have restricted employment opportunities in the book bindery or as a tier runner. Exercise is available only in the cell inasmuch as they cannot be released to the bullpen, maximum security outside exercise yard or the general yard to mingle with other prisoners. Formerly they were fed like maximum security prisoners, but since this action was commenced, they have been fed two meals a day in the dining hall under guard.
The "hole" or punitive segregation is the most restrictive form of confinement. It is used as punishment for violations of prison rules. There are seventeen cells in the tier comprising the hole. The small cell has two doors, an inner steel barred door and an outer solid steel door. The cell has no bunk but is provided with a solid steel plate with a thin mattress. There is no running water. The cell has an oriental toilet, that is, a hole in the floor. An outside guard operates the flusher. No smoking is permitted. Inmates may shower and shave once a week at stated times. No employment is permitted. An inmate has a Bible and the possibility of one law book at a time, but no other reading material and no radio, record player or television set. A prisoner in solitary could write one letter a week but could receive no personal correspondence except legal mail. They have no visitation privileges. Clothing consists solely of a pair of coveralls. One blanket is supplied. On occasion, an inmate has been thrown in the hole naked after having been teargassed.
Some of these conditions have been somewhat ameliorated since this action was filed. Warden Pogue testified that he had ordered five new design security toilets to replace the oriental toilets as part of a phasing-out program.
A pre-trial order was entered in this action on November 20, 1973, which outlines in general the...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Nadeau v. Helgemoe
...(1975); Fitzke v. Shappell, 468 F.2d 1072, 1076 (6th Cir. 1972); Campbell v. Beto, 460 F.2d 765, 768 (5th Cir. 1972); Craig v. Hocker, 405 F.Supp. 656, 669 (D.Nev.1975); Dillard v. Pitchess, 399 F.Supp. 1225, 1237 (C.D.Cal.1972); Battle v. Anderson, supra, 376 F.Supp. at 424; Eisenstadt, su......
-
Dawson v. Kendrick
...cannot exceed three days." 238 S.E.2d at 234. 59 See also Berch v. Stahl, 373 F.Supp. 412, 422-23 (W.D.N.C.1974); Craig v. Hocker, 405 F.Supp. 656, 662 (D.Nev.1975). 60 Neisser cites in support the following at footnote See, e.g., Miller v. Carson, 401 F.Supp. 835, 878 (M.D.Fla.1975); Inmat......
-
Laaman v. Helgemoe
...of their First Amendment right to freedom of association was dismissed for failure to state a cause of action. Craig v. Hocker, 405 F.Supp. 656, 674 (D.Nev.1975). See McCray v. Sullivan, 509 F.2d 1332, 1334 (5th Cir.), cert. den., 423 U.S. 859, 96 S.Ct. 114, 46 L.Ed.2d 86 (1975); Walker v. ......
-
Jackson v. Ward
...Gray v. Creamer, supra, note 6; McCleary v. Kelly, 376 F.Supp. 1186 (M.D.Pa.1974). See also Aikens v. Jenkins, supra; Craig v. Hocker, 405 F.Supp. 656, 674 (D.Nev.1975).12 But cf. Carpenter v. State of South Dakota, 536 F.2d 759 (8th Cir. 1976), cert. denied, 431 U.S. 931, 97 S.Ct. 2636, 53......