Laaman v. Perrin

• Citation: 435 F. Supp. 319
• Decision Date: 11 August 1977
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 77-187.
• Parties: Jaan K. LAAMAN, Raymond Martineau and Edward McMillan, v. Everett I. PERRIN, Warden, New Hampshire State Prison and Board of Trustees for the New Hampshire State Prison.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of New Hampshire

435 F. Supp. 319

Jaan K. LAAMAN, Raymond Martineau and Edward McMillan, v. Everett I. PERRIN, Warden, New Hampshire State Prison and Board of Trustees for the New Hampshire State Prison.

Civ. A. No. 77-187.

United States District Court, D. New Hampshire.

August 11, 1977.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Arpiar G. Saunders, Jr., and Richard A. Cohen, New Hampshire Legal Assistance, Concord, N. H., for plaintiff.

James S. Sargent, Jr., Concord, N. H., for defendants.

OPINION AND ORDER

BOWNES, District Judge.

In this civil rights action, the court must balance two important but competing interests. Plaintiff Laaman, an active, successful and politically motivated writ writer at the New Hampshire State Prison (NHSP) has been ordered transferred into the federal prison system by defendants. The written and verbalized justifications for the transfer are reasonable, rational and within the scope of the prison officials' discretion. However, plaintiff claims that the real underlying motivation for his transfer is to rid the prison of its most active, vocal and successful writ writer, that his transfer contravenes his right of access to the courts, and that it will severely inhibit not only his exercise of the access right but the exercise of it by the class of persons he has represented in past law suits against the prison. Plaintiff also alleges that he is entitled to a transfer hearing which comports with the due process requirements of the Fourteenth Amendment. This action is brought pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 with jurisdiction conferred by 28 U.S.C. § 1343(3) & (4). Defendants are the Governor of the State, the Warden of NHSP, and the Board of Trustees of NHSP. The Warden and the Governor are sued in their official and individual capacities.

This court has heard evidence solely on the right of access issue and, therefore, at this time will determine only whether or not plaintiff's due process claim states a cause of action. Under state law, plaintiff must serve his sentence of more than one year in the state prison. NH RSA 651:15. Under NH RSA 623:2

any person who is confined in the state prison, may upon recommendation of the warden, and with the approval of the governor, . . . be transferred to a city jail or house of correction.

New Hampshire is a member of the New England interstate corrections compact under which inmates may be transferred for confinement, treatment and rehabilitation under contract to the penitentiaries of other subscribing states. NH RSA ch. 622-A. The warden is specifically empowered to utilize the New England compact. NH RSA 622-A:3. While there are no specific statutory authorizations for federal transfers of New Hampshire prisoners, I cannot find that New Hampshire law guarantees that a New Hampshire convict will serve his time in any particular institution or even inside the state. Therefore, an out-of-state transfer as such does not implicate the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Meachum v. Fano, 427 U.S. 215, 224, 96 S.Ct. 2532, 49 L.Ed.2d 451 (1976); Montanye v. Haymes, 427 U.S. 236, 96 S.Ct. 2543, 49 L.Ed.2d 466 (1976); Curry-Bey v. Jackson, 422 F.Supp. 926 (D.D.C. 1976).

Plaintiff also claims that, because defendants voluntarily granted him a transfer hearing, they obligated themselves to conduct such hearing in accord with the due process requirements of the Fourteenth Amendment. I rule that plaintiff was not entitled to a constitutionally sufficient hearing on the question of whether or not he should be transferred to the federal prison system simply because defendants voluntarily granted him some process. See Fano, supra, 427 U.S. 215, 96 S.Ct. 2532, 49 L.Ed.2d 451; Four Certain Unnamed Inmates of Mass. v. Hall, 550 F.2d 1291 (1st Cir. 1977); Lombardo v. Meachum, 548 F.2d 13 (1st Cir. 1976); Curry-Bey, supra, 422 F.Supp. 926. Plaintiff's due process claim is dismissed for failure to state a cause of action.

THE ACCESS ISSUE

THE FACTS

Plaintiff Laaman is serving sentences in the New Hampshire State Prison (NHSP) for unsuccessfully bombing a Manchester police station. The crime for which he is serving time is generally abhorred by the prison staff, as are his political views. He is a self-avowed political radical and activist who has not kept a low profile at the prison. Early in his sentence, Laaman exhibited disruptive political leadership as is evidenced by his disciplinary record. He was committed to NHSP in June, 1972, and, since then, has been found guilty of fourteen disciplinary infractions. The first five of these were in the first eighteen months of his sentence and were politically motivated. Another eight were received between March, 1975, and January, 1976, five of which were received during the pendency of a major court action and were found by this court to constitute legal harassment. See Laaman v. Helgemoe, C. 75-258, 437 F.Supp. 269 (D.N.H. 7/1/77). He has never been convicted of a major disciplinary infraction and has never been accused, either formally or informally, of any violence towards inmates or guards inside the prison. He was convicted in a court of law of participating in a riot, after he had been acquitted of the same charge at a major prison disciplinary hearing. He has served as an elected inmate representative since 1973 when he helped establish a formal grievance procedure, and has continuously acted informally as a spokesperson and mediator for other prisoners. He has been an officer in the New England Prisoners' Association and has attempted to establish a prisonwide newspaper at NHSP.

Plaintiff Laaman is an able, prolific and often successful jailhouse lawyer. He has sued NHSP as a named plaintiff seven times in this court.¹ In one of those cases, he established his right to due process in an interprison transfer hearing. Hoitt v. Vitek, 361 F.Supp. 1238 (D.N.H.1973), aff'd, 497 F.2d 598 (1st Cir. 1974). He is the named plaintiff in the most comprehensive law suit ever brought against the prison. Laaman v. Helgemoe, supra, C. 75-258, 437 F.Supp. 269. While this court has no specific records of his general lawyering and counselling activities, I am well aware of Laaman's role as a prison writ writer. See Moses v. Helgemoe, C. 76-225; Vayens v. Helgemoe, C. 75-93. There is no doubt that he has been involved in dozens of cases, some of which have effectively curtailed the discretion of defendants and some of which will cost the prison substantial amounts of money. He also runs legal clinics for the prisoners.

Laaman is popular among the inmates and evidences genuine concern for them. In addition to his legal activities, he writes personal letters for the semi-literates, speaks on behalf of men who can't talk, and demands the things he feels are right and needed. He is disliked by the staff. He is seen as a leader in the inmate culture, and as a rude, demanding, vociferous rebel. Their attitude stems from their dislike of his crime and his continuing leadership activities as well as their feelings that he has been an instigator of some of the violence that takes place at the prison.

In February, 1977, Laaman was elected to the Inmate Communications Committee (ICC), the officially sanctioned inmate grievance committee. The ICC brought general and individual problems to the attention of the prison administration. Inmates on the ICC experienced frustration in their jobs and some harassment from being "up front" over a period of time. The committee is now defunct with each side blaming the other for its demise. There is no general prison grievance procedure at NHSP at the present time.

During his term as an ICC member, Laaman witnessed the transition from one warden to another. Defendant Perrin arrived at NHSP in January and assumed the warden's responsibilities as Acting Warden in April. Between March and the middle of May, the ICC met with Perrin almost daily to iron out their differences concerning prison policies and practices as to visits, mail, yard time, coffee, the new minimum security house, etc. They had a good and fruitful working relationship.

In mid-May two groups of inmates independently escaped from the prison. After each escape, there was a brief lockup and a search of the prison including each prisoner's cell. After the second lockup on May 23, Perrin instituted several policy changes without consultation with the ICC. Some of the changes concerned visitation policies and disturbed all prisoners; others were of more direct concern to the ICC. The ICC was prohibited from going into the annex cell block without a specific prisoner request for their services, and the doors from the main cell block to the administrative section of the prison were locked for the first time, preventing free access by the ICC to the administration. These changes were the result of annex prisoner complaints and efforts on the part of the administration to tighten security.

The changes, and especially some new visitation policies, upset the inmates, and tension was high at the prison. There was much talk of trouble over the Memorial Day weekend, but it passed uneventfully. The ICC met with Perrin on May 30 and demanded recision of the new policies. Some accommodations were made to the prisoners' demands when it became apparent that there was insufficient staff to enforce the new rules, but the prisoners were dissatisfied. On Tuesday, May 31, McMillan, a member of the ICC and a recognized inmate leader, called a meeting of the general prison population. At 1:30 P.M., he and several others were locked into their cells, pursuant to a policy of the staff to lock in men who had material blocking their cell doors or windows. Neither McMillan nor the other inmates were told why they were locked in. McMillan specifically was locked in by a guard with whom he had a standing feud. When advised of the situation and of the general meeting by the remaining members of the ICC, Perrin, ignorant of his staff's practice, was evasive and told...