Landman v. Peyton

• Decision Date: 28 November 1966
• Docket Number: No. 10687.,10687.
• Citation: 370 F.2d 135
• Parties: Robert Jewell LANDMAN, Sr., Appellant, v. C. C. PEYTON, Superintendent of the Virginia State Penitentiary, Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

370 F.2d 135 (1966)

Robert Jewell LANDMAN, Sr., Appellant, v. C. C. PEYTON, Superintendent of the Virginia State Penitentiary, Appellee.

No. 10687.

United States Court of Appeals Fourth Circuit.

Argued October 7, 1966.

Decided November 28, 1966.

Robert A. Cox, Jr., Richmond, Va. (Court-assigned counsel), (Hirschler & Fleischer, Richmond, Va., on brief), for appellant.

Reno S. Harp, III, Asst. Atty. Gen. of Virginia (Robert Y. Button, Atty. Gen. of Virginia, on brief), for appellee.

Before HAYNSWORTH, Chief Judge, and SOBELOFF and BRYAN, Circuit Judges.

SOBELOFF, Circuit Judge:

The appellant, an inmate of the Virginia State Penitentiary, seeks review of the District Court's dismissal of his claim that the disciplinary punishment meted out to him by the prison authorities trenched upon his constitutional rights. The holding was made after an evidentiary hearing extending over four days, at which the testimony of the prisoner and other inmates was specifically controverted by prison officials. We affirm the District Court.

Robert Jewell Landman, Sr., petitioned the District Court on March 11, 1965 to order his release from the maximum security unit of the Virginia State Penitentiary, in which he has been confined from time to time since November 8, 1963, and to restore him to the general prison population. He alleged that his confinements stemmed solely from his having instituted certain legal proceedings and that he was denied unhampered access to the courts in violation of his constitutional rights. In an amended petition, filed on September 7, 1965, he also sought immediate total release from prison on the ground that the treatment he received during his confinement in the maximum security unit, known as "C" building, constituted cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution.¹

In our recent decision in Howard v. Smyth, 365 F.2d 428 (4th Cir. 1966), we had occasion to describe life in the segregation cells of "C" building. The building, isolated from the rest of the prison complex and surrounded by a concrete wall, is itself divided into two sections, one designated as "segregation," the other "meditation" or, as it is commonly referred to, solitary confinement. The prison superintendent, C. C. Peyton, testified that inmates are placed in segregation for "safekeeping and the good of the institution," while confinement in solitary is reserved for violators of institutional regulations. Prisoners confined in segregation

are not permitted to work and earn money; they are allowed only two meals a day, and are deprived of radio, television, and movie privileges; they do not have access to the library and are not permitted to attend educational classes; they are allowed to bathe only once a week, as opposed to daily bathing allowed other prisoners. Howard v. Smyth, supra at 429.

Additional deprivations, according to Superintendent Peyton, are imposed upon inmates confined in solitary. There are no writing or visiting privileges, except in an emergency; the diet consists of bread and water for two days and two regular "C" building meals on the third day; combs, toothbrushes, razors and most other personal items are withdrawn; bedding consists of a mattress and one or two blankets; the only clothing provided is a pair of pants, a shirt, and a pair of socks.

I.

Landman is serving a sentence for robbery. When he was first disciplined, in November, 1963, he was placed in meditation for 25 days for allegedly causing a letter to be mailed to the Richmond Newsleader without first submitting it to the censors as required by the regulations. The District Court did not credit his testimony that he had given the letter to one of the guards only to be checked for accuracy, since it discussed their pay scales and retention standards, and had not requested him to mail it. The guard was subsequently discharged because of this dereliction. Upon his return to the general prison population, Landman sent a letter to the Governor of Virginia which ranged over many areas of suggested prison reform. One copy was posted on the prison bulletin board and another circulated among the inmates, who were urged to make their grievances known. Deeming it not in the best interest of the institution to allow Landman to agitate in this manner, prison officials placed him in segregation.

Landman also testified that at 5:15 a. m. on the morning of January 6, 1965 he was transferred to State Convict Road Camp 31 despite his protest that he had an appointment with his attorney, who planned to visit him the next day. The guards who escorted him to the road camp denied that he registered any complaint at the time and Superintendent Peyton testified that prison officials were unaware of the scheduled meeting. Crediting the prison personnel, the District Court found that the transfer was not an attempt to deny Landman access to counsel or to the courts. Again, on May 24, Landman was placed in solitary for violating the regulation reinforced by a direct order to him from Peyton, prohibiting prisoners from accepting compensation for drafting writs on behalf of other inmates. The District Court rejected Landman's version that he had performed these services gratuitously.

On another occasion, Landman was placed in solitary for violation of the regulation forbidding inmates to use for scrap legal paper supplied by the penitentiary. The court rejected his testimony that the "writ" paper had been defaced by another inmate and was lined for scoring games. The prisoner also complained of innumerable searches of his cell, after which he found some of his legal papers missing and the others in a state of disarray. The District Court found that while his cell was searched in the course of routine investigations, his papers were not scattered and the only papers removed were those reflecting violations of prison regulations. Landman told of numerous delays in obtaining notarial services, writ paper and other documents necessary to pursue his legal actions, but the court did not accept this testimony and found that on no occasion was he intentionally denied access to the courts.

The appellant and several other inmates testified in support of the claim that the treatment accorded them in "C" building, both in segregation and in meditation, did not conform to prison regulations and constituted cruel and unusual punishment. Guards allegedly withheld food, struck inmates with clubs, and used tear gas indiscriminately as punishment. On the conflict in the testimony between the prisoners on the one hand and the guards and prison officials on the other, the court believed the latter. While it found that tear gas was used approximately 12 to 15 times in the course of a year, it concluded that this was done in the legitimate exercise of disciplinary authority.² The court also found, contrary to appellant's claims, that there was no arbitrary deprivation of rations and that inmates were not subjected to corporal punishment. After reviewing the evidence concerning the quality and amount of food provided for inmates confined in solitary, the court declared the claim of cruel and unusual punishment without foundation.

Landman's able court-appointed counsel interviewed 14 or 15 inmates and at the hearing called most of them as witnesses. The District Court saw and heard them and noted no evidence of malnutrition or physical injury.³ Landman's allegations of denial of access to the courts were fully explored and detailed evidence adduced with respect to each specific claim. In Howard, supra, we held that where from the uncontradicted testimony the only reasonable inference is that prison officials have acted arbitrarily and have infringed protected First Amendment rights, relief is due. This record, however, comes to us replete with conflicting testimony, and we are not prepared to say that the findings are clearly erroneous.

II.

However, we feel obliged to express our concern over revelations in the record, largely admitted by the prison officials themselves, of the prevailing laxity in the supervision of "C" building, with the inherent grave danger of arbitrariness and abuse in the treatment of prisoners confined there. Superintendent Peyton admitted that he does not make periodic inspections of the building and that while he "supposed" that he has made surprise visits, he could not recall a single instance. The jurisdiction of the prison disciplinary committee, the alleged forum for probing disciplinary measures taken against inmates, does not extend to "C" building. No reason was given for thus excluding the cases most apt to be troublesome, in which group judgment is of utmost value in preventing arbitrary action and any form of brutality.

Direct responsibility over "C" building is lodged in Assistant Superintendent Oliver, yet he testified that the guards assigned there are authorized to transfer inmates from segregation to meditation without prior submission of a report stating the basis of the transfer. True, the guard is required on the same day to file such a report with Oliver, who then is to review the incident and approve the transfer if, in his judgment, it was proper. But it clearly appeared that investigation of facts beyond those disclosed in the report is made only if Oliver entertains some doubt concerning the propriety of the transfer. Even more significant is Oliver's admission that...