Neal v. State of Georgia

• Decision Date: 07 November 1972
• Docket Number: No. 71-3093.,71-3093.
• Citation: 469 F.2d 446
• Parties: James Oliver NEAL, Petitioner-Appellant, v. STATE OF GEORGIA, etc., et al., Respondents-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

469 F.2d 446 (1972)

James Oliver NEAL, Petitioner-Appellant, v. STATE OF GEORGIA, etc., et al., Respondents-Appellees.

No. 71-3093.

United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

November 7, 1972.

Roger Groot, Athens, Ga. (court appointed), for petitioner-appellant.

Arthur K. Bolton, Atty. Gen. of Ga., Atlanta, Ga., for respondents-appellees.

Before WISDOM and INGRAHAM, Circuit Judges, and BOOTLE, District Judge.

WISDOM, Circuit Judge:

James Oliver Neal is an inmate in Reidville Prison, Georgia. On August 6, 1971, he filed a § 1983 complaint hand-printed in the neat lettering and naive language characteristic of pro se pleadings of a prisoner. He alleged that he was denied the right to correspond with Mrs. Rosalie McGlaun, Sr., his spiritual advisor, who had been giving him Bible lessons. The complaint was entitled: "Motion for Leave to Proceed in Forma Pauper. Complaint and Petition For Law Suit ($25,000.00) For Violation of First Amendment of U. S. Constu." He named as defendants, "The State of Georgia and concerned agents, et al. Respondent-Defendant, Kendrick Memorial Baptist Church, Columbus, Ga., and Mrs. Beulah L. Baten (and) Mrs. Rosalie McGlaun, Sr.... Co-Respondents". That same day the district court, on its own motion, issued an order directing the Clerk of Court to file the petition for record purposes only and dismissing the action. The order was based on the grounds that the complaint was frivolous and failed to state a claim under the Civil Rights Act. The court concluded that the action could best be disposed of by reaching the merits. On the merits (1) "the right to an education", which Neal asserted, "is not among those rights guaranteed by the Federal Constitution", and (2) "the administration of prison mail is entirely within the discretion of the prison officials and that discretion will not be interfered with unless the prisoner is prohibited from securing relief from illegal detention or treatment". This Court granted Neal's motion to appeal in forma pauperis from the district court's order of dismissal. On appeal Neal was represented by competent counsel from the University of Georgia School of Law. We reverse and remand. The State of Georgia is dismissed as a party defendant.

I.

The appellant concedes that the State of Georgia is not a proper party under the Eleventh Amendment and will have to be dismissed from this action. This dismissal does not end, it begins, the steps the plaintiff must take to have his day in court. Ex parte Young, 1908, 209 U.S. 123, 28 S.Ct. 441, 52 L.Ed. 714, established the principle that individual officers of a state may be sued when they act unconstitutionally under color of state law. The theory of the action is that when

the officer ... comes into conflict with the superior authority of the Constitution, ... he is ... stripped of his official or representative character and is subjected in his person to the consequences of his individual conduct.

209 U.S. at 160, 28 S.Ct. at 454.

This may be a fiction, but like a lot of other legal fictions it is useful. In such cases as Ex parte Young or Monroe v. Pape, 1961, 365 U.S. 167, 81 S.Ct. 473, 5 L.Ed.2d 492, or prisoners' complaints against state officials it is a fiction necessary for the preservation of federal constitutional rights.

In the caption of the complaint Neal named as defendants "The State of Georgia and concerned agents, et al." In a statement entitled "Relevant Information", attached to the complaint, Neal named Lanson Newsome as the "authorized agent and official of the State of Georgia" who "forced petitioner to stop writing and corresponding with Mrs. Rosalie McGlaun, Sr.". Neal alleged also that he served the warden of the prison by handing a copy of the complaint to his agent, i. e. Newsome, Assistant Warden. These two state officials are the "concerned agents" referred to in the caption of the complaint. The district court's order states that Newsome was the Director of Classifications at the Georgia State Prison during the period complained of in this action. Damages are sought against Newsome and an injunction against his successor in office. The certificate of counsel required by Rule 15 states that S. Lamont Smith was the warden of the prison during the period complained of; that the petitioner seeks an injunction against Smith and his successor in office, E. B. Campbell.

A prisoner's pro se complaint against his keepers is held "to less stringent standards than formal pleadings drafted by lawyers". Haines v. Kerner, 1972, 404 U.S. 519, 92 S.Ct. 594, 30 L.Ed.2d 652. The district judge's order shows that he read the complaint liberally. He recognized that the "prisoner contends that the various defendants, especially Lanson Newsome as an agent of the State of Georgia, has violated his First Amendment rights to freedom of religion and his freedom of higher education". We conclude that although the district court correctly read the complaint as an action against the individual state officers (at least Newsome), it would be in the interest of orderly procedure for the district court to allow the petitioner to amend his complaint by naming the warden and his assistant as defendants. At the same time competent counsel now representing the plaintiff should clarify the allegations of the complaint relating to the issues presented and the nature of the relief requested. 28 U.S.C. § 1653 provides that "Defective allegations of jurisdiction may be amended, upon terms, in the trial or appellate courts". The complaint was filed for record purposes only, no responsive pleading by the prison officials has yet been required, and the defendants will not have lost any rights by this action of the Court.

II.

The more basic aspect of this case is the plaintiff's right to a day in court on serious constitutional issues.

Neal says in his complaint that he was baptized in the Kendrick Memorial Baptist Church of Columbus, Georgia, in September 1965. For two years he studied the Bible and participated in church activities. In August 1967 his sister, Mrs. Beulah Neal McGlaun, Jr., suggested that he take a biblical correspondence course conducted by the Garden Oaks Church of Christ in Houston, Texas. While taking this course he sought and received instruction from his sister concerning questions that occurred to him relating to the course. She could not answer all of his questions. Accordingly, she referred him to "another elderly lady", Mrs. Rosalie McGlaun, Sr. For a year and a half Mrs. McGlaun, Sr. guided his biblical studies and served as his spiritual advisor. Then, "Mr. Lanson Newsome of the Georgia State Prison at Reidsville, Georgia, did strict sic and remove `Mrs. Rosalie McGlaun, Sr.' from and off petitioner's mailing list." He contends that "said official has and is frustrating and dening sic petitioner, the rights to gain knowledge of the Holy Bible". He asked the Court to order that he be permitted "the immediate rights and privileges to commence corresponding with Mrs. Rosalie McGlaun, Sr." Neal also asked for $25,000 in damages "to be paid by the respondent and defendant".

Courts "are very properly loathe to interfere in...