Handberry v. Thompson
| Citation | 446 F.3d 335 |
| Decision Date | 17 January 2006 |
| Docket Number | Docket No. 03-0065(XAP).,Docket No. 03-0047 (L). |
| Parties | Zakunda-Ze HANDBERRY; Marlon Coleman; Jose Colon; Irving Nooks; Austin Nunez; Carlos Luscz; Michael Picart; Carlos Rivera, Dr.; Joseph Valdez; Eugene Bailey; Anthony Wager, individually and on behalf of other persons similarly situated, Plaintiffs-Appellees-Cross-Appellants, v. William C. THOMPSON, Jr.; Jerry Cammarata; Carol Gresser; Irene Impellizzeri; Sandra Lerner; Luis Reyes; Ninfa Segarra; Rudolph Crew; Richard Mills; Michael Jacobson; Eric Taylor; Frederick Patrick; The Board of Education of the City of New York; The City of New York, Defendants-Appellants-Cross-Appellees. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (2nd Circuit) |
Janice Birnbaum, Assistant Corporation Counsel, New York City Law Department (Michael A. Cardozo, Corporation Counsel, Leonard Corner and Jane L. Gordon, Assistant Corporation Counsel, of counsel), New York, NY, for Appellants-Cross Appellees.
Dori A. Lewis, The Legal Aid Society, Prisoners' Rights Project (Steven Banks, Mary Lynne Werlwas, John Boston, of counsel), New York, NY, for Appellees-Cross-Appellants.
Before: NEWMAN, SACK, and HALL, Circuit Judges.
This litigation was brought as a class action by inmates in New York City jails challenging the defendants' asserted failure to provide them with educational services to which they are entitled under New York State and federal law. After several years of litigation, the district court (Constance Baker Motley, Judge) granted a declaratory judgment to the plaintiffs, concluding that the defendants had failed to provide such services, and ordered the defendants to create a plan for doing so. The court later adopted the defendants' proposed plan and appointed a third party to monitor the plan's execution for one year.
Upon receiving the third-party monitor's final report, the district court entered an injunction ordering the defendants to comply with the terms of their educational plan and to provide additional required services to eligible inmates. The defendants appealed and we vacated the injunction, remanding for the district court to consider whether Porter v. Nussle, 534 U.S. 516, 122 S.Ct. 983, 152 L.Ed.2d 12 (2002), required the plaintiffs to exhaust administrative remedies. See Handberry v. Thompson, Nos. 02-0251, 02-0279 (2d Cir. Nov. 27, 2002) (order). The district court concluded that Porter did not require exhaustion in this case and reinstated the injunction. The New York City defendants (the "City defendants") now appeal, arguing that the district court erred in its application of federal and state law. We affirm in part, vacate in part, and remand.
The district court thoroughly set forth the facts underlying this dispute. See Handberry v. Thompson, 92 F.Supp.2d 244 (S.D.N.Y.2000) ("Handberry I"), and Handberry v. Thompson, 219 F.Supp.2d 525 (S.D.N.Y.2002) ("Handberry II"). We recite them here only insofar as we think it necessary to explain our resolution of this appeal.
The instant lawsuit arises out of a complex of allegations that the New York City Department of Education ("DOE") and Department of Corrections ("DOC") have failed to provide inmates incarcerated at New York City's vast Rikers Island prison facility with sufficient educational services and facilities to meet standards imposed by federal and state law. On August 14, 1996, the plaintiffs filed suit on behalf of themselves and others similarly situated, "in order to receive the educational services guaranteed them by law." Compl. ¶ 1. They assert that the DOE and DOC provided "less than half of school-eligible persons incarcerated by DOC with [state and federally] mandated educational services," id., and that they did not provide general education services to all eligible inmates or special education services to school-eligible inmates with disabilities. The plaintiffs further contend that the defendants thereby violated the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment; the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act ("IDEA"), 20 U.S.C. §§ 1400-1482; 42 U.S.C. § 1983; section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. § 794 (the "Rehabilitation Act"); the Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 12101-12213 (the "ADA"); and New York State law and regulations. The plaintiffs sought declaratory and injunctive relief "requiring [the defendants] to provide all mandated educational services to all school-eligible persons." Compl. ¶ 3.
On October 21, 1996, defendant Richard Mills, the Commissioner of the New York State Education Department, moved to dismiss the complaint on the ground, inter alia, that the plaintiffs had failed to exhaust all available administrative remedies. As discussed below, both the IDEA and the Prison Litigation Reform Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a) (the "PLRA"), establish exhaustion prerequisites for bringing suits such as this one. The City defendants opposed the motion to dismiss. They asserted that, as of that time, there were no applicable administrative remedies for the plaintiffs to exhaust, although the City defendants purported to reserve the exhaustion argument pending discovery. On May 28, 1997, the district court denied defendant Mills's motion to dismiss.
On November 19, 1999, the district court directed the plaintiffs to file a motion for a declaratory judgment establishing that their rights to receive education services had been violated and for an order directing the defendants to file an educational plan for meeting their obligations to provide such services. The plaintiffs filed the motion in December 1999. The City defendants cross-moved for summary judgment, asserting that the plaintiffs' claims should be dismissed for failure to exhaust all available administrative remedies.
On January 13, 2000, the district court granted the plaintiffs' motion for declaratory judgment and denied the defendants' cross-motion. In addition to entering a declaratory judgment in favor of the plaintiffs, the district court ordered the defendants to file an education plan to provide Rikers Island inmates with the educational services to which they were entitled by state and federal law. See Handberry I, 92 F.Supp.2d at 245. As the court later made clear, it entered the declaratory judgment to remedy both plaintiffs' claims of procedural due process violations and their claims under the IDEA, Rehabilitation Act, ADA, and state law. See Handberry II, 219 F.Supp.2d at 531-32.
On May 3, 2000, the City defendants submitted their remedial education plan to the court. See Educ. Plan for the Rikers Island Academies, Handberry v. Thompson, No. 96 Civ. 6161 ("Education Plan" or "Plan"). The Plan stated that, in accordance with the district court's order, it provided "full and complete educational services and facilities to all eligible Rikers Island inmates," including both general and special educational services. Id. at 2. In an order dated June 29, 2000, the court adopted the Plan. Handberry v. Thompson, No. 96 Civ. 6161 (S.D.N.Y. June 29, 2000) (order adopting Plan). The court did so "only reluctantly," "noting that the Plan would `not meet all the needs of incarcerated youth inmates' and that it was `deficient in many respects.'" Handberry II, 219 F.Supp.2d at 530 (quoting Order of June 29, 2000, ¶ 2). The court also appointed Dr. Sheri Meisel to monitor the defendants' efforts to implement the Plan and directed Dr. Meisel to submit a report containing her findings after one year.
In her final report submitted December 14, 2001, Dr. Meisel concluded that the Plan had "not been a sufficient framework to guide and sustain compliance with general and special education requirements." Final Report of the Court Monitor in Handberry v. Thompson Regarding the Implementation of the Education Plan for the Rikers Island Academies, at 1, Handberry v. Thompson, No. 96 Civ. 6161 (S.D.N.Y. Dec.5, 2001) (the "Final Report" or "Report"). The Report continued: "[A] substantial number of school-age individuals confined at Rikers Island consistently received no educational services or substandard services." Id. Dr. Meisel "identif[ied] specific deficiencies concerning access to educational services including ineffective notification and recruitment procedures, conflicting school and jail schedules, and lack of correctional officers for escort and security." Id. Dr. Meisel also noted that "[s]pecial education and related services are not provided to all eligible students, and the delivery of special education is compromised by inadequate systems for screening and for individualized education programs." Id.
After receiving the plaintiffs' and the defendants' responses to the Final Report and conducting a hearing, the district court issued an order adopting amendments to the Education Plan based on the Report. Handberry v. Thompson, 219 F.Supp.2d 525 (S.D.N.Y. 2002) () ("August 28, 2002, Order"). The court ordered, inter alia, that the defendants implement procedures to notify inmates of the education services available, take steps to provide general education services to all entitled inmates, provide escorts to enable inmates to attend class, comply with the terms of the IDEA in providing special education services, and provide "cell study" to students in segregated housing. In an opinion issued the same day, the court set forth the reasons for the order. It observed that in ordering the injunctive relief, it relied solely on those factual findings that were uncontested. Handberry II, 219 F.Supp.2d at 532.
The City defendants appealed. On November 27, 2002, we vacated the district court's order and directed it to consider whether exhaustion of administrative remedies was required under Porter v. Nussle, sup...
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