Ramos v. Lamm

Citation639 F.2d 559
Decision Date06 April 1981
Docket NumberNo. 79-2324,79-2324
PartiesFidel RAMOS, David Lee Anderson, Sadiki Lisimba Ajamu (a/k/a Eugene Collins), Alexander Roses, Mark J. Menchetti and Lester Lazenby, et al., Plaintiffs- Appellees, v. The Honorable Richard D. LAMM, Governor of the State of Colorado; James G. Richetts, Executive Director of the Dept. of Corrections; John Perko, Director of Div. of Adult Services of Colo. Dept. of Corrections; Edgar Fox, Dir. of Div. of Correctional Industries of Colo. Dept. of Corrections and William Wilson, Supt. of Max. Sec. Unit (Warden) Defendants-Appellants.
CourtUnited States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (10th Circuit)

John D. MacFarlane, Atty. Gen., and David K. Rees, Asst. Atty. Gen., Denver, Colo. (Richard F. Hennessey, Deputy Atty. Gen., Mary J. Mullarkey, Sol. Gen., Sarah Scott Sammons, Asst. Atty. Gen., Litigation Section, Tarquin Jay Bromley, Asst. Atty James E. Hartley of Holland & Hart, Denver, Colo., and Peggy A. Wiesenberg, National Prison Project, Washington, D. C. (Hugh Q. Gottschalk, Denver, Colo., and Ralph I. Knowles, Jr., National Prison Project, Washington, D. C., were on the brief), for plaintiffs-appellees.

Gen., Human Resources Section, Denver, Colo., were on the brief) for defendants-appellants.

William C. Robb, Denver, Colo. (Philip G. Dufford of Welborn, Dufford, Cook & Brown and Michael T. Risner, Denver, Colo., were on the brief) for amicus curiae The General Assembly of the State of Colo. *

Before HOLLOWAY, BARRETT and LOGAN, Circuit Judges.

HOLLOWAY, Circuit Judge.

The defendants-appellants, hereafter the State or the State of Colorado, appeal from an order of the United States District Court directing inter alia that the State of Colorado close the maximum security unit of the Colorado State Penitentiary at Canon City, Colorado, hereinafter referred to as "Old Max." The order was premised mainly on findings of numerous violations of the constitutional rights of the plaintiff class (inmates of the penitentiary) under the Eighth Amendment protecting against cruel and unusual punishment, with some additional constitutional infringements also being found. Ramos v. Lamm, 485 F.Supp. 122 (D.Colo.). Implementation of the order to close Old Max was deferred on the condition that the State would present proper plans for eradication of the constitutional violations found by the district court. 1 Id. at 169-70.

I

The factual background

In November 1977 Fidel Ramos, an inmate at Old Max, filed a pro se civil rights suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against certain State defendants challenging as unconstitutional his status as a "transitional worker" at Old Max and his living conditions at that facility. In February 1978 the National Prison Project and the A.C.L.U. Foundation of Colorado appeared on behalf of Ramos and filed an amended complaint, styled as a class action, basically alleging that "the totality of the conditions" at Old Max violated various constitutional rights of the inmates confined in that facility. The amended complaint did not seek compensatory or punitive damages as did the original pro se complaint; rather it asked only for declaratory and injunctive relief along with costs, expenses, and attorneys' fees. The district court certified the suit as a class action under Rule 23(a), F.R.Civ.P. and described the class as "(a)ll persons who are now or in the future may be incarcerated in the maximum security unit of the Colorado State Penitentiary at Canon City, Colorado." I R. 62. 2

After extensive discovery trial began on October 15, 1979. Following five (5) weeks of trial, the district court on November 15 ruled from the bench in favor of the plaintiff On this appeal the State of Colorado argues that the trial court erred: (1) in refusing to abstain from exercising its jurisdiction in this case; (2) in failing to "apply the correct constitutional standard in making its findings that the totality of conditions at . . . (Old Max) violated the plaintiff class' eighth amendment rights;" (3) in finding a constitutional violation because the evidence, measured under the correct constitutional standard, was insufficient to support such findings; and (4) in choosing an appropriate remedy. We will detail additional facts as we discuss the appellate contentions, to which we now turn.

class and entered certain emergency orders pertaining to medical care. On December 20 the court filed a memorandum opinion and order supplementing the bench ruling and detailing its findings of violations of the plaintiffs' rights. Ramos v. Lamm, supra. 3

II Abstention

Subsequent to the filing of the amended complaint the State filed a "motion to dismiss and/or abstain." After a hearing the district court denied the motion to abstain without prejudice to the issue being raised at a later time. During closing arguments, counsel for the State again asked the district court to abstain from exercising its jurisdiction.

In its written opinion the court concluded that although it had shown "great deference" to Colorado prison officials in the past, it was unable to continue that deference in light of the "substantial, often compelling, evidence of long existing and continuing constitutional violations." 485 F.Supp. at 132. Accordingly, the district court declined to abstain.

The State first strenuously argues for reversal under the principles enunciated in such cases as Colorado River Water Cons. Dist. v. United States, 424 U.S. 800, 96 S.Ct. 1236, 47 L.Ed.2d 483; Younger v. Harris, 401 U.S. 37, 91 S.Ct. 746, 27 L.Ed.2d 669; Burford v. Sun Oil Co., 319 U.S. 315, 63 S.Ct. 1098, 87 L.Ed. 1424; Railroad Comm'n v. Pullman Co., 312 U.S. 496, 61 S.Ct. 643, 85 L.Ed. 971. The state claims that there were several pending state proceedings in which the conditions of confinement at Old Max were being challenged, that the plaintiffs could have intervened as a matter of right in at least one of these proceedings under Colo.R.Civ.P. 24, and that the plaintiffs could have instituted a § 1983 civil rights action in a Colorado state court. Thus abstention was mandated since the plaintiff class had an "opportunity" to present their federal claims in a state forum.

The State further claims that the principle of comity and the critical state interest in the operation of its penal system make federal court abstention "particularly important where the plaintiff challenges the constitutionality of the state's prison system"; that "the state's efforts to establish a coherent policy with respect to a matter of substantial public concern" were disrupted by the district court's refusal to abstain; and that since questions of state law are critical to the resolution of the case, the district court should have abstained. See Brief of Appellant at 15-25.

We are acutely aware of the delicate role of the federal courts in matters involving the administration, control, and maintenance by the states of their penal systems-an area historically within the domain and control of those sovereign entities. See Battle v. Anderson, 564 F.2d 388, 391-92 (10th Cir.); Bethea v. Crouse, 417 F.2d 504, 505-06 (10th Cir.); see also Procunier v. Martinez, 416 U.S. 396, 404-05, 94 S.Ct. 1800, 1807, 40 L.Ed.2d 224; Preiser v. Rodriguez, 411 U.S. 475, 491-92, 93 S.Ct. 1827, 1837, 36 L.Ed.2d 439. We cannot agree, however, with the State's argument here In reviewing the district court's refusal to abstain, we note that the Supreme Court has "confined the circumstances appropriate for abstention to three general categories," none of which apply to justify refusal to hear this constitutional case. Colorado River, supra, 424 U.S. at 814, 96 S.Ct. at 1244; see generally 17 C. Wright, A. Miller, & E. Cooper, Federal Practice and Procedure §§ 4241-55 (1978). This is not a case where the federal constitutional issues "might be mooted or presented in a different posture by a state court determination of pertinent state law." Colorado River Water Cons. Dist. v. United States, supra, 424 U.S. at 814, 96 S.Ct. at 1244; Railroad Comm'n v. Pullman Co., supra, 312 U.S. at 500-01, 61 S.Ct. at 645; see Manney v. Cabell, (9th Cir. No. 79-3260, April 29, 1980). The Manney case does apply the abstention doctrine in the setting of a correctional institution controversy, but it does so in a case where the application of two state statutes might avoid the federal constitutional issues. Here there are no underlying issues of state law which, if resolved, might avoid the decision of this case as a whole and its substantial constitutional claims, most of which we uphold. 5 The rights claimed to have been violated are plainly federal in origin and nature and are in no way "entangled in a skein of state law that must be untangled before the federal case can proceed." McNeese v. Board of Educ., 373 U.S. 668, 674, 83 S.Ct. 1433, 1437, 10 L.Ed.2d 622. The mere fact that a federal claim, brought in federal court, might have been brought instead in state court does not justify abstention. See, e. g., Zablocki v. Redhail, 434 U.S. 374, 379-80 n.5, 98 S.Ct. 673, 677 n.5, 54 L.Ed.2d 618; Colorado River, supra, 424 U.S. at 813-14, 96 S.Ct. at 1244; Zwickler v. Koota, supra, 389 U.S. at 251, 88 S.Ct. at 397.

that the district court abused its discretion 4 in refusing to abstain in view of the serious violations alleged of basic rights under the First, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments, and the substantial evidence later offered on these claims. See, e. g., Campbell v. McGruder, 580 F.2d 521, 527 (D.C.Cir.); and see Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520, 562, 99 S.Ct. 1861, 1886, 60 L.Ed.2d 447. "The doctrine of abstention, under which a District Court may decline to exercise or postpone the exercise of its jurisdiction, is an extraordinary and narrow exception to the duty of a District Court to adjudicate a controversy properly before it." Colorado...

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