Ex parte Thigpen, 7 Div. 900

• Court: Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals
• Writing for the Court: BOWEN
• Citation: Ex parte Thigpen, 513 So.2d 101 (Ala. Crim. App. 1987)
• Decision Date: 10 August 1987
• Docket Number: 7 Div. 900
• Parties: Ex parte Morris THIGPEN, Commissioner, Alabama Department of Corrections. (In re State of Alabama v. John Wayne Fleming).

Page 101

513 So.2d 101

Ex parte Morris THIGPEN, Commissioner, Alabama Department of Corrections (In re State of Alabama v. John Wayne Fleming).

7 Div. 900.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama.

Aug. 10, 1987.

Harry A. Lyles, Gen. Counsel, Alabama Dept. of Corrections, Montgomery, for petitioner.

Robert O. Posey, Asst. Dist. Atty., Columbiana, for respondent.

BOWEN, Presiding Judge.

This is a petition for writ of mandamus.

Federal prisoner John Wayne Fleming was being held in the Clay County Jail on a criminal indictment awaiting trial. He is represented by appointed counsel in that criminal case.

Clay County Circuit Judge John E. Rochester ordered Fleming transferred to the St. Clair Correctional Facility in order to allow the petitioner access to a law library so that he could prepare for his federal civil lawsuit against the Sheriff of Clay County and prepare for his criminal trial in which he had been formally appointed as his own co-counsel. The St. Clair Correctional Facility is under the authority and operation of the Alabama Department of Corrections.

The Alabama Department of Corrections filed this petition for writ of mandamus against Judge Rochester, claiming that a "circuit Judge has no jurisdiction to order a pretrial detainee/prisoner to be incarcerated in the Alabama Department of Corrections." Judge Rochester's response was that a prisoner has a constitutional right of access to the courts which includes access to a law library. That right cannot be abridged by a narrow construction of the statutes involved.

A circuit judge may, under certain conditions, order a county prisoner transferred to a jail in another county. Alabama Code 1975, § 14-6-6, provides:

"In all criminal cases, either before or after conviction, and in cases of contempt, if it is shown to the court, judge or committing magistrate that the jail of the proper county is insecure or insufficient for the safekeeping of the prisoner or that there is no jail in the county, the commitment must be to the nearest sufficient jail and the reason of such change must be entered on the minutes of the court, or stated in the warrant or endorsed thereon and signed by the magistrate. The jailer of the county to which the commitment is made must receive and confine the prisoner on such commitment or a certified copy of such order." (Emphasis added.)

Section 14-6-7 provides:

"If the jail of any county is destroyed, or becomes insufficient or unsafe, or any epidemic dangerous to life is prevalent in the vicinity or there be danger of rescue or lawless violence to any prisoner, any circuit court judge may, on the application of the sheriff and proof of the fact, direct the removal of any prisoner or prisoners to the nearest sufficient jail in any other county; and it is the duty of such judge, in such case, to make an endorsement on the order or process of commitment, stating the...