Metcalf, In re

• Decision Date: 31 August 1998
• Docket Number: No. 38546-1-I,38546-1-I
• Citation: 963 P.2d 911,92 Wn.App. 165
• Parties: In re the Personal Restraint Petition of Tommy H. METCALF, Petitioner.
• Court: Washington Court of Appeals

Page 165

92 Wn.App. 165

963 P.2d 911

In re the Personal Restraint Petition of Tommy H. METCALF, Petitioner.

No. 38546-1-I.

Court of Appeals of Washington Division 1.

Aug. 31, 1998.

James R. Dixon, Nielsen Broman & Assoc. Pllc, Kathryn A. Russell, Seattle, for Petitioner

Tommy H. Metcalf, pro se.

John S. Blonien, Asst. Atty. Gen., Asst. Atty. Gen.--Corr. Div., Mary E. Fairhurst, Douglas W. Carr, Asst. Attys. Gen., Colleen B. Evans, Olympia, for Respondent.

ELLINGTON, Judge.

When inmates in Washington state prisons receive money, certain statutes require the Department of Corrections to make deductions for costs of incarceration, the crime victim's compensation fund, and a savings account. These provisions were not in place when Tommy H. Metcalf was imprisoned in 1990, and he filed this personal restraint petition challenging the provisions on numerous federal and state constitutional grounds, seeking to withdraw his guilty plea. Metcalf's federal challenges were previously rejected in a federal class action. We elect to reach the merits of the federal claims, but we likewise reject the challenges, finding the statutes remedial and thus constitutional. We also reject Metcalf's state constitutional claims, and dismiss the petition.

Facts

After Metcalf was incarcerated in 1990 for two counts of first degree murder, the Legislature enacted two statutes that mandate deductions from moneys received by prisoners. One statute requires deductions from a prisoner's wages (RCW 72.09.111, effective June 30, 1994); ¹ the other For the wage deduction statute, the total amount of the deductions varies from five to 35 percent, depending on the class of work program in which the inmate participates. For example, for an inmate who participates in a class I work program, 35 percent of his or her wages are deducted, with five percent allocated to victim compensation, 10 percent allocated to the inmate's savings account, and 20 percent allocated to incarceration costs. RCW 72.09.111(1)(a). The received funds deduction statute requires a flat 35 percent deduction, with the funds al- On December 26, 1995, Metcalf filed a writ of mandamus and a personal restraint petition in the Supreme Court, alleging that the fund and wage deduction statutes violate several state and federal constitutional guaranties. The Supreme Court dismissed the writ and transferred the petition to this court. Extensive briefing followed. Metcalf's federal constitutional claims included ex post facto, double jeopardy, due process, bill of attainder, and excessive fines violations.

                requires deductions[963 P.2d 916]  from all other funds received (RCW 72.09.480, effective June 15, 1995). 2
                located as for class I work program wage deductions.   RCW 72.09.480
                

Sometime in 1995, another prisoner filed an action in federal court challenging the received funds statute. The claims asserted included all the federal constitutional claims Metcalf makes here. ³ On July 30, 1996, the federal suit was certified as a class action for "persons who are inmates as that term is defined by RCW 72.09.015 or persons who are no longer inmates but who have had money deducted pursuant to [the received funds statute]." This class included Metcalf. On April 9, 1997, the district court dismissed numerous federal constitutional claims, including those related to ex post facto, double jeopardy, due process, bill of attainder, and excessive fines violations.

Discussion

Reviewability of Petition

A threshold issue is whether Metcalf's claims are reviewable in a personal restraint petition ("PRP"). This requires a showing of restraint and an unlawful aspect of the restraint. RAP 16.4.

The crux of Metcalf's claims is that the statutes are unconstitutional because they are punitive. If the statutes A PRP is an appropriate vehicle by which to allege that a recently-enacted statute impinges on a detainee's constitutional rights. See In re Personal Restraint of Runyan, 121 Wash.2d 432, 444-45, 853 P.2d 424 (1993). ⁵ The State's fear that reviewing this petition will render "all legislative decisions with respect to prisons ... subject to review in a personal restraint petition" is misplaced; the rule itself sufficiently circumscribes the availability of the petition for review of later enactments.

                are punitive, Metcalf argues they unlawfully restrain him within the meaning of the rules concerning PRPs. See RAP 16.4(c)(2), (6), (7). 4  We thus cannot resolve the reviewability issue without addressing the merits of Metcalf's claims.  See State v. S.M.H., 76 Wash.App. 550, 553, 887 P.2d 903 (1995)
                

Res Judicata and Collateral Estoppel

Res judicata and collateral estoppel prevent the relitigation of claims or issues between identical parties To prove res judicata, the State must show concurrence of identity between two actions in four respects: (1) subject matter; (2) cause of action; (3) persons and parties; and (4) the quality of the persons for or against whom the claim is made. U.S. Bank v. Hursey, 116 Wash.2d 522, 529, 806 P.2d 245 (1991). Res judicata should not be applied when it would work an injustice. Henderson v. Bardahl Int'l Corp., 72 Wash.2d 109, 119, 431 P.2d 961 (1967).

and their privies. The party asserting these defenses bears the burden of proof. Bradley v. State, 73 Wash.2d 914, 916, 442 P.2d 1009 (1968). Here, that party is the State, which asserts that dismissal of the federal class action estops Metcalf.

Collateral estoppel is similar to res judicata, applying to issues instead of claims. Collateral estoppel has four requirements: (1) the issue decided in the prior adjudication must be identical with the one presented in the second; (2) the prior adjudication must have ended in a final judgment on the merits; (3) the party against whom the plea of collateral estoppel is asserted must have been a party or in privity with a party to the prior litigation; and (4) application of the doctrine must not work an injustice. State v. Williams, 132 Wash.2d 248, 254, 937 P.2d 1052 (1997). Because Metcalf raises a number of state constitutional claims not advanced in the federal class action, we analyze only whether collateral estoppel operates as a bar to his federal claims.

The federal action was a challenge to the received funds statute, and advanced ex post facto, double jeopardy, due process, bill of attainder, and excessive fine claims identical to those asserted by Metcalf. While the federal action did not directly address the wage deduction statute, the received funds statute explicitly incorporates the proportioning methodology of the wage deduction statute. See RCW 72.09.480 (adopting deduction arm of RCW 72.09.111(1)(a)). The analysis of constitutional issues raised by both statutes is therefore the same, except that any issues raised solely under the wage statute would be less The adjudication in Wright ended in a final judgment on the merits, ⁶ and as a member of the certified class, Metcalf was a party to the prior litigation. Collateral estoppel thus bars Metcalf's federal (and analogous state) constitutional claims unless application of the doctrine would work an injustice.

compelling; inmates have no constitutional property interest in receiving prison wages, see Hrbek v. Farrier, 787 F.2d 414, 416 (8th Cir.1986), whereas they do in receiving money from outside sources, see Quick v. Jones, 754 F.2d 1521, 1523 (9th Cir.1985). Metcalf concedes that the analogous state constitutional provisions upon which he relies receive an interpretation identical to the analogous federal ones. Several of Metcalf's constitutional issues are thus identical to issues resolved in Wright.

In this regard, Metcalf advances several arguments: that the federal court did not give full consideration to the inmates' claims and did not consider Washington case law in interpreting Washington statutes, and that collateral estoppel does not apply where the case involves relitigation of an important issue of law.

We reject Metcalf's claim that the federal magistrate and the district judge did not give full consideration to the inmates' claims. Metcalf relies on State v. Frederick, 100 Wash.2d 550, 559, 674 P.2d 136 (1983), wherein our Supreme Court declined to apply collateral estoppel where the prior adjudication failed to fully consider the evidence and apply the appropriate law. In that case, the asserted "prior adjudication" was a single-sentence order refusing to consider a

petitioner's personal restraint petition,

conclud- This case differs greatly from Frederick, because here the federal court did not issue a perfunctory order. To the contrary, the claims were carefully considered and discussed. We recognize, however, that the district judge's analysis relied upon case law which is different from Washington's. See infra (comparing Washington doctrine concerning restitution with New Jersey case on which the district court relied).

                ing that it had "no basis either in fact or law and appear[ed] frivolous on its face."   The Supreme Court proceeded to consider the merits.  Id. at 559, 674 P.2d 136
                

In addition, Metcalf is correct that Washington follows the rule that "an important issue of law should not be foreclosed by collateral estoppel." Southcenter Joint Venture v. National Democratic Policy Comm., 113 Wash.2d 413, 418-19, 780 P.2d 1282 (1989) (citing Kennedy v. City of Seattle, 94 Wash.2d 376, 379, 617 P.2d 713 (1980)). There can be little question as to the importance of the issues raised here, given the large numbers of inmates affected and the gravity of the challenges asserted. We therefore elect to consider the merits of Metcalf's claims.

Merits of Constitutional Challenges

DUE PROCESS

We first address Metcalf's claim that imposition of the deductions violated his state and federal rights to due process under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and article I, section 3 of the Washington Constitution. Metcalf's procedural...