Lock v. Jenkins

• Decision Date: 27 December 1978
• Docket Number: No. S 75-141.,S 75-141.
• Citation: 464 F. Supp. 541
• Parties: Donald A. LOCK, Roosevelt Washington and Bruce E. Carpenter, Individually and on behalf of all other persons similarly situated, Plaintiffs, v. Leo D. JENKINS, Individually and as Warden of the Indiana State Prison, Jack R. Duckworth, Individually and as Assistant Warden of the Indiana State Prison, Charles F. Adkins, Individually and as Director of Classification at the Indiana State Prison, G. D. Wilkins, Individually and as Custody Supervisor at the Indiana State Prison, Captain Parks, Individually and as a Captain at the Indiana State Prison, Captain Koziatek, Individually and as a Captain at the Indiana State Prison, Captain Hoover, Individually and as a Captain at the Indiana State Prison, Robert P. Heyne, Individually and as Commissioner of Correction of the State of Indiana, Cloid L. Shuler, Individually and as Executive Director of Adult Authority for the Indiana Department of Correction, William Nardini, Therese-Marie Razzini, John W. White, Ronald H. Hull, J. David Baker, Arthur P. Coblentz and William D. Bontrager, Individually and as members of the Board of Correction of the State of Indiana, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Indiana

464 F. Supp. 541

Donald A. LOCK, Roosevelt Washington and Bruce E. Carpenter, Individually and on behalf of all other persons similarly situated, Plaintiffs, v. Leo D. JENKINS, Individually and as Warden of the Indiana State Prison, Jack R. Duckworth, Individually and as Assistant Warden of the Indiana State Prison, Charles F. Adkins, Individually and as Director of Classification at the Indiana State Prison, G. D. Wilkins, Individually and as Custody Supervisor at the Indiana State Prison, Captain Parks, Individually and as a Captain at the Indiana State Prison, Captain Koziatek, Individually and as a Captain at the Indiana State Prison, Captain Hoover, Individually and as a Captain at the Indiana State Prison, Robert P. Heyne, Individually and as Commissioner of Correction of the State of Indiana, Cloid L. Shuler, Individually and as Executive Director of Adult Authority for the Indiana Department of Correction, William Nardini, Therese-Marie Razzini, John W. White, Ronald H. Hull, J. David Baker, Arthur P. Coblentz and William D. Bontrager, Individually and as members of the Board of Correction of the State of Indiana, Defendants.

No. S 75-141.

United States District Court, N. D. Indiana, South Bend Division.

December 27, 1978.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Myrna Hart, Valparaiso, Ind., for plaintiffs.

Theodore L. Sendak, Atty. Gen. of State of Ind., Indianapolis, Ind., for defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

ALLEN SHARP, District Judge.

This will serve to explain the legal basis for the separately entered findings of fact and conclusions of law entered here.

The complaint, as amended, asserts a claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for damages and injunctive relief for certain named pretrial detainees held in custody at the Indiana State Prison. The case was tried on the merits to the Court at the Indiana State Prison on November 1 and November 2, 1978.

I.

This is an action brought by former pretrial detainees who were housed at the Indiana State Prison, Michigan City, Indiana pursuant to IC 1971, 35-2.1-1-1. They purport to represent a class consisting of all pretrial detainees who are housed at the Indiana State Prison pursuant to IC 1971, 35-2.1-1-1. The issue is whether the conditions of their confinement are violative of the constitution.

This action was filed pro se by Donald A. Lock on August 12, 1975. A second amended complaint was filed on December 23, 1975 with the assistance of retained counsel. The second amended complaint included Bruce Carpenter and Roosevelt Washington as party plaintiffs. The named defendants include Leo D. Jenkins, Warden; Jack R. Duckworth, Assistant Warden; Charles F. Adkins, Director of Classification; G. D. Wilkins, Custody Supervisor; Captain Parks; Captain Koziatek; Captain Hoover; Robert P. Heyne, Commissioner of the Indiana Department of Correction; Cloid Shuler, Executive Director of Adult Authority for the Indiana Department of Correction; and William Nardini, Therese-Marie Razzini, John W. White, Ronald H. Hull, J. David Baker, Arthur P. Coblentz and William D. Bontrager, members of the Indiana Board of Correction.

The Indiana State Prison is a maximum security institution for the incarceration of adult male felons. Approximately 1600 persons are currently incarcerated at the Prison.

Pretrial detainees are sent to the Prison pursuant to IC 1971, 35-2.1-1-1. They are sent to the prison for medical reasons, or because they are a high security risk, or because they are a management problem, or because of any other emergency situation. The Prison retains custody of the pretrial detainee until further order of the committing court. The committing court does not send any pertinent information about the pretrial detainee. To solicit this necessary information prison officials developed liaisons with the committing authorities.

Pretrial detainees sent to the Prison for medical reasons are housed in the hospital. Unless the committing court specified differently, all other pretrial detainees are housed in the Admissions and Orientation Unit. This is done because the committing authority provides no background information thus it is safer to isolate them from the general prison population and that unit is the best possible place consistent with good safety and security not only for the detainee but for convicted inmates and staff. The Admissions and Orientation unit is the least restrictive unit to house pretrial detainees considering their special status as non-convicted persons, their small aggregate number, the indefinite amount of time housed at the Prison, the fact that they are high security risks, the management and discipline problems which require special security considerations to assure their presence at trial and the fact that it provides the maximum amount of security for pretrial detainees. Pretrial detainees are only placed in general population pursuant to court order and with their own consent.

II. CLASS

Before the trial this Court conditionally certified under Rule 23(b)(2) a class of these pretrial detainees held at the Indiana State Prison during the pendency of this case to the present. At the time of the trial there were seven such pretrial detainees, of which three were in the prison hospital, three were in general prison population (at their own request) and one was confined in the Admission and Orientation (A & O) Unit at the prison. With the exception here noted that class determination is finally certified. Excepted therefrom are those pretrial detainees who are or were voluntarily located in the general population of the prison during the pendency of this case. On the basis of the posture taken here, both implicit and explicit, these plaintiffs do not now purport to represent pretrial detainees who are or have been voluntarily located in the general population of the prison.

III. INDIANA'S SAFE-KEEPING OF PRISONERS ACT

Indiana's original Safe-keeping of Prisoners Act was enacted by Acts 1937, ch. 157, §§ 1, 2 and 3, p. 841 as follows:

"Section 1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of the State of Indiana, That while a prisoner is being held in custody awaiting trial, during trial or following trial, the court having jurisdiction shall make, from time to time, such orders for the safe-keeping of the prisoner as the court shall consider to be necessary. The court, of its own motion, or on written motion of the prosecuting attorney, or of the prisoner or his attorney, or of the attorney general of the state, may order any sheriff, police officer, or other official having custody of the prisoner to retain such custody in his respective jail until further order of the court, or to deliver such custody to some other sheriff or qualified officer, to hold such prisoner as ordered in his respective jail until further order of the court, or, in case the court finds that an emergency exists, the court may order such sheriff or other officer to deliver such custody to the warden or superintendent of a designated penal or correctional institution of the state to hold such prisoner as ordered in his institution until further order of the court. The court shall conduct a public hearing on such written motion when filed by the prosecuting attorney, by the prisoner, or by the attorney general, if such applicant requests such hearing. At such hearing, such written motion shall be prima facie sufficient evidence of the necessity for the disposition of the custody of the prisoner as requested in such motion, and the burden of proving that such disposition is not necessary for the safe-keeping of such prisoner shall be sustained by any objecting party in interest, or official, or other interested person who is opposed to the granting of such motion. At any time, the court having jurisdiction, of its own motion, may require a guard or guards to be posted to protect the custody of a prisoner pending, during and after trial. The selection, appointment and compensation of such guards and the discharge of their duties shall be provided for by the order of the court. In making such order, the court either may select as such guard or guards experienced and trustworthy police officers, or it may request that the superintendent of the Indiana state police shall supply adequate guards, if the superintendent has such guards available, without cost to the county. It is hereby made the official duty of all sheriffs, wardens, superintendents, police officers, and other officials of this state, and of each city or other governmental unit or division of this state, and each of them is hereby empowered, to obey the commitments or other orders which the court may issue from time to time in regard to the custody of such prisoner. Whenever the presence of the prisoner may be required in preparation for trial or for the trial, in the court having jurisdiction of the trial of the case, such court, or the court granting removal of the cause if it has retained control of the custody of the prisoner prior to trial, shall order the prisoner to be produced in court as required. The court of trial shall have control of the custody of the prisoner during and after trial. The costs and expenses of such safekeeping shall be paid by the county for which the prisoner is being held in custody, upon order of the court thereof, except for guard duty by the Indiana state police, as provided in this act. The duties herein imposed upon the court shall be discharged by the judge thereof in vacation, or by the clerk thereof in the absence of the judge.

Sec. 2. This act shall be known and may be cited as the Safe-keeping of Prisoners Act.

Sec. 3. All laws and parts of laws in conflict herewith are hereby repealed, and section 11 of an act entitled `An act concerning county prisons,' approved May 27, 1852, and section 141 of an act entitled `An act concerning public offenses,' approved March 10, 1905, and all acts amendatory thereof, are hereby specifically repealed."

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