Jeldness v. Pearce
| Decision Date | 28 July 1994 |
| Docket Number | 93-36350,Nos. 91-36271,s. 91-36271 |
| Citation | 30 F.3d 1220 |
| Parties | , 93 Ed. Law Rep. 146 Heidi Sargent JELDNESS, Jenny Costa, Helen Jodi Bedell, Gretchen M. Schumacher, Plaintiffs, Appellants, and Cross-Appellees, v. Fred B. PEARCE, et al., Defendants, Appellees, and Cross-Appellants. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit |
Martha C. Evans, Susan R. Pease, Evans Harrison Pease, Springfield, OR, for plaintiffs-appellants-cross-appellees.
Rives Kistler, Asst. Atty. Gen., Salem, OR, for defendants-appellees-cross-appellants.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Oregon.
Before: PREGERSON and KLEINFELD, Circuit Judges; LEGGE *, District Judge.
Opinion by Judge LEGGE; Dissent by Judge KLEINFELD.
A class of women prisoners incarcerated in Oregon state prison allege that the Oregon State Department of Corrections discriminates against women inmates in providing educational and vocational opportunities, in violation of Title IX and its regulations, 20 U.S.C. Sec. 1681 et seq., 45 C.F.R. Secs. 86.1 et seq., and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution.
Following trial, the district court ruled against plaintiffs on all but one of their claims. Plaintiffs appeal, claiming that the district court erred in holding that: (1) Title IX requires only "parity" rather than "equality" in prison educational programs; (2) Title IX violations are subject to the defense of "penological necessity"; and (3) gender discrimination in prisons does not violate the Equal Protection Clause when it is "reasonably related to a legitimate penological goal." Plaintiffs ask that the case be remanded to the district court for further factual findings using the correct legal standards.
Defendants cross-appeal from the district court's holding that plaintiffs were not required to prove "discriminatory intent" in order to establish a violation of the Title IX regulations. Defendants also appeal from the district court's award of attorneys' fees to plaintiffs.
The appeals present difficult issues of the application of Title IX, which prohibits gender discrimination in education, to state prison systems. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1291. Statutory interpretation is a question of law reviewed de novo. Anderson v. United States, 966 F.2d 487, 489 (9th Cir.1992). We affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand for further proceedings.
Women prisoners incarcerated in the Oregon Women's Correctional Center (OWCC) initiated this class action ten years ago. They allege discrimination in six educational and vocational training programs in the Oregon penal system: prison industries, a forest camp, a farm annex, apprenticeships, vocational programs, and college courses. The class seeks declaratory and injunctive relief.
The Oregon state prison facilities include (1) the Oregon State Penitentiary (OSP), a maximum security facility for men with approximately 1800 inmates; (2) the Oregon State Correctional Institution (OSCI), a medium security facility for men with approximately 1000 inmates; (3) OWCC, a medium security facility for women with approximately 200 inmates; (4) the Eastern Oregon Corrections Institute (EOCI), a medium security facility for men with approximately 1200 inmates; (5) a Farm Annex where 225 male inmates live and work; and (6) a Forest Work Camp for approximately 110 male inmates.
The Oregon penal system provides educational and vocational programs for its inmates. But men and women have access to different programs. For example, there are two vocational classes offered at OWCC, while there are twelve each at OSP and OSCI. Women may attend vocational classes with men at OSCI, but they must be searched in order to travel between prisons and often arrive late for classes. 1 There are no apprenticeship programs at OWCC. Women may participate in certain apprenticeship programs at OSCI, but may not participate in the mechanical trade apprenticeship programs. Male inmates may request transfers to different institutions to participate in different programs, but these transfer requests are generally denied because of prison overcrowding.
After a non-jury trial in 1986, the district court found in favor of plaintiffs on one issue and in favor of defendants on all other issues. The plaintiff class appealed, arguing that certain procedural errors prejudiced the trial. We reversed and remanded on procedural grounds. Jeldness v. Watson, 857 F.2d 1478 (9th Cir.1988). But that decision did not resolve any of the substantive issues.
On remand, defendants moved for summary judgment. In its well-considered order on the motion, the district court ruled on the applicable legal standards governing plaintiffs' claims under both Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause. The court held (1) that gender based classifications which were "reasonably related to legitimate penological interests" did not violate the Equal Protection Clause; (2) in a prison context, Title IX requires gender "parity" rather than "equality" or "identity" of treatment; (3) a showing of discriminatory intent is not necessary for plaintiffs to prevail under the regulations to Title IX; and, (4) "penological necessity" is a complete defense to gender based disparate impact under Title IX. The district court entered partial summary judgment for defendants.
Following a non-jury trial using those legal standards, the court made extensive findings of fact and entered judgment for defendants on all but one of plaintiffs' claims. The court ruled that defendants had violated Title IX regulations by paying men, but not women, for vocational training. Judgment was entered for plaintiffs on that claim, and the court also awarded attorneys' fees to plaintiffs. The court made the following rulings as to each of the six programs:
Prison Industries
The district court found on summary judgment that any differences in the availability of particular jobs or work programs were related to custody status, not to gender. The court also found after trial that any disparities in pay were related to market forces rather than gender.
The court granted summary judgment for defendants, relying on the penological necessity defense. The court found that women are excluded from the forest camp because mixed gender crews could cause safety problems in this wilderness setting, where inmates restore forests and fight fires with minimal supervision. The court also held that defendants had not violated the Equal Protection Clause, because of the substantial governmental interest in excluding women from the camp. And it held that defendants did not violate Title IX, because of the "substantial legitimate penological necessity of separately housing prisoners by sex."
The court granted summary judgment for defendants, relying on the penological necessity defense. In its summary judgment order, the court found that women could work at the annex; and that any disparity in the availability of programs or jobs there was attributable to the fact that women could not reside there, which was "justified by the substantial legitimate penological necessity of separately housing inmates on the basis of sex." At trial, the court stated that the women's level of participation depended primarily on factors other than gender, but that "any distinction in job assignments at the farm annex relate to supervision and security concerns and are the result of a legitimate penological necessity."
The court entered judgment for defendants following trial, based on the penological necessity defense. Although women are permitted to participate in some apprenticeship programs at the men's prison, no woman has ever applied to do so. However, the court found that prior to 1990 women were not informed of the apprenticeship opportunities. 2 Women can participate in five vocational trade apprenticeships at OSCI, but cannot participate in the four mechanical trade apprenticeships at OSCI (welding, painting, cabinet making, plumbing) because of security or supervision problems. The court concluded that defendants excluded women from the mechanical trade apprenticeships because of legitimate penological necessity.
Following trial, the court entered judgment for defendants on the availability of vocational programs, finding that the programs were "equal in substance and form," although not exactly the same. The court found that "any discrepancies in equal availability" were the result of "legitimate penological necessity."
OWCC offers two vocational courses, cosmetology and office administration. Women may take an additional 12 classes at OSCI. The court found that this allocation of courses did not "reflect gender based stereotypes" but was based on the size of the prisons. The court found that because women often arrived late at OSCI, it took some women longer than men to complete the courses. Women are also subject to skin searches when exiting and entering OSCI for their classes. The court held that these disparities are justified by the defense of legitimate penological necessity.
The court entered judgment for plaintiffs on their Title IX claim that men, but not women, were awarded merit pay for vocational work. The court found that the prison policy of awarding merit pay did not constitute intentional discrimination, and therefore did not violate the Equal Protection Clause. However, the court found that the regulations to Title IX do not require proof of discriminatory intent to establish liability, and therefore entered judgment against defendants on that claim.
At trial the court found as a fact that college level educational opportunities for women are "equal to or greater than" educational opportunities for men. Although there are fewer lower division courses offered to...
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