Marchesani v. McCune
| Decision Date | 17 February 1976 |
| Docket Number | No. 75--1325,75--1325 |
| Parties | Bernard MARCHESANI, Appellant, v. Sub Nom. Gary McCUNE, Warden, United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth, Kansas, Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit |
James R. Andary, Hall & Andary, Detroit, Mich., for appellant.
Mary K. Briscoe, Asst. U.S. Atty., Topeka, Kan. (E. Edward Johnson, U.S. Atty., Topeka, Kan., on the brief), for appellee.
Before HOLLOWAY, BARRETT and DOYLE, Circuit Judges.
Bernard Marchesani appeals from the dismissal of his petition for habeas corpus wherein he seeks review of two 1971 convictions of conspiracy to collect and attempting to collect an extension of credit by extortionate means in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 894. He is incarcerated in the United States Penitentiary located at Leavenworth, Kansas.
Marchesani alleges that he has been denied due process rights guaranteed him in the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States by reason of his classification as a 'Special Offender' in the records of the Bureau of Prisons in that: (a) he was so classified absent a due process hearing, (b) because of the 'special offender label' he has suffered 'dire consequences' which include in-prison delays in obtaining preferred job assignments, transfers to the Honor Camp or one of the federal correctional institutions or social furloughs and (c) 'in all probability' the classification shall deprive him of an early parole.
The District Court dismissed the petition without a hearing. Chief Judge Brown filed a Memorandum and Order. He held that Marchesani's reliance upon Catalano v. United States, 383 F.Supp. 346 (D.Conn.1974) and Masiello v. Norton, 364 F.Supp. 1133 (D.Conn.1973) was misplaced. While acknowledging that the court in both cases did order that the prisoners be granted hearings with opportunities to call witnesses and present evidence following their administrative classification as 'Special Offenders', Judge Brown observed that the classification in both cases rested upon unsupported allegations in presentence reports of 'possible connections to organized crime'. The court properly distinguished those decisions from the instant case in that the Marchesani classification as a 'Special Offender' was based upon the nature of his convictions, namely conspiracy to extort by threats of bodily harm, which the court found to be a sound basis for classification. Further, the trial court held that the classification of prisoners rests within the sound discretion of the Attorney General by virtue of the authority vested in him under 18 U.S.C. § 4001 and that it remains a necessary tool in the management and control of the penal and correctional institutions. We agree.
The 'Special Offender' status applies to 'certain special categories of offenders who require greater case management supervision than the usual case'. Bureau of Prisons Statement 7900.47 (April 30, 1974). The duty to classify inmates rests with federal prison officials.
18 U.S.C. § 4081 provides:
The Federal penal and correctional institutions shall be so planned and limited in size as to facilitate the development of an integrated system which will assure the proper classification and segregation of Federal prisoners according to the nature of the offenses committed, the character and mental condition of the prisoners, and such other factors as should be considered in providing an individualized system of discipline, care, and treatment of the persons committed to such institutions.
The District Court and the prison authorities were fully cognizant of the facts surrounding Marchesani's convictions by reason of the opinion entitled United States v. Marchesani, 457 F.2d 1291 (6th Cir. 1972). The court there observed that Merchesani had been engaged in a so-called 'juice' racket involving the extension of loans to individuals at illegal interest rates, the collection of which involved Marchesani's employment of fear tactics to coerce the victims into paying the interest or 'juice' when due; and that he had collected great sums of money from various victims, some of whom were beaten and placed in great fear for their lives and the lives of their families.
When a plaintiff seeks to enjoin or prohibit the activity of a government agency, his case must contend with the well-established rule that the government has traditionally been granted the widest latitude in the dispatch of its own internal affairs. Cafeteria Workers v. McElroy, 367 U.S. 886, 81 S.Ct. 1743, 6 L.Ed.2d 1230 (1961). Accordingly, when due process contentions are raised relative to the operation, maintenance and administration of the penal system, the courts should be acutely aware that caution must be exercised in achieving a careful balance of the interests of that system as against the interests of the prisoners. Wolff v. McDonnell,418 U.S. 539, 94 S.Ct. 2963, 41 L.Ed.2d 935 (1974).
In Pell v. Procunier, 417 U.S. 817, 94 S.Ct. 2800, 41 L.Ed.2d 495 (1974), Mr. Justice Stewart, writing for the majority, stated in pertinent part:
We start with the familiar proposition that (l)awful incarceration brings about the necessary withdrawal or limitation of many privileges and rights, a retraction justified by the considerations underlying our penal system.' Price v. Johnston, 334 U.S. 266, 285, 68 S.Ct. 1049, 1060, 92 L.Ed. 1356, 1369 (1948). See also Cruz v. Beto, 405 U.S. 319, 321, 92 S.Ct. 1079, 1081, 31 L.Ed.2d 263, 267 (1972). In the First Amendment context a corollary of this principle is that a prison inmate retains those First Amendment rights that are not inconsistent with his status as a prisoner or with the legitimate penological objectives of the corrections system. . . . central to all other corrections goals is the institutional consideration of internal security within the corrections facilities themselves. It is in the light of these legitimate penal objectives that a court must assess challenges to prison regulations based on asserted constitutional rights of prisoners.
417 U.S. at pp. 822--823, 94 S.Ct. at p. 2804, 41 L.Ed.2d at p. 501.
Powell, writing for the court, observed in pertinent part:
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