Kindred v. Duckworth

• Decision Date: 09 November 1993
• Docket Number: No. 92-3803,92-3803
• Citation: 9 F.3d 638
• Parties: James H. KINDRED, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Jack R. DUCKWORTH, in his capacity as Superintendent of the Indiana Reformatory, et al., Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

Page 638

9 F.3d 638

James H. KINDRED, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Jack R. DUCKWORTH, in his capacity as Superintendent of the Indiana Reformatory, et al., Defendants-Appellees.

No. 92-3803.

United States Court of Appeals Seventh Circuit.

Argued April 7, 1993.

Decided Nov. 9, 1993.

Patrick Stern (argued), Indianapolis, IN, for plaintiff-appellant.

Kermit R. Hilles, David A. Arthur (argued), Dist. Attys. Gen., Office of the Atty. Gen., Federal Litigation, Indianapolis, IN, for defendants-appellees.

Before EASTERBROOK and KANNE, Circuit Judges, and ENGEL, Senior Circuit Judge. ^*

ENGEL, Senior Circuit Judge.

The issue in this appeal is whether the Indiana Reformatory's recently-implemented policy of requiring inmates to open confidential correspondence in the presence of staff, as applied, comports with the terms of an earlier consent decree. The district court found the two compatible. We conclude they are not.

Having so concluded, we remand to the district court to determine whether subsequent legislation, applicable system-wide throughout Indiana and comporting with the standards of Wolff v. McDonnell, 418 U.S. 539, 94 S.Ct. 2963, 41 L.Ed.2d 935 (1974), counsels that the consent decree has been effectively superseded by the statute and therefore should be vacated prospectively and its further enforcement denied.

I. BACKGROUND

In 1976 a class action was filed by several inmates of the Indiana Reformatory at Pendleton attacking a number of perceived constitutional violations at that institution. The action was resolved when the trial court entered a consent decree covering "all persons who have been, are, and may be in the future confined to the Indiana Reformatory, Pendleton, Indiana." Bradberry v. Phend, No. IP 76-459-C, Consent Decree and Judgment (S.D.Ind. Mar. 21, 1977). The Bradberry decree effected a number of changes to the Reformatory's policies and procedures, including the way in which the institution should handle inmates' mail. Specifically, as to confidential correspondence, ¹ the consent decree provided Confidential correspondence shall not be opened, read, censored or copied, and its prompt delivery and transmission shall not be otherwise interfered with. However, should prison officials have reasonable grounds to believe that a piece of confidential correspondence may contain physical contraband (i.e., money, money orders, drugs, weapons) then and only then may a prison official, designated by the institution head, open such item of correspondence for the limited purpose of examining the contents for physical contraband, but only in the presence of the prisoner involved. In all such cases, such items of confidential correspondence shall be promptly handed over to said prisoner all without any reading, censoring, copying or further interfering with the deliverance or transmission of the item of correspondence. Once the item of correspondence has been transmitted to the prisoner, the item retains its confidential status and is not subject to confiscation, seizure, reading, copying, censoring or any other interference by prison officials.

Bradberry, Exh. B at p B(3)(b).

In 1979, Indiana enacted a statute nearly identical to the above-quoted provision of the consent decree. See IND.CODE Sec. 11-11-3-3 (Supp.1981), amended by Ind.Pub.L. 99-1986 (codified as amended at IND.CODE Sec. 11-11-3-3 (Supp.1987)). ² Some time after the statute's 1982 enactment, Jack Duckworth (Superintendent of the Indiana State Prison) implemented a policy whereby all incoming legal mail would be opened by prison staff in the presence of the recipient inmate for the purpose of detecting contraband. Duckworth undertook the measure in response to an increase of contraband entering the prison under the guise of legal mail. This policy withstood scrutiny under both the Constitution and section 11-11-3-3. See McChristion v. Duckworth, 610 F.Supp. 791 (N.D.Ind.1985), aff'd in part and rev'd in part on other grounds, 978 F.2d 1261, 1992 WL 311864, 1992 U.S.App. LEXIS 28198 (7th Cir. Oct. 21, 1992) (Table).

In 1989, Duckworth became the Pendleton Reformatory's Superintendent. Finding the same security concerns at the Reformatory as he had encountered at the prison, Duckworth instituted a policy in July 1992 under which inmates were required to open all incoming legal mail in the presence of Reformatory staff. Inmate James Kindred responded to the new policy by moving the trial judge to hold an immediate hearing, to enforce the consent decree, and to hold Duckworth and other Indiana corrections officials in contempt. ³

Specifically, Kindred alleged that Reformatory staff, in violation of the consent decree, had opened two pieces of legal mail in his presence after he had refused to open the letters in the staff member's view. According to Kindred's affidavit, a Reformatory counsellor brought an envelope to Kindred's cell bearing the return address of an Indiana law firm. Kindred declined the counsellor's request to open the envelope because the counsellor was unable to articulate reasonable grounds as to why that envelope might contain contraband. The counsellor then returned the unopened envelope to the mail room. Undaunted, and apparently fortified by instructions from his superiors, the counsellor returned to Kindred's cell the next day with the original envelope and one addressed from the United States District Court. The counsellor purportedly informed Kindred that he had been told to open the envelopes, look into them, and then deliver the contents to Kindred. The counsellor then proceeded to comply with his instructions.

Without holding the requested evidentiary hearing, the district court denied Kindred's motion for contempt and other relief. The crux of the trial judge's reasoning is contained in the following excerpt from an entry that accompanied the court's order:

Mr. Kindred's motion must fail. Bradberry deals with procedures. It does not, and could not, establish, define or modify substantive constitutional standards dealing with the opening of confidential mail or anything else. Pacelli v. DeVito, 972 F.2d 871 (7th Cir.1992). That, simply, is the end of things. It would be aberrant for the plaintiff class to contend or for this Court to rule that the State of Indiana was compelled by a federal decree to accord its prisoners treatment which is not compelled by the constitution, for on what grounds could such a decree possibly be based? The movants do not, here at least, challenge the new policy on constitutional grounds, hence their motion for a finding of contempt and other relief must in all respects be denied.

Bradberry v. Duckworth, No. IP 76-459-C, Entry Denying Motion for Contempt Order and Other Relief at 2-3 (S.D.Ind. Oct. 27, 1992) (footnotes omitted, emphasis in original). Kindred's timely notice of appeal followed.

II. DISCUSSION

A consent decree no doubt embodies an agreement of the parties and thus in some respects is contractual in nature. But it is an agreement that the parties desire and expect will be reflected in and be enforceable as a judicial decree that is subject to the rules generally applicable to other judgments and decrees.

Rufo v. Inmates of Suffolk County Jail, --- U.S. ----, ----, 112 S.Ct. 748, 757, 116 L.Ed.2d 867 (1992). When, as here, a consent decree leads to contempt proceedings, we will leave undisturbed the trial court's ruling ordering or denying contempt absent clear error or abuse of discretion. See Walaschek & Associates, Inc. v. Crow, 733 F.2d 51, 53 (7th Cir.1984). In addition, we are mindful of the special deference owed to trial judges who have had years of experience with a particular matter. See Hutto v. Finney, 437 U.S. 678, 688, 98 S.Ct. 2565, 2572, 57 L.Ed.2d 522 (1978); Rufo, --- U.S. at ----, 112 S.Ct. at 765 (O'Connor, J., concurring). Our limited review notwithstanding, we are unable to agree with the district court's conclusion that Duckworth's policy, as it has been applied, does no violence to the consent decree.

The district court's entry is subject to several interpretations. One reading suggests a belief that consent decrees, at least those stemming from constitutional grievances, cannot impose upon the parties rights and obligations greater than those required by the Constitution. ⁴ This view quite simply is incorrect. Consent decrees often embody outcomes that reach beyond basic constitutional protections. See Rufo, --- U.S. at ----, 112 S.Ct. at 762 ("we have no doubt that, to save themselves the time, expense, and inevitable risk of litigation ... petitioners could settle the dispute over the proper remedy for the constitutional violations that had been found by undertaking to do more than the Constitution itself requires ..."); see also Langton v. Johnston, 928 F.2d 1206, 1217-18 (1st Cir.1991). Indeed, it is a rare case when a consent decree establishes only the bare minimum required by the Constitution. Often, it is precisely because parties are unsure of the current posture of the law that they are willing to compromise their positions. See Rufo, --- U.S. at ----, 112 S.Ct. at 762-63 (quoting from Plyler v. Evatt, 924 F.2d 1321, 1327 (4th Cir.1991) (such decrees "would make necessary ... a constitutional decision every time an effort was made either to enforce or modify the decree by judicial action")). ⁵

A second interpretation of the district court's entry is that the decree merely established procedural mechanisms for complying with substantive constitutional rights. This analysis assumes that judgments here actually contemplated the constitutional floor as providing the only level of protection. Because the substance of constitutional rights changes over time, or so the argument goes, so should the procedures used to implement those rights. We find this position flawed for at least two reasons.

First, the decree sets forth more than simple procedural obligations; it has endowed Reformatory inmates with the substantive...