Jones v. Brown
| Decision Date | 24 August 2006 |
| Docket Number | No. 04-4493.,No. 03-3823.,No. 04-4426.,03-3823.,04-4426.,04-4493. |
| Citation | 461 F.3d 353 |
| Parties | Ronald C. JONES, Appellant v. M. BROWN, Internal Affairs Ofc.; S. Sootkoos, Associate Warden; Roy L. Hendricks, Warden. Jamaal W. Allah; Kevin Jackson; Lennie Kirkland v. * Richard J. Codey, Acting Governor, N.J. (Official Capacity); James McGreevey (Personal/Individual Capacity); Devon Brown, Commissioner, Dept. of Corr., N.J. (Official/Personal/ & Individual Capacity); Terrance Moore, Administrator, East Jersey State Prison, Rahway, N.J. (Official/Personal & Individual Capacity); John/Jane Does (Official/Personal & Individual Capacity); Roy L. Hendricks; Robert Shabbick; Wayne Sanderson. * (Pursuant to F.R.A.P. 43(c)). Devon Brown, Terrance Moore, Roy L. Hendricks, Robert Shabbick, Wayne Sanderson, Appellants in No. 04-4426. Jamaal W. Allah; Kevin Jackson; Lennie Kirklan, Appellants in No. 04-4493. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit |
Ronald C. Jones, (Argued), Newark, NJ, Appellant Pro Se in No. 03-3823.
Peter C. Harvey, Patrick DeAlmeida, Christopher C. Josephson, (Argued), Office of New Jersey Attorney General, Trenton, NJ, Attorneys for Appellants in No. 04-4426 and Appellees in Nos. 03-3823 and 04-4493.
Shavar D. Jeffries, (Argued) Risa M. David, Kelly A. Day, Seton Hall Law School, 833 McCarter Highway, Newark, NJ, 07102 and Lawrence S. Lustberg, Gibbons, Del Deo, Dolan, Griffinger & Vecchione, One Riverfront Plaza, Newark, NJ 07102 Attorneys for Appellants in No. 04-4493 and Appellees in No. 04-4426.
Gerald J. Pappert, Calvin R. Koons, John O.J. Shellenberger, John G. Knorr, III, Office of Attorney General of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, PA, Attorneys for Amicus Curiae, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Amicus Appellant in No. 04-4426 and Amicus Appellee in Nos. 03-3823 and 04-4493.
Aaron Christopher Wheeler, James S. Pavlichko, Derrick Dale Fontroy, Theodore B. Savage, Graterford, PA, Pro Se Amici Appellees in Nos. 03-3823 and 04-4426.
Edward L. Barocas, American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey Foundation, Newark, NJ, Attorney for ACLU NJ and Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Amici Appellants in No. 04-4426 and Amici Appellees in Nos. 03-3823 and 04-4493.
Before FUENTES, STAPLETON and ALARCON,* Circuit Judges.
We have before us two cases that have been consolidated on appeal.1 While the District Courts in these cases both addressed the constitutionality of a New Jersey regulation governing the processing of incoming inmate legal mail, they reached conflicting conclusions. These consolidated appeals present two principal issues. First, do state prisoners have an interest protected by the First Amendment in being present when their incoming legal mail is opened? We conclude that our prior case law establishes that they do. Second, may New Jersey open prisoners' legal mail outside of the prisoners' presence pursuant to a state policy intended to protect the safety and security of its prisons by reducing the risk of anthrax contamination? We conclude that New Jersey has not shown that its legal mail policy is reasonably related to its interest in protecting the safety and security of its prisons. Accordingly, New Jersey's legal mail policy does not withstand constitutional scrutiny. We will affirm the grant of injunctive relief in Allah and reverse the District Court's summary judgment for the defendants in Jones.2
Prior to October 19, 2001, New Jersey regulations governing the Department of Corrections required that "[i]ncoming legal correspondence be opened and inspected in front of the inmate to whom it is addressed." See 33 N.J. Reg. 4033(a) (Oct. 23, 2001).
On September 11, 2001, in response to the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon and associated disruptions, the Acting Governor of New Jersey, Donald DiFrancesco, declared a state of emergency in New Jersey. In that declaration, Executive Order No. 131-2001, Governor DiFrancesco directed
that the heads of any agency or instrumentality of the State government with authority to promulgate rules may, for the duration of the Executive Order, subject to my prior approval and in consultation with the State director of Emergency Management, waive, suspend or modify any existing rule the enforcement of which would be detrimental to the public welfare during this emergency, notwithstanding the provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act or any law to the contrary.
Executive Order No. 131-2001 (Sept. 11, 2001) (emphasis added).
In September and October 2001, one or more individuals mailed a string of letters containing anthrax through the postal system. At least four letters containing anthrax were processed in the Hamilton, N.J. mail processing center. In all, five people died and thirteen others were sickened by the mailings. In New Jersey, there were no fatalities, but there were five confirmed and two suspected infections.
In response to these anthrax mailings, the Acting Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Corrections, acting under the authority provided by the statewide declaration of emergency, issued an amendment to New Jersey's legal mail policy that suspended the regulatory requirement that legal mail be opened in the addressee prisoner's presence. The statement accompanying the amendment reads, in pertinent part:
N.J.A.C. 10A:18-3.4(b) requires that incoming legal correspondence be opened and inspected in front of the inmate to whom it is addressed. Suspension of N.J.A.C. 10A:18-3.4(b) is necessary to protect the health, safety and welfare of the people and to aid in the prevention of loss to and destruction of property. . . .
This special adopted amendment is necessary in order to inhibit the possible spread of contamination should a toxic biological substance be introduced by way of incoming legal correspondence addressed to an inmate who is incarcerated at a facility of the Department of Corrections. The Department is establishing remote areas at each facility for the processing of all incoming correspondence by trained staff members. Inmates shall not be present or involved in the processing or opening of any incoming correspondence.
33 N.J. Reg. 4033(a) (Oct. 23, 2001). The regulation now reads, in pertinent part:
Inspection of incoming legal correspondence
(a) Incoming legal correspondence shall be opened and inspected for contraband only.
(b) Incoming legal correspondence shall not be read or copied. The content of the envelope may be removed and shaken loose to ensure that no contraband is included. After the envelope has been inspected the correspondence shall be given to the inmate.
N.J. Admin. Code § 10A:18-3.4.
The Assistant Commissioner of the Department of Corrections issued a memo to all Corrections administrators providing guidelines for the handling of legal mail. That memo specifies:
1. A Correctional Officer shall open all incoming legal correspondences in the mailroom.
2. The officer shall log the information in accordance with current practices.
3. The incoming legal correspondence shall be opened and inspected for contraband . . . . The contents shall not be read or censored by the officer.
4. After the envelope has been inspected, the officer shall seal the envelope with tamper proof evidence tape. . . .
* * *
5. After the inspection has been completed the correspondence shall be delivered to the inmate.
Memorandum from Jeffrey J. Burns, Assistant Comm'r, N.J. Dep't of Corrections, to All Administrators (Oct. 19, 2001); App. Brown at Ra92-93.
The amendment indicates that the suspension of former § 10A:18-3.4(b) will remain in effect until the end of the state of emergency declared on September 11, 2001 in Executive Order No. 131-2001. To date, the state of emergency remains in force and the suspension of former § 10A:18-3.4(b) remains in effect.
The plaintiffs in Allah3 and the plaintiff in Jones are inmates in the New Jersey correctional system whose legal mail has been opened outside their presence pursuant to New Jersey's revised legal mail policy. Both sets of plaintiffs filed suit in New Jersey District Courts against state correctional officials4 asserting, inter alia, that the legal mail policy violates their First Amendment right of free speech. They sought injunctive and monetary relief.
In Allah, on cross-motions for judgment on the pleadings, the District Court ruled that the legal mail policy violated the prisoners' constitutional right to be present when their legal mail is opened.5 It accordingly enjoined the state officials from enforcing the challenged policy. However, citing the uncertainty necessarily involved in assessing the risk of anthrax contamination at the time of the policy's adoption, the Court granted the defendants' motion to dismiss the plaintiffs' claims for monetary damages on the basis of qualified immunity.
In Jones, by contrast, the District Court granted summary judgment to the Defendants on all of Jones' claims. In particular, the District Court concluded that New Jersey's legal mail policy is a valid exercise of administrative discretion.
Before us now are the Allah defendants' appeal of the District Court's grant of injunctive relief, the Allah plaintiffs' cross-appeal of the dismissal on qualified immunity grounds of their claim for monetary damages, and plaintiff Jones' appeal of the District Court's grant of summary judgment to the defendants. We have jurisdiction over the grant of injunctive relief in Allah pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1292(a) and pendent appellate jurisdiction over the plaintiffs' cross-appeal because the facts regarding the merits of the injunction order are inextricably intertwined with those concerning qualified immunity. See E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Co. v. Rhone Poulenc Fiber & Resin Intermediates, S.A.S., 269 F.3d 187, 203 (3d Cir.2001). The District Court's grant of summary judgment in Jones is a...
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