Pratt v. Rowland
| Citation | 770 F. Supp. 1399 |
| Decision Date | 09 August 1991 |
| Docket Number | No. C-89-3367 SAW.,C-89-3367 SAW. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of California |
| Parties | Elmer PRATT, Plaintiff, v. James ROWLAND, Director of Corrections, California Department of Corrections; James H. Gomez, Current Director of Corrections, California Department of Corrections; Daniel B. Vasquez, Warden of San Quentin Prison; Robert Borg, Warden of Folsom Prison; B.J. Bunnell, Warden of Tehachapi Prison; Les Blanks, Program Administrator Tehachapi Prison; G. Crowell, Correctional Lieutenant, Tehachapi Prison; Terry Yearwood, Chief of Classification Services, California Department of Corrections; and K. Law, Correctional Officer, Tehachapi Prison; Lieutenant Crow, Correctional Officer, Tehachapi Prison; and Kim Walker, Correctional Counsellor, Tehachapi Prison, Defendants. |
Stuart Hanlon, Tamburello, Hanlon, Bresciani & Waggener, San Francisco, Cal., Valerie West, Oakland, Cal., for plaintiff.
Paul Gifford, Peter Siggins, Deputy Attys. Gen., San Francisco, Cal., for defendants.
The Court now considers whether or not the retention of plaintiff Elmer "Geronimo" Pratt in administrative segregation is justified based upon the charges of marijuana trafficking and possession as to which he was found guilty after separate disciplinary hearings. Plaintiff is a maximum security prisoner in the California Correctional Institution at Tehachapi ("Tehachapi"). He seeks a preliminary injunction ordering his release from segregated confinement and his return to the general prison population.
A hearing on this matter was conducted on August 1, 1991. Given the narrow limits on the power of federal courts to review the sufficiency of prison disciplinary proceedings and to override the findings of prison authorities, the Court must conclude that Pratt is not entitled to the relief he seeks.
On April 1, 1991, Pratt was placed in administrative segregation on the basis of a statement by a confidential informant and fellow inmate that Pratt was engaged in marijuana trafficking. Correctional Officer M. Stainer interviewed the informant and wrote a confidential memorandum, dated April 2, 1991, memorializing the interview ("Confidential Memorandum").1 According to the informant, Pratt arranged on two occasions to have packages containing marijuana sent, under fictitious names, to Receiving & Release ("R & R"). Confidential Memorandum. Once the packages arrived at R & R, the informant purportedly retrieved the marijuana, keeping a portion for himself and smuggling the rest to the yard. Id. Besides Pratt, the informant implicated another inmate in a similar drug trafficking scheme and accused yet another of smuggling. Id.
After Pratt was placed in segregation, prison officials searched his cell. They found a pipe made out of cardboard and foil in a garbage can. Blanks Decl., Exh. E. Such pipes have been used by prisoners to smoke marijuana. Prison officials removed and secured eight boxes of legal materials from the cell and, approximately 24 hours later, found a small quantity of marijuana in a blue folder containing legal materials. Id. Memoranda submitted by defendants establish the chain of custody of these materials. See Blanks Decl., Exhs. E4-E7. Pratt was then charged with marijuana possession.
Separate disciplinary hearings were held on the marijuana trafficking and possession charges. Pratt was found guilty of both charges. Blanks Decl., Exh. A & B. In connection with his trafficking violation, Pratt was assessed a one-year term in a Secured Housing Unit ("SHU"). Blanks Decl., Exh. F. Pratt received the same penalty as the informant and the other inmates incriminated by the informant. Blanks Decl., Exh. D. A total of four other inmates beside Pratt were disciplined for drug trafficking, each receiving a recommended SHU sentence. Id.
Pending his transfer to an institution with an SHU, sometime after his impending parole board hearing in August 1991, Pratt has been retained in administrative segregation. Blanks Decl., Exh. F. Prison authorities have determined that Pratt's retention in segregation is appropriate because of the danger his drug involvement poses to the safety and security of the institution. Id.
Claiming that his segregation was retaliatory and in violation of his right to due process of law, Pratt requests a preliminary injunction ordering his release from administrative segregation and his return to the general prison population.
The standard for issuing a preliminary injunction is settled. The moving party must show either (1) a combination of probable success on the merits and the possibility of irreparable injury, or (2) the existence of serious questions going to the merits and that the balance of the hardships tips sharply in his favor. California Cedar Prods. Co. v. Pine Mountain Corp., 724 F.2d 827, 830 (9th Cir.1984). These are not two separate tests, but extremes of the same continuum. Miss World (UK) Ltd. v. Mrs. America Pageants, Inc., 856 F.2d 1445, 1448 (9th Cir.1988).
Pratt contends that he is entitled to a preliminary injunction ordering his return to the general prison population for two reasons: (1) he was deprived of due process in connection with his disciplinary hearing on his marijuana trafficking charge, and (2) prison officials filed the allegedly false charges against Pratt out of a retaliatory motive.
Plaintiff contends that the disciplinary proceedings regarding his marijuana trafficking charge violated his right to due process because the Hearing Officer's finding of guilt was predicated on unreliable and uncorroborated information from the confidential informant. The Court again stresses that it has only limited power to review the Hearing Officer's finding.
Due process in a prison disciplinary hearing is satisfied if the inmate receives written notice of the charges, a statement of the evidence relied on by the prison officials, and the reasons for disciplinary action. Zimmerlee v. Keeney, 831 F.2d 183, 186 (9th Cir.1987) (citing Wolff v. McDonnell, 418 U.S. 539, 563-66, 94 S.Ct. 2963, 2978-80, 41 L.Ed.2d 935 (1974)), cert. denied, 487 U.S. 1207, 108 S.Ct. 2851, 101 L.Ed.2d 888 (1988). The inmate also has the limited right to call witnesses and present documentary evidence in his defense when doing so would not threaten institutional safety. Id. (citing Wolff, 418 U.S. at 566, 94 S.Ct. at 2979). Pratt was afforded these basic guarantees. He chose not to request the presence of any witnesses.
Pratt maintains that the notice he received was defective in that it failed to provide him "a chance to marshal the facts in his defense." Wolff, 418 U.S. at 564, 94 S.Ct. at 2978. The record does not support this conclusion. The Rules Violation Report informed him that he had been identified as a participant in a marijuana trafficking operation involving packages containing marijuana being sent to Pratt under an assumed name.2 The Report also stated that the trafficking charge was based on confidential memoranda and that marijuana had been discovered in Pratt's property. One of the two Confidential Information Disclosure Forms received by Pratt further delineated the nature of the trafficking scheme.3 The information contained in these two documents was sufficiently specific to enable Pratt to prepare a defense. See Zimmerlee, 831 F.2d at 188. Moreover, due process does not require that an informant's identity be revealed to the inmate. Id. at 186 (citing Wolff, 418 U.S. at 568-69, 94 S.Ct. at 2980-81).
The disciplinary board's ultimate finding need only be supported by "some evidence." Superintendent v. Hill, 472 U.S. 445, 454, 105 S.Ct. 2768, 2773, 86 L.Ed.2d 356 (1985). Id. at 455-56. Where, as here, the Hearing Officer's finding of guilt is premised on an account provided by an unidentified confidential source, the record must contain some factual information from which the officer can reasonably conclude that the information is reliable. Zimmerlee, 831 F.2d at 186; Cato v. Rushen, 824 F.2d 703, 705 (9th Cir.1987).4
The confidential memorandum, which summarizes the confidential informant's statement regarding Pratt's involvement in marijuana trafficking, clearly constitutes some evidence that Pratt participated in marijuana trafficking. The question, then, is whether the record contains some indicia that the confidential information is reliable. In making this determination, the Court must bear in mind that review of the reliability determination should be deferential. Zimmerlee, 831 F.2d at 186.
Although the indicia in the record regarding the reliability of the confidential information is far from overwhelming, it is sufficient to support the finding that Pratt was guilty of marijuana trafficking. Pratt contends that the only justification offered by prison authorities for the finding of reliability is that a second confidential memorandum, called a "link analysis," purportedly corroborated the first memorandum, which contained the informant's statement. This link analysis, performed by Officers Stainer and Solis, purports to show detailed connections between inmates incarcerated at Tehachapi and civilians concerning drug trafficking. According to this link analysis, these connections were established through intelligence data and statements made by inmates involved in the trafficking activities. The sole allegation in this link analysis which concerns Pratt is the statement that the informant removes marijuana from packages arranged by Pratt. This statement is followed...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Lucero v. Hensley
...to achieve such goals. Rizzo v. Dawson, 778 F.2d at 532; Schroeder v. McDonald, 823 F.Supp. 750, 760 (D.Haw. 1992); Pratt v. Rowland, 770 F.Supp. 1399, 1405 (N.D.Cal.1991); Rodriguez v. Kincheloe, 763 F.Supp. 463, 472 (E.D.Wash.1991), aff'd, 967 F.2d 590 (9th Cir.1992), cert. denied, 507 U.......
-
Flores v. Lewis
...background, were consistent with each other, and at least one of them was against the informant's penal interest); Pratt v. Rowland, 770 F.Supp. 1399, 1403-04 (N.D. Cal. 1991) (finding adequate indicia of reliability where confidential statement was lent some credibility by confidential mem......
-
Pratt v. Rowland, C-89-3367 SAW.
...On September 28, 1989, the Court issued a Preliminary Injunction ordering Plaintiff returned from Folsom to San Quentin. On August 9, 1991, 770 F.Supp. 1399, the Court denied Plaintiff's motion for a Preliminary Injunction requiring defendants to release Plaintiff from administrative confin......