Crain v. Bordenkircher
| Decision Date | 27 March 1986 |
| Docket Number | No. 16646,16646 |
| Citation | 342 S.E.2d 422,176 W.Va. 338 |
| Parties | Robert Carl CRAIN, et al. v. Donald E. BORDENKIRCHER, Warden, etc. |
| Court | West Virginia Supreme Court |
James F. Companion, William D. Wilmoth, Barbara L. Baxter, Schrader, Stamp, Byrd, Byrum & Companion, Wheeling, Daniel F. Hedges, Appalachian Research and Defense Fund, Charleston, and Patricia Valentino Kutsch, P.A., Wheeling, for appellants.
Charlie Brown, Atty. Gen., and Dana D. Davis, Asst. Atty. Gen., Charleston, for appellees.
In this appeal by inmates at the West Virginia Penitentiary at Moundsville (WVP), we are asked to determine if the State's Compliance Plan approved by a special judge comports with the original findings and orders of the judge who heard the case. We find it does not.
This case originated in 1981 when Robert Crain, a prisoner at WVP, filed a habeas corpus petition in this Court alleging the conditions of confinement violated West Virginia statutory standards and were unconstitutional as cruel and unusual punishment. On June 10, 1981, we appointed the Honorable Arthur M. Recht of the First Judicial Circuit to conduct a hearing on the issue in the Circuit Court of Marshall County, Moundsville, West Virginia.
Similar petitions by other WVP inmates were consolidated and the action proceeded as a class action pursuant to Rule 23 of the West Virginia Rules of Civil Procedure. The named appellees are Donald Bordenkircher, as Warden, and Joseph McCoy, as Commissioner of the Department of Corrections. 1
Prior to trial, Judge Recht, accompanied by counsel for both sides, made a three-and-one-half-hour tour of the facilities at WVP. After extensive discovery and numerous pretrial conferences, trial began on February 15, 1982, and concluded on February 27, 1982.
At issue at the trial were the physical conditions at WVP and virtually every policy and procedure by which the penitentiary is operated and maintained. Appellants alleged their confinement at the 120-year-old facility constituted cruel and unusual treatment in violation of the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States and Article III, Section 5 of the Constitution of West Virginia. A number of facts were stipulated, and during the trial the testimony concentrated on receiving specific complaints from inmates, personnel at WVP including the appellees, and experts. This testimony related to all aspects of the conditions at WVP, including the health, safety, welfare, and rehabilitation of the entire inmate population.
After trial, the parties agreed to a Consent Decree that encompassed the revision of various prison policies and the appointment of a Special Master whose duties would be to monitor the implementation of and compliance with the final decree.
On June 21, 1983, the circuit court issued a seventy-five page Memorandum of Opinion, Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law, and Order in which it detailed the numerous deficiencies that when considered in their totality rendered the conditions of confinement at WVP unconstitutional. The court ordered the Department of Corrections to submit within 180 days a plan to remedy various deficiencies and to bring the totality of conditions up to constitutional standards. The court also incorporated the Consent Decree as part of its Order. It is important to note that the Department of Corrections did not appeal this Order. Thus, the court's findings as to the unconstitutional conditions are not at issue in this appeal and we term this order as the "Final Order."
In the fall of 1983, Judge Recht resigned from the bench and was replaced in this case by Special Judge John F. Bronson. The Department submitted its Compliance Plan to Judge Bronson who, on September 1, 1984, approved it over appellants' objections. Appellants appealed asking this Court to reverse those portions of Judge Bronson's order that approve the parts of the Department's Compliance Plan that do not meet the requirements of the Final Order, and asking this Court to modify that Plan so that it will comply with constitutional and statutory standards.
It is difficult to accurately summarize the deplorable conditions that were found to exist at WVP. Throughout this opinion, we refer to certain specific findings made by Judge Recht in order to give a factual background to discuss aspects of the Compliance Plan. These represent only a small portion of those facts that made up the "totality of conditions" which were found to render the penitentiary unconstitutional in his Final Order.
The existing facilities are a conglomerate of structures beginning with the first constructions in the 1860's followed by additions built in 1908 and 1923, which Judge Recht found are badly deteriorated by reason of age and lack of maintenance. This conclusion is borne out in several legislative studies that are referred to later in this opinion.
Voluminous testimony was taken to outline the conditions. Inmates testified as to the deteriorated condition of the in-cell plumbing such that when an inmate in an adjoining cell flushes his toilet, the sewage will back up into the adjoining cell's toilet. Leaking and overflow of toilets onto the cell floor is not uncommon. Pigeons and sparrows roost in the cell tiers gaining access through broken windows and permeate the area with their droppings.
Temperature control is inadequate causing freezing temperatures in some cell areas in winter and extremely hot conditions in the summer. Because of lack of ventilation and cleanliness and sewage spills, much of the living facility is permeated with a stench. Fire and safety hazards abound and are compounded by numerous health hazards in the food service area. Food is contaminated with hair, insects, and other foreign substances. 2
Two expert witnesses who toured the facilities and reviewed the extensive documents developed in this case were appalled as to the existing conditions. They commented on the lack of meaningful recreational facilities, rehabilitative programs, and the pervasive idleness that resulted in the inmates being kept in their cells for extended periods each day. The lack of sufficient lighting in the cells made even reading difficult to idle time away. Both were dubious that renovation of the existing facility would be economically feasible.
One of the experts, Michael Mahoney, 3 gave this summary of the overall conditions: The other expert, Michael Lane, 4 concluded in this fashion: "The most dismal overall conditions that I have ever seen in a facility anywhere, that I have been under any circumstances." 5 Finally, we observe that even Warden Bordenkircher testified that
There is no dispute that habeas corpus is an appropriate remedy to test the constitutionality of the conditions of confinement, as we stated in Syllabus Point 1 of Hickson v. Kellison, 170 W.Va. 732, 296 S.E.2d 855 (1982):
"
It is important to note from the outset that Judge Recht's ultimate conclusion was that the "totality of conditions" at WVP rendered confinement there cruel and unusual punishment. We have recognized this point in Syllabus Point 2 of Hickson:
"Certain conditions of jail confinement may be so lacking in the area of adequate food, clothing, shelter, sanitation, medical care and personal safety as to constitute cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article III, Section 5 of the West Virginia Constitution."
The totality of conditions assessment of constitutional compliance has received broad acceptance by the federal courts. See Rhodes v. Chapman, 452 U.S. 337, 101 S.Ct. 2392, 69 L.Ed.2d 59 (1981); Hutto v. Finney, 437 U.S. 678, 98 S.Ct. 2565, 57 L.Ed.2d 522 (1978); Dawson v. Kendrick, 527 F.Supp. 1252, 1285 (S.D.W.Va.1981); Pugh v. Locke, 406 F.Supp. 318 (M.D.Ala.1976), aff'd as modified sub nom., Newman v. Alabama, 559 F.2d 283 (5th Cir.1977), rev'd in part on other grounds sub nom., Alabama v. Pugh, 438 U.S. 781, 98 S.Ct. 3057, 57 L.Ed.2d 1114 (1978) (per curiam), cert. denied sub nom, Newman v. Alabama, 438 U.S. 915, 98 S.Ct. 3144, 57 L.Ed.2d 1160 (1...
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