McCall v. Swain

• Decision Date: 20 March 1975
• Docket Number: No. 73--2013,73--2013
• Parties: James E. McCALL v. C. L. SWAIN, Superintendent, Lorton Reformatory, et al., Appellants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — District of Columbia Circuit

Page 167

510 F.2d 167

166 U.S.App.D.C. 214

James E. McCALL v. C. L. SWAIN, Superintendent, Lorton Reformatory, et al., Appellants.

No. 73--2013.

United States Court of Appeals,

District of Columbia Circuit.

Argued Dec. 12, 1974.

Decided March 20, 1975.

David P. Sutton, Asst. Corp. Counsel for the District of Columbia, Washington, D.C., with whom C. Francis Murphy, Corp. Counsel, and Richard W. Barton, Asst. Corp. Counsel, Washington, D.C., were on the brief, for appellants.

Laurence Sarezky, ^* with whom Ricardo M. Urbina, Washington, D.C., was on the brief, for appellee.

Opinion for the court filed by Circuit Judge J. SKELLY WRIGHT.

Before MOORE, ^** Senior Circuit Judge, and WRIGHT and ROBB, Circuit Judges.

J. SKELLY WRIGHT, Circuit Judge:

We must decide today whether, under the District of Columbia Court Reform and Criminal Procedure Act of 1970, ¹ the United States District Court for the District of Columbia or the Superior Court of the District of Columbia has habeas corpus jurisdiction over an individual sentenced for local crimes by the District Court, when the habeas petition challenges the constitutionality of a local prison's administrative decision to transfer the petitioner to maximum security confinement. ² We affirm Judge Gesell's ruling that habeas corpus jurisdiction over such cases is exclusively vested ³ in the District Court.

I

Appellee McCall is confined at the Lorton Correctional Complex, an integral part of the District of Columbia correctional system ⁴ which, by a special Act of Congress, ⁵ was constructed outside the District in northwestern Virginia. Convicted of and sentenced for armed robbery and assault with a dangerous weapon by the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, ⁶ appellee was committed to the custody of the Attorney General who, pursuant to 24 D.C.Code § 425 (1973), designated Lorton as the appropriate facility in which the sentence was to be served. ⁷

Following appellee's alleged failure to report to his assigned place of duty at Lorton Reformatory's Industrial Workhouse for an early morning prisoner count, he was granted a hearing before the prison Disciplinary Committee, which ordered him transferred to maximum security confinement for at least 45 days as punishment for his 'lack of cooperation.' Having exhausted all available internal prison remedies, appellee, who claimed the hearing failed to comport with minimal due process standards, petitioned the District Court for a writ of habeas corpus and an order transferring him back to the general prison complex.

Ordered to show cause why the requested writ of habeas corpus should not issue, appellants--the Director of the District of Columbia Department of Corrections and the Superintendent of Lorton Reformatory--asserted that except in extreme situations courts should not interfere with internal prison regulations and their enforcement, and that as a proper exercise of prison discipline, the actions taken against appellee were in no way violative of his constitutional rights. On July 16, 1973, at a hearing held by Judge Gesell to consider the merits of the petition, appellants also challenged the District Court's jurisdiction to entertain the petition, since 16 D.C.Code § 1901(c) (1973) specifies that petitions directed to persons other than federal officers and employees must be filed in the Superior Court rather than in the District Court. ⁸

Although Judge Gesell did not believe that failure to join the Attorney General, to whose custody appellee had been committed upon sentencing, affected the outcome of the jurisdictional issue, he ordered the petition amended and the Attorney General joined as a party to the action. ⁹ After considering the arguments on the jurisdictional question, Judge Gesell rendered an oral opinion holding that the District Court did have jurisdiction to entertain appellee's petition:

(T)he Court feels that any defendant committed by this Court to the Attorney General is at all times under the custody and control and responsibility of the Attorney General and that in the event the Defendant is mistreated or denied rights which he has habeas corpus lies to a Federal Court to protect Federal prisoners. It is on that basis that I propose to proceed, the Attorney General having been brought into these proceedings which were initially simply against the state authorities. I do that in part because of a very definite feeling that Federal Courts must have a continuing interest and responsibility for defendants that are committed under its (sic) aegis to penitentiaries or jails. I do it also because this Court's efforts to bring about reforms within the D.C. Correctional System have been extraordinarily ineffective and I have no reason to believe that the Superior Court will have any greater success than did this Court in attempting to improve correctional conditions within the D.C. Correctional Department.

* * * I think that this Court has an inherent power to act with respect to prisoners who have been committed by this Court. ¹⁰

Judge Gesell then sustained appellee's petition on the merits and ordered that he be immediately released from maximum security confinement and returned to the general prison population. This appeal, based solely on the jurisdictional aspects of the order, followed.

II

When Congress enacted the District of Columbia Court Reform and Criminal Procedure Act of 1970, 84 Stat. 473 et seq., it accorded the Superior Court of the District of Columbia jurisdiction 'relating to writs of habeas corpus directed to persons other than Federal officers and employees.' 11 D.C.Code § 921(a)(3)(A)(iii) (1973). More specifically, 16 D.C.Code § 1901 (1973) now provides that

(a) A person committed, detained, confined, or restrained from his lawful liberty within the District, under any color or pretense whatever, or a person in his behalf, may apply by petition to the appropriate court, or a judge thereof, for a writ of habeas corpus, to the end that the cause of the commitment, detainer, confinement, or restraint may be inquired into. * * *

(b) Petitions for writs directed to Federal officers and employees shall be filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.

(c) Petitions for writs directed to any other person shall be filed in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.

(Emphasis added.)

Although the issue addressed by the trial court, and the main issue presented to us on this appeal, is whether the habeas corpus petition was directed against 'Federal officers and employees' within the meaning of 16 D.C.Code § 1901(b), we feel constrained to first address the issue whether either the District Court or the Superior Court has jurisdiction over this petition, since Section 1901(a) appears to premise jurisdiction on petitioner's being 'committed, detained, confined, or restrained * * * within the District,' and the District of Columbia Court of Appeals has construed that section literally to require petitioner's confinement within the District's territorial boundaries. ¹¹ See I.B. v. District of Columbia Dept. of Human Resources, Social Services Admin., D.C.Ct.App., 287 A.2d 827, 828--829 (1972). Noting the language of Section 1901 and citing Ahrens v. Clark, 335 U.S. 188, 68 S.Ct. 1443, 92 L.Ed. 1898 (1948), the I.B. court reached its conclusion on the premise that 'the Supreme Court has required that the jurisdictional prerequisites imposed on habeas corpus be construed literally.' 287 A.2d at 828. ¹² Although the Court Reform Act rendered the District of Columbia Court of Appeals the 'highest court of the District of Columbia,' 11 D.C.Code § 102 (1973), and although we should accord the 'greatest deference (to its) decisions,' see M.A.S., Inc. v. Van Curler Broadcasting Corp., D.D.C., 357 F.Supp. 686, 690 (1973), we do not believe such deference is appropriate in construing a statute relating to our own jurisdiction, see, e.g., Holly v. United States, 150 U.S.App.D.C. 287, 290, 464 F.2d 796, 799 (1972) (deference not accorded to DCCA where this court had jurisdiction to resolve criminal appeals on merits and statutory construction involved constitutional considerations), particularly when subsequent developments have indicated that the I.B. court's reliance on Ahrens is no longer valid. ¹³ See also Fitzgerald v. Sigler, D.D.C., 372 F.Supp. 889, 895--896 (1974), appeal pending, sub nom. Byrd v. Sigler, D.C.Cir. No. 74--1517.

16 D.C.Code § 1901 was first enacted in 1901 as 16 D.C.Code § 801. See Act of March 3, 1901, ch. 854, § 1143, 31 Stat. 1372. It originally provided:

Any person committed, detained, confined, or restrained from his lawful liberty within the District * * * may apply by petition to the supreme court of the District, or any justice thereof, for a writ of habeas corpus, to the end that the cause of such commitment, detainer, confinement, or restraint may be inquired into * * *. ¹⁴ Despite the 'within the District' language, early decisions by this court recognized the right of a habeas corpus petitioner to challenge matters relating to the day-to-day operation of a correctional institution located outside the District but operated under the supervisory control of the District's Department of Corrections. See, e.g., Burns v. Welch, 81 U.S.App.D.C. 384, 385, 159 F.2d 29, 30 (1947) (inmate at Lorton Reformatory) (dictim); ¹⁵ Sanders v. Bennett, 80 U.S.App.D.C. 32, 33, 148 F.2d 19, 20 (1945) ('Since the rule is a practical one based on common sense administration of justice we have held that the courts in the District of Columbia may issue writs of habeas corpus directed to those in direct charge of penal institutions of the District which happen to be located just outside its borders. This is because it is the plain duty of the District to adjudicate matters arising out of the conduct of its own institutions.') (emphasis added; footnote omitted); ¹⁶ cf. Sanders v. Allen, 69 App.D.C. 307, 308--309, 100 F.2d...