Dooley v. Quick

• Decision Date: 19 November 1984
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 84-0057 S.
• Citation: 598 F. Supp. 607
• Parties: Thomas F. DOOLEY, III, et al., Plaintiffs, v. Stafford S. QUICK, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Rhode Island

598 F. Supp. 607

Thomas F. DOOLEY, III, et al., Plaintiffs, v. Stafford S. QUICK, Defendant.

Civ. A. No. 84-0057 S.

United States District Court, D. Rhode Island.

November 19, 1984.

Thomas F. Dooley, III, pro se.

Donald R. Coulter, pro se.

George M. Cappello, Chief Counsel, R.I. Dept. of Corrections, Anthony C. Cipriano, Asst. Counsel, Cranston, R.I., for defendant.

OPINION AND ORDER

SELYA, District Judge.

This prisoner petition was filed pro se on February 9, 1984 by Thomas F. Dooley, III and Donald R. Coulter. Both Dooley and Coulter were convicted on state felony charges. They were each sentenced to serve lengthy terms of incarceration and have been confined at the High Security Center (Center) of the Adult Correctional Institution (ACI), Cranston, Rhode Island, a state penal facility.¹

The sole named defendant is Stafford S. Quick, an associate director of corrections of the state of Rhode Island and the associate director of the Center. Quick is sued both individually and in his official capacity. While the plaintiffs purport to sue "any and all others that may be directly or otherwise involved in depriving the plaintiffs of their constitutional guarantees," Complaint at 4 ¶ 9, there is no indication that any putative defendant other than Quick has been served.

This case is one which implicates vital concerns: the need of a large, crowded penitentiary to maintain order and security; the pervasive threat which homosexuality poses in a custodial environment; and the right of prisoners—even overtly gay prisoners —to enjoy the benefits of the Constitution consistent with the legitimate constraints inherent in sound penological management. The "high ground of constitutional principle," Marcello v. Regan, 574 F.Supp. 586, 596 (D.R.I.1983), is all too easily beclouded when issues which, even in the abstract, kindle fiery emotions are viewed in the bright glare of such highlycharged elements as violent crime, hardened criminality, and unabashed homosexuality. Yet, the Constitution knows no sexual preference; and purely "subjective judgments are a luxury which the courts cannot indulge." Id.

The matter is presently before the court for action on the memorandum and recommendations (Report) of a special master, Hon. Frederick DeCesaris, filed July 19, 1984. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 53(e)(2). Since the antecedents of the litigation are tangled, however, the court turns first to an exploration of the road which led to this juncture.

I. PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND.

Dooley and Coulter filed their original suit in the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island on August 10, 1982. Dooley v. Moran, C.A. No. 82-0518 (Dooley I). Dooley I raised, inter alia, allegations of harassment and discriminatory treatment stemming from the plaintiffs' homosexual orientation, and dealt with events which ostensibly occurred during a narrow time frame of less than one month, commencing June 28, 1982. The suit lay dormant for an extended interlude.

The docketing of the instant action in early 1984 was accompanied by the filing of a motion for a temporary restraining order. Fed.R.Civ.P. 65(b). This court denied interim injunctive relief, Dooley v. Quick, C.A. No. 84-0057, slip op. at 2 (D.R.I. Feb. 14, 1984) (Dooley II), but simultaneously appointed a magistrate of this court to act as a special master, see Fed.R.Civ.P. 53(f), instructing the master to exercise all of the powers enumerated in Rules 53(c) and (d). Dooley II, slip op. at 2-3. The master was directed "upon the conclusion of his investigation" to "file with the court his report, ... including specific recommended findings of fact and recommended conclusions of law." Id. at 3.

Subsequent to the entry of the order of reference, Dooley I was transferred to this court's calendar. Immediately thereafter, the order of reference was expanded to encompass the earlier case as well. See Dooley I, Order of April 4, 1984.

The master held an evidentiary hearing at the ACI on May 16, 1984. He filed the Report some two months later. The master likewise filed a tape recording of the May 16 hearing. The plaintiffs were granted an extension of time to respond to the master's recommendations, and eventually served their objections to the Report on August 27, 1984. Upon preliminary review of the pleadings, the Report, the objections, the tape, and all exhibits and supporting materials, the court dismissed Dooley I, holding in substance that all of the claims asserted therein were either (i) waived, unsupported, non-justiciable, or unproven, on the one hand, or (ii) subsumed by the instant suit, on the second hand. Dooley I, slip op. at 2-3 (D.R.I. Oct. 25, 1984). All overlapping claims, to the extent that they had not been waived, were preserved for consideration in the case now at bar. Id., slip op. at 3-4.

On November 7, 1984, this court held the confirmation hearing required by Fed.R. Civ.P. 53(e)(2).

II. THE ISSUES.

The complaint herein, viewed generically, raises a trio of issues.² The plaintiffs contend, first, that they have been victimized by reason of their sexual preferences. They next argue that they have impermissibly been denied access to the courts. And finally, Dooley asseverates that his First Amendment rights in and to publications of his choice have been abridged by over-strict censorship. The defendant has denied each and all of these claims. While the plaintiffs' assertions admittedly overlay one another to some extent, the court will endeavor to address each group of contentions separately. Before so doing, however, it seems advisable to set out the standard of review.

III. STANDARD OF REVIEW.

Fed.R.Civ.P. 53(e)(2) directs that, in a non-jury action such as the present one, "the court shall accept the master's findings of fact unless clearly erroneous." Id. See N.L.R.B. v. J.P. Stevens & Co., 538 F.2d 1152, 1160 (5th Cir.1976); Krinsley v. United Artists Corp., 225 F.2d 579, 582 (7th Cir.1955); In re Rice Barton Corp., 312 F.Supp. 1316, 1318 (D.Mass. 1970). The parties excepting to the factual findings of a master carry the burden of proving those findings to be beyond the pale. Oil, Chemical & Atomic Workers International Union, AFL-CIO v. N.L. R.B., 547 F.2d 575, 580 (App.D.C.1976), cert. denied, 431 U.S. 966, 97 S.Ct. 2923, 53 L.Ed.2d 1062 (1977); Badger By-Products v. Employers Mutual Casualty Co., 64 F.R.D. 4, 6 (E.D.Wis.1974), aff'd, 519 F.2d 1406 (7th Cir.1975). And, while the district court is not bound by the findings of such a master, those findings (albeit short of the effect of a jury verdict) are entitled to special weight and deference. Carpenter v. Union Ins. Soc. of Canton, Ltd., 284 F.2d 155, 159 (4th Cir.1960). The receipt of further evidence rests in the sound discretion of the court. Fed.R.Civ.P. 53(e)(2). See, e.g., Zenith Radio Corp. v. Hazeltine Research, Inc., 401 U.S. 321, 331-32, 91 S.Ct. 795, 802-03, 28 L.Ed.2d 77 (1971); Magnaleasing, Inc. v. Staten Island Mall, 428 F.Supp. 1039, 1045 (S.D.N.Y.) aff'd, 563 F.2d 567 (2d Cir.1977).

If the district court accepts the master's report generally, it may nonetheless modify and supplement his findings. Guaranty Trust Co. v. Seaboard Air Lines Ry. Co., 53 F.Supp. 672, 696 (E.D.Va. 1943), aff'd, 145 F.2d 40 (4th Cir.1944), cert. denied, 323 U.S. 797, 65 S.Ct. 440, 89 L.Ed. 636 (1945). The court's added findings, however, must also be based on evidence contained in the record. See, e.g., United States v. Merz, 376 U.S. 192, 199, 84 S.Ct. 639, 643, 11 L.Ed.2d 629 (1964), United States v. Tampa Bay Garden Apartments, Inc., 294 F.2d 598, 603 (5th Cir. 1961). It is against this well-lit backdrop, then, that the court turns to consideration of the issues at hand.

IV. DISCRIMINATION CLAIMS.

Dooley and Coulter allege that they have each been perceived within the ACI as possessing a homosexual orientation, and consequently, that they have been the targets of varied official activities aimed at making prison life extraordinarily uncomfortable for them. These acts, the plaintiffs say, collectively comprise an invidious pattern and practice of discrimination, designed to strip away their constitutionally-protected rights.

There are two types of arrows in the plaintiffs' discrimination quiver. The first aims at impermissible interference with rights of expression and communication; the second targets harassment. Upon close inspection, neither projectile flies straight and true.

The master dealt with both of these claims in the Report, and the court has carefully examined the underlying evidence. Based on this review, the court concludes, for the reasons set out below, that the master's findings of fact on this segment of the case cannot in any way be interdicted under the "clearly erroneous" rule; and that, taken in their ensemble, the plaintiffs' assertions, to the extent proven at all, do not rise to a level of constitutional dimension. Though this part of their complaint must therefore be dismissed, the gravity of the charges is such that detailed perscrutation is warranted.

A. Communication.

The plaintiffs allege in the vaguest of terms that they have been denied the right to "freely express and communicate."³ They complain that they have been booked for attempting to communicate with each other by passing a letter and, on at least two occasions, for wig-wagging hand signals to one another through a glass window. This, they protest, evidences the repression to which they have been subjected.

But, the plaintiffs were housed in different units at the Center; and intra-departmental mail between inmates is not authorized, except under special circumstances. See Rhode Island Department of Corrections Operational Memoranda (RIDCOM), No. 5.17.03. This regulation itself is not in issue, cf. Rudolph v. Locke, 594 F.2d 1076, 1077 (5th Cir.1979), as Dooley and Coulter do not challenge its validity per se; rather, they remonstrate that it has been utilized unfairly in their case. The proof...