Epps v. Levine

• Decision Date: 11 July 1978
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 73-525-M,73-341-M.
• Citation: 457 F. Supp. 561
• Parties: Larry L. EPPS et al., Plaintiffs, v. Mark A. LEVINE et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Maryland

457 F. Supp. 561

Larry L. EPPS et al., Plaintiffs, v. Mark A. LEVINE et al., Defendants.

Civ. A. Nos. 73-525-M, 73-341-M.

United States District Court, D. Maryland.

July 11, 1978.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Richard L. North, Baltimore, Md., for plaintiffs.

Henry J. Frankel, Asst. Atty. Gen., Baltimore, Md., for defendants.

MEMORANDUM

JAMES R. MILLER, Jr., District Judge.

The plaintiffs, Epps, Benvenuti, and the class they are certified to represent, are pretrial detainees who are awaiting trial in Maryland courts and who have been or may be transferred as pretrial detainees from a County or Baltimore City Jail to an institution of the Maryland Division of Correction. Plaintiffs allege that the transfers are effected pursuant to Md.Ann.Code art. 27, § 690(f) (1976 Repl.Vol.).¹ See Class Certification Order, Paper 10; Statement of Material Facts As To Which There Is No Genuine Dispute, Paper 29 hereinafter Facts.

The defendants are the Commissioner of the Maryland Division of Correction, the Wardens of the Baltimore City and County Jails hereinafter jail wardens, and three state trial court judges. A motion to certify respectively the defendant wardens and judges as representatives of all Maryland jail wardens and all state trial court judges has been filed by the plaintiffs and granted without objection.

Pending before the court now are the plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment and attached plaintiffs' exhibits (Paper 30), and defendants' cross motion (Paper 33), and an agreed statement of Facts (Paper 29). The plaintiffs challenge under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 the defendants' actions on several grounds: (1) that the defendants' procedures for transferring a pretrial detainee from the custody of city and county jail wardens to the custody of the Division of Correction are inadequate and deny due process when measured against the standards of the Fourteenth Amendment; (2) that § 690(f) provides no state statutory authority or standards for the transfer of pretrial detainees from the custody of jail wardens to the custody of the Maryland State Division of Correction; and (3) that, irrespective of the procedural safeguards available in accomplishing the transfer, the confinement of pretrial detainees at the Maryland Penitentiary (one of the penal institutions maintained by the Division of Correction) imposes a greater restriction on the liberty interests of the presumably innocent pretrial detainees than is permitted by the Fourteenth Amendment. The plaintiffs request only declaratory and injunctive relief.

I. DUE PROCESS

The first step in analyzing the plaintiffs' due process claim is to determine whether they possess a liberty interest requiring procedural protection, and the second is to determine whether the procedures available are adequate. See, e. g., Board of Regents v. Roth, 408 U.S. 564, 571, 92 S.Ct. 2701, 33 L.Ed.2d 548 (1972); Perry v. Sinderman, 408 U.S. 593, 92 S.Ct. 2694, 33 L.Ed.2d 570 (1972); Bishop v. Wood, 426 U.S. 341, 96 S.Ct. 2074, 48 L.Ed.2d 684 (1976); Wolff v. McDonnell, 418 U.S. 539, 94 S.Ct. 2963, 41 L.Ed.2d 935 (1974); Meachum v. Fano, 427 U.S. 215, 96 S.Ct. 2532, 49 L.Ed.2d 451 (1976); Montayne v. Haymes, 427 U.S. 226, 96 S.Ct. 2543, 49 L.Ed.2d 466 (1976); North Georgia Finishing, Inc. v. Di-Chem, Inc., 419 U.S. 601, 95 S.Ct. 719, 42 L.Ed.2d 751 (1975); Fuentes v. Shevin, 407 U.S. 67, 92 S.Ct. 1983, 32 L.Ed.2d 556 (1972); Sniadach v. Family Finance Corp., 395 U.S. 337, 89 S.Ct. 1820, 23 L.Ed.2d 349 (1969).

A. Liberty Interest

This court will first examine the basis in state law for the alleged liberty interest of a pretrial detainee in his remaining in the custody of a local jail warden to determine, in fact, whether any such liberty interest exists. No such liberty interest exists directly under Federal law although, as explicated at greater length in Part III hereof, a pretrial detainee may not be treated as fungible with a convicted criminal. Cf. Meachum v. Fano, supra (convicted criminal defendants).

Determination of the existence and parameters of any liberty interest alleged to exist in the present context requires examination of the following: Maryland Rules of Procedure 720, 721, 723 (1977 Supp.) hereinafter M.R.P.; Maryland District Rules of Procedure 720, 721, 723 (1977 Supp.) hereinafter M.D.R.P.; Md.Ann. Code art. 27, §§ 617-619, 690 (1976 Repl. Vol.).

Upon his arrest, a person accused of a crime in Maryland is promptly brought before a judicial officer for an initial appearance during which the judicial officer advises the accused of the charges and his right to counsel, determines whether probable cause for any warrantless arrest exists, and determines the accused's eligibility for pretrial release. M.D.R.P. 723. Cf. M.R.P. 723. As soon as possible the judicial officer is required to file a report of the initial appearance, the required charging documents, and all papers with Maryland District Court or to direct that the papers be forwarded to the Maryland Circuit Court, as the case may be, that has jurisdiction over the criminal charge made against the accused. See M.D.R.P. 723(d); M.R.P. 720(g). If the judicial officer initially, or the state court judge on review of the initial decision of the judicial officer, determines that pretrial release is not appropriate in a particular case or if an accused's inability to satisfy the conditions found necessary to assure his future appearances, and precedent to his pretrial release, results in his continued custody, the state court is required to set forth in writing or on the record the reasons for requiring the continued detention. M.D.R.P. 721(f). If the accused is to remain in custody, the court must enter a writ of commitment or order placing the accused in the custody of the county sheriff or jail warden.²See Md. Ann.Code art. 27, § 617.³ The jail warden is then responsible for the safekeeping, care, and feeding of persons committed to his custody "until they are discharged, released or withdrawn from jail by the sheriff, or under court order, or other authority." Md.Ann.Code art. 87, §§ 48, 45 (1969 Repl.Vol. and 1977 Cum.Supp.). Furthermore, state law prohibits the transfer of a person committed for any criminal matter from the custody of one officer to the custody of another officer "unless it be by habeas corpus or by other legal writ" with some exceptions not relevant here. Md.Ann.Code art. 27, § 618 (1976 Repl.Vol.).⁴

The preceding state authorities establish an accused's legal right to have the state court with jurisdiction over the criminal charge against him decide whether and on what conditions the accused should be released prior to trial and to whose custody the accused will be committed if pretrial release is not available.⁵ However, said authorities do not expressly or implicitly limit the state court's power or discretion to place an accused pretrial detainee in the custody of the most appropriate person. Indeed, in the context of a pretrial release order, Maryland law expressly grants the court power to commit the accused to the custody of persons or organizations, e. g., a halfway house. See M.D.R.P. 721(c)(1); M.R.P. 721(b)(1). While one traditional responsibility of the city or county sheriff is the care and custody of accused persons detained prior to trial, a responsibility which in some subdivisions has been legislatively shifted to jail wardens, the foregoing state statutes and rules do not mandate that a pretrial detainee necessarily be in the custody of the local sheriff or jail warden.

In this case the plaintiff pretrial detainees urge that Md.Ann.Code art. 27, § 690(c) creates a legitimate and reasonable expectation that a pretrial detainee may, as a matter of state law, not be committed to the custody of the Division of Correction. Subsection 690(c) provides:

"(c) Minimum period of sentence.—No sentence by any judge to the jurisdiction of the Division may be for less than three months, any provisions of this article or any other law to the contrary notwithstanding."

This subsection, however, addresses only the "sentence" imposed by a state court. As the remainder of section 690 and the rules of procedure, M.R.P. 771-778, M.D. R.P. 771-778, disclose, "sentence" means the fine, probation, or incarceration imposed to punish, rehabilitate, or deter a convicted criminal defendant. 58 Op.M.D. Atty.Gen. 168 (1973); Webster Third New International Dictionary 2068 (1966) ("sentence"). Subsection 690(c) does not apply to an accused pretrial detainee.

The plaintiff pretrial detainees also urge that Md.Ann.Code art. 27, § 690(f) gives to them a legal right not to be transferred from the custody of a jail warden to the custody of the Division of Correction absent a factual finding of a need for specialized treatment or for maximum security detention, not available at the jail. From this premise the plaintiffs then attack the adequacy of the statutory standards and the absence of procedural safeguards. Subsection 690(f) provides:

"(f) Transfer of inmates or pretrial defendants from local facilities under certain circumstances.—The Commissioner of Correctional Services may accept transfer of inmates or pretrial defendants from a county or Baltimore City detention facility if such person to be transferred requires specialized treatment of behavior or medical problems, or requires maximum security detention, and the county or Baltimore City facility is not equipped to properly provide the necessary treatment or detention."

This section does not say that "pretrial defendants may be transferred from a county jail to the Division only if the Commissioner, the jail warden, a state judge, or some other official finds as a fact after notice and hearing that a pretrial defendant needs specialized treatment or maximum security detention." If such had been the legislative purpose, different words than those in § 690(f) would have been used.⁶ Rather than trying to create legal rights in pretrial...