Monroe v. Thigpen
| Citation | 932 F.2d 1437 |
| Decision Date | 10 June 1991 |
| Docket Number | No. 90-7019,90-7019 |
| Parties | Carl J. MONROE, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Morris THIGPEN, Leland Lambert, Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (11th Circuit) |
Steven J. Allen, Mobile, Ala., for plaintiff-appellant.
Alice Boswell, Asst. Atty. Gen., Montgomery, Ala., for defendants-appellees.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Alabama.
Before KRAVITCH and JOHNSON, Circuit Judges, and MORGAN, Senior Circuit Judge.
Plaintiff Carl J. Monroe appeals the district court's judgment in favor of the defendants on Monroe's claim to have erroneous prejudicial information expunged from his prison files.
In 1970, Monroe pled guilty to the first-degree murder of Linda Ann Harden. Monroe v. State, 50 Ala.App. 302, 278 So.2d 751 (1973). Although Monroe was initially sentenced to death, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals amended Monroe's sentence to life imprisonment in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision in Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238, 92 S.Ct. 2726, 33 L.Ed.2d 346 (1972).
Among the records contained in Monroe's prison file is a post-mortem examination of Linda Harden by a toxicologist ("the toxicologist's report") which states that "examination of sexual organs indicate sexual molestation in some manner." In addition, Monroe's file contains a Presentence Investigation Report ("PSI") which states that investigations by the coroner and the toxicologist revealed that Linda Harden had been raped. The PSI also states that the author of the PSI, Joe Jackson, had actually interviewed Monroe and that Monroe had admitted almost everything contained in the PSI, thereby creating the strong impression to any reader that Monroe had admitted raping Linda Harden.
In March of 1981, the Social Services Division of the Alabama Department of Corrections ("the DOC") recommended that Monroe be assigned to a minimum camp as a prelude to being granted a work-release assignment. 1 This recommendation was denied on the ground that Monroe's PSI indicated that his victim had been raped. Monroe was informed by his attorney that he was denied work-release because a sex offense appeared in his prison file. Monroe then wrote to officials in the DOC seeking the removal or waiver of his sex offender status on the grounds that he had neither been charged with nor convicted of any sex offense. 2 Assistant Director John Nagle informed Monroe that he was ineligible for work release because the "victim in your offense was raped."
In 1984, due to Monroe's numerous violations of prison rules, prison authorities upgraded Monroe's custody classification from minimum to medium. 3 When Monroe subsequently sought reclassification to minimum status, prison authorities informed him that he was no longer eligible to be restored to minimum custody status because he was classified as a sex offender. In a memo explaining the custody regulations, a prison official told Monroe that he was no longer eligible for minimum classification because his "murder conviction involved rape." 4
In December of 1986, Monroe wrote to Ealon Lembert, Chairman of the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles ("the Board"), requesting the correction of several errors in his PSI. In his letter, Monroe argued that there was no direct evidence that he had raped Linda Harden and that the toxicologist's report was consistent with a finding that Linda Harden had actually had consensual sexual relations with someone other than Monroe before she was murdered. Monroe also denied speaking with Joe Jackson and admitting the facts reported in the PSI. 5 In a letter dated December 12, 1986, Al Smith, the General Counsel to the Board, responded by characterizing the issues raised by Monroe as "absurd" and stating that he found no merit to any of them. In a subsequent letter, dated December 16, 1986, Smith conceded, however, that Joe Jackson had never interviewed Monroe and that the PSI was based on information allegedly provided to Jackson by parole officer Kenneth Law. Nevertheless, the Board continued to refuse to correct the statements in the PSI which suggested that Monroe had admitted raping Linda Harden.
In March of 1987, Monroe filed a pro se complaint pursuant to 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 alleging that he was being deprived of due process because erroneous information in his prison file was being used to deny him fair consideration for parole and minimum custody status. Monroe sought equitable relief only, requesting an order expunging the allegedly false and misleading information from his prison file. The defendants filed an answer coupled with a motion for summary judgment. 6 The defendants argued that Monroe failed to state a claim upon which relief could be granted because he was not constitutionally entitled to parole or a particular custody classification.
Despite the defendants' failure to respond to Monroe's request for discovery, to reply to Monroe's motion for summary judgment, and to file a pretrial statement, neither the magistrate judge nor the district court imposed sanctions. 7 On July 31, 1989, the magistrate judge held an evidentiary hearing. In his recommendation, the magistrate judge determined that the PSI contained erroneous information. The magistrate judge concluded, nevertheless, that the decision to deny parole was based on a number of legitimate factors in addition to the admittedly false information contained in the PSI. Specifically, the magistrate judge found that the toxicologist's report which stated that evidence indicated sexual molestation of Linda Harden was sufficient to support the classification of Monroe as a sex offender. In addition, the magistrate judge held that the brutal nature of the murder and Monroe's disciplinary history were sufficient to deny parole. The magistrate judge therefore recommended judgment in favor of the defendants. The district court's order adopted the recommendation without opinion.
We review the magistrate judge's findings of facts, which were accepted and adopted by the district court without objection by either party, under the plain error standard. LoConte v. Dugger, 847 F.2d 745, 749-50 (11th Cir.), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 958, 109 S.Ct. 397, 102 L.Ed.2d 386 (1988). Questions of law, however, remain subject to de novo review. Id.
Monroe argues that, although he has no liberty interest in parole, he has a due process right to be fairly considered for parole. He contends that the defendants' reliance on admittedly false information in order to deny him parole or a minimum security classification violates due process. Monroe claims that he therefore has a due process right to have the false and erroneous information deleted from his PSI. Id. 8
In Greenholtz v. Inmates of the Nebraska Penal and Correctional Complex, 442 U.S. 1, 7, 99 S.Ct. 2100, 2103-04, 60 L.Ed.2d 668 (1979), the Supreme Court held that the Constitution does not confer a liberty interest in parole. The Court also determined, however, that states may confer such a liberty interest in parole under state law. Id. at 12, 99 S.Ct. at 2106. When a state statute, practice, or regulation provides for an expectancy of parole and limits official discretion to deny parole, then a liberty interest in parole is created. Id. Applying Greenholtz, we have previously determined that the Alabama parole statute, Ala.Code Sec. 15-22-26 (1975), does not confer a liberty interest in parole that is protected by the Due Process Clause because the statute provides that parole may be granted at the Board's discretion. Thomas v. Sellers, 691 F.2d 487, 488-89 (11th Cir.1982) (per curiam). 9 Accordingly, we noted that federal courts should not interfere with the discretionary decisions of the Board "absent flagrant or unauthorized action" by the Board. Id. at 489. We have also held that the classification scheme adopted by the Alabama prison system to determine the custody status of prisoners "is not arbitrary and capricious, but reasonable and appropriate." Hendking v. Smith, 781 F.2d 850, 852 (11th Cir.1986) (). In addition, we have stated that the classification system used by the Alabama prison system contains no inherent constitutional invalidity, but becomes constitutionally offensive only if "the regulation is administered maliciously or in bad faith." Id.; see also Francis v. Fox, 838 F.2d 1147, 1149-50 (11th Cir.1988) ().
The defendants have admitted to this Court, as they did to the magistrate judge, that the statements that Monroe seeks to have removed from his file are false. They concede that Monroe's PSI erroneously states that the toxicologist's and the coroner's reports revealed that Linda Harden had been raped, that Joe Jackson had interviewed Monroe before preparing the PSI and that Monroe admitted "almost everything" reported in the PSI. The defendants also concede, and the record shows, that state officials specifically relied upon the statement in the PSI that Linda Harden had been raped in deciding to classify Monroe as a sex offender and in denying him parole. Nevertheless, citing our decision in Slocum v. Georgia State Bd. of Pardons and Paroles, 678 F.2d 940, 942 (11th Cir.), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 1043, 103 S.Ct. 462, 74 L.Ed.2d 612 (1982), the defendants argue that because there is no liberty interest in parole release or in a particular security classification Monroe has no right to due process in the procedures relating to parole release. Stated simply, the defendants argue that so long as the Alabama parole statute confers no liberty interest in parole they may rely on admittedly false information in denying parole...
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...§ 1983. Rodriguez v. Greenfield, 7 Fed.Appx. 42, 45 (2d Cir.2001). The Second Circuit in Rodriguez cited favorably to Monroe v. Thigpen, 932 F.2d 1437 (11th Cir.1991),3 in which an Alabama inmate alleged that parole board improperly relied upon materially false information in his file. The ......
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