Pardo v. Hosier
| Decision Date | 30 October 1991 |
| Docket Number | 90-1007 and 90-1169,Nos. 90-1006,90-1167,s. 90-1006 |
| Citation | 946 F.2d 1278 |
| Parties | Enrique PARDO, Plaintiff-Appellee, Cross-Appellant, v. Paul HOSIER, Louis Lowery, Kent Mills, Lieutenant Richard Foster, W.R. McNamara, W.C. Wheat, James Dooley, Ferdinand Klaren, Frank Zeimetz, J.W. Fairman, Jr., R.F. Harweger and Richard De Los Santos, Defendants-Appellants, Cross-Appellees. LaCarttle JONES, Plaintiff-Appellee, Cross-Appellant, v. Louis O. LOWERY, Kent Mills, and Kathy Frederick, Defendants-Appellants, Cross-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit |
Mary Perlstein, Keith Emmons, Richard Howard, Dobbins, Fraker, Tennant, Joy & Perlstein, Champaign, Ill., Gregg W. Bonelli, argued, Mattoon, Ill., for plaintiffs-appellees.
Todd M. Tennant, Dobbins, Franker, Tennant, Joy & Perlstein, Champaign, Ill., for plaintiff-appellee LaCarttle Jones.
Neil F. Hartigan, Atty. Gen., Timothy J. Cavanaugh, Thomas A. Morrissey, Gary M. Griffin, Asst. Attys. Gen., Jerald S. Post, Asst. Atty. Gen., argued, Office of the Atty. Gen., Chicago, Ill., for defendants-appellants.
Before WOOD, Jr. and RIPPLE, Circuit Judges, and FAIRCHILD, Senior Circuit Judge.
These consolidated appeals and cross-appeals arise from civil rights cases filed by two Illinois state prison inmates. The inmates alleged constitutional deprivations relating to their placement in segregation and, following partial summary judgments in their favor, were awarded nominal damages.
Plaintiff Pardo, an inmate at the Pontiac Correctional Center, received a Resident Disciplinary Report ("report") on May 26, 1980. He testified that the next day he was moved to the segregation unit. On May 28, 1980, an Adjustment Committee hearing was held and Pardo was told that he was being placed on investigative status. Pardo alleged that he was unaware of the nature of the charges against him. He was returned to the general prison population on June 6, 1980.
On June 11, 1981, Pardo received another report and was taken the following day to the segregation unit. Pardo testified that during an Adjustment Committee ("committee") hearing on June 13, 1981, he questioned the reason for the investigation and was told that "Internal Affairs would get back with [him]." Pardo alleged that he had no knowledge of the reason for the report and that Internal Affairs never contacted him about the investigation. He was released from segregation on June 18, 1981. No charges were brought against Pardo in connection with either report.
Pardo then filed suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 alleging that the defendant prison officials violated his constitutional rights by placing him in segregation without due process of law. In ruling on cross-motions for summary judgment, the district court found that Illinois law created a liberty interest in remaining in the general prison population and that the defendants "failed to provide [Pardo] with the minimum requirements of due process." Pardo v. Hosier, 611 F.Supp. 693, 698 (C.D.Ill.1985). A partial summary judgment was granted in favor of Pardo on the issue of liability and following a jury trial to determine damages Pardo was awarded nominal damages of two dollars. Pardo was also awarded prevailing party attorney's fees; however, those fees were reduced by ninety percent by the district court. The defendants appeal from the judgment entered in favor of Pardo, and Pardo cross-appeals reduction of the prevailing party attorney's fees.
Plaintiff LaCarttle Jones, also a Pontiac inmate, received three reports as a result of an incident that occurred on September 27, 1980. The reports alleged that Jones had created a general disturbance by addressing a guard with profanity after the guard requested that he lower the volume of his television. Several hours after the incident, Jones was taken to the segregation unit. On September 29, 1980, three committee hearings were held with respect to the three reports. The committee found Jones guilty of violating an administrative regulation and ordered him to serve fifteen days in disciplinary segregation along with a demotion to "C grade" status.
Jones filed suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 alleging that: (1) he was denied procedural due process when he was placed in administrative segregation; (2) the summaries issued by the committee failed to adequately state the evidence relied upon in finding Jones guilty and also failed to state the reasons for the specific disciplinary action taken against him; (3) he was denied the right to call witnesses at the committee hearing; and (4) he was denied the right to a committee composed of impartial members.
The district court granted a partial summary judgment in favor of Jones on the issue of the failure of the committee summaries to state the reasons for the disciplinary action taken. Pardo, 611 F.Supp. at 707. The district court also found that although Jones's placement in administrative segregation denied him a protected liberty interest without due process, the defendants were entitled to a good faith immunity defense. Id. at 702. Jones's motion for summary judgment was denied with respect to his right to call witnesses and the impartiality of a committee member. 1 Following a jury trial on the issue of damages, the district court entered a directed verdict in favor of Jones on the issue of the inadequacy of the committee summaries. A final judgment was entered awarding Jones nominal damages of one dollar as well as attorney's fees. The district court reduced the amount of attorney's fees requested by Jones by ninety percent. The defendants appealed and Jones cross-appealed the final judgment of the district court.
We review a district court's grant of summary judgment de novo, DeGrand v. Motors Ins. Corp., 903 F.2d 1100, 1101 (7th Cir.1990), and we accept all facts and inferences in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Stokes v. City of Madison, 930 F.2d 1163, 1168 (7th Cir.1991).
In evaluating constitutional claims of prisoners, we must balance the need to protect prisoners' procedural rights against the need for prison safety and security. Redding v. Fairman, 717 F.2d 1105, 1112 (7th Cir.1983), cert. denied, 465 U.S. 1025, 104 S.Ct. 1282, 79 L.Ed.2d 685 (1984). In prison disciplinary proceedings, "prison administrators must be 'accorded wide-ranging deference in the ... execution of policies and practices that in their judgment are needed to preserve internal order and discipline and to maintain institutional security.' " Mathews v. Fairman, 779 F.2d 409, 415 (7th Cir.1985) (quoting Bell v Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520, 547, 99 S.Ct. 1861, 1878, 60 L.Ed.2d 447 (1979)).
Pardo and Jones claim that they had a liberty interest in remaining in the general prison population and that their placement in segregation by defendants violated their right to due process of law. The fourteenth amendment provides that a state may not deprive "any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law." Two inquiries are involved in evaluating procedural due process claims: "the first asks whether there exists a liberty or property interest which has been interfered with by the State; the second examines whether the procedures attendant upon that deprivation were constitutionally sufficient." Kentucky Dept. of Corrections v. Thompson, 490 U.S. 454, 460, 109 S.Ct. 1904, 1908, 104 L.Ed.2d 506 (1989).
In addressing the first inquiry, an individual seeking to assert a constitutionally protected interest must establish "a legitimate claim of entitlement to it." Id. Liberty interests may arise from the due process clause itself or from state law. Castaneda v. Henman, 914 F.2d 981, 983 (7th Cir.1990), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 111 S.Ct. 1085, 112 L.Ed.2d 1190, 111 S.Ct. 1085 (1991). However, the Supreme Court has rejected the argument that the due process clause itself creates a liberty interest in a prisoner remaining in the general prison population. Hewitt v. Helms, 459 U.S. 460, 468, 103 S.Ct. 864, 869-70, 74 L.Ed.2d 675 (1983); Russ v. Young, 895 F.2d 1149, 1152 (7th Cir.1989). "As long as the conditions or degree of confinement to which the prisoner is subjected is within the sentence imposed upon him and is not otherwise violative of the Constitution, the Due Process Clause does not in itself subject an inmate's treatment by prison authorities to judicial oversight." Thompson, 490 U.S. at 460-61, 109 S.Ct. at 1908-09 (quoting Montanye v. Haymes, 427 U.S. 236, 242, 96 S.Ct. 2543, 2547, 49 L.Ed.2d 466 (1976)). Therefore, in order to state a claim, the plaintiffs must find an enforceable liberty interest in state law.
In order for a liberty interest to be created by state law, the statute or regulation must "plac[e] substantive limitations on official discretion." Thompson, 490 U.S. at 462, 109 S.Ct. at 1909 (quoting Olim v. Wakinekona, 461 U.S. 238, 249, 103 S.Ct. 1741, 1747-48, 75 L.Ed.2d 813 (1983)). The Court in Thompson further required that the state law include " 'explicitly mandatory language,' i.e., specific directives to the decisionmaker that if the regulations' substantive predicates are present, a particular outcome must follow, in order to create a liberty interest." Thompson, 490 U.S. at 463, 109 S.Ct. at 1910. See also Hewitt, 459 U.S. at 471-72, 103 S.Ct. at 871-72. However, the state's use of mere procedural guidelines, without more, is not sufficient to create a protectible liberty interest. Kellas v. Lane, 923 F.2d 492, 494 (7th Cir.1991); Russ, 895 F.2d at 1153. We must therefore analyze the relevant regulations to determine whether they contain the mandatory language required by the Supreme Court in Thompson.
Pardo was placed in administrative segregation pursuant to Administrative Regulation ("A.R.") 804(II)(J). Relying on Hewitt, the district court found that A.R. 804(II)(J)...
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