Roberts v. Pepersack

• Decision Date: 29 June 1966
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 17031.
• Citation: 256 F. Supp. 415
• Parties: Robert ROBERTS v. Vernon L. PEPERSACK, State Commissioner of Correction, Franklin K. Brough, Warden, Maryland Penitentiary and John P. Garrity, Warden, Maryland House of Correction.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Maryland

256 F. Supp. 415

Robert ROBERTS v. Vernon L. PEPERSACK, State Commissioner of Correction, Franklin K. Brough, Warden, Maryland Penitentiary and John P. Garrity, Warden, Maryland House of Correction.

Civ. A. No. 17031.

United States District Court D. Maryland.

June 29, 1966.

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Robert Roberts, pro se.

Thomas B. Finan, Atty. Gen. of Maryland, and Morton A. Sacks, Asst. Atty. Gen., for respondents.

NORTHROP, District Judge.

Robert Roberts, an inmate at the Maryland House of Correction, has filed a complaint in this court seeking redress against prison authorities for the alleged denial of his civil rights while incarcerated.¹ He has titled his complaint "Petition for a Declaratory Judgment & General Relief." The State, acting through the Attorney General, has moved to dismiss the complaint for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, and has filed with the court a memorandum in support of its position. Roberts responded with what he styles a "Cross Motion to Dissmiss sic Defendants' Motion," but which the court accepts as his answer to the Motion. Plaintiff is not represented by counsel and has paid the $15.00 filing fee.

The allegations of the complaint are based on action taken by prison authorities on October 15, 1965, when Roberts, then imprisoned at the Maryland Penitentiary, circulated material among the inmates informing them that on October 18 there would be a "collective protest against prisoners sic mistreatment, inequities, and criminal neglect by State correctional officials and civil personnel."² (Quoting from the complaint.) This protest was to take the form of a sit-down demonstration. Allegedly, notification was sent to Governor J. Millard Tawes, to prison officials, through the use of two inmate "informers," and to the local newspapers in the form of an "Open Letter to the General Public."

Roberts claims that in the afternoon of October 15, 1965, acting upon the orders of the supervising officers, he reported to the prison hospital. There he was seized by several officers and placed in a station wagon for transfer to the Maryland House of Correction. Upon arrival, he was placed in solitary confinement.

It is not clear from the complaint how much time was actually spent in isolation, but his "Motion" states that for twenty-seven hours, "he was forced to go naked³ and lie on a cold concrete floor without mattress or blankets * * * in a temperature of about 40°, and that he was held incommunicado from the assistence sic of his family among other things." In the complaint, Roberts states that these conditions existed for the "first Twenty-six hours, out of a total of seven days." Thus, although it is unclear to what extent Roberts' stay in isolation exceeded twenty-six or twenty-seven hours, the court assumes that solitary confinement lasted a week, but its harsher aspects only slightly more than a full day.

After his stay in solitary confinement, Roberts was removed to a "semi-segregation section," where he was denied "bathes sic and other toiletry for Sixteen days; denied correspondence with his family, friends, as well as visits, for Fourteen days after leaving the hole prison term for solitary-confinement cell." It is assumed that Roberts is no longer in semi-segregation, although, if he is, the severity of the restraint has been allayed. I find evidence of this relaxation in the numerous communications received by the court from Roberts and from the fact that the court has been contacted by his family with regard to this action—all of which indicates that plaintiff has access to the mail and to the court, and has communicated with and/or seen members of his family.

In that part of the complaint which Roberts terms "Questions Presented," he enumerates four bases for relief. The court paraphrases them in the form of contentions:

1. Custody in the Maryland House of Correction is in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment, because he was originally sentenced to the Maryland Penitentiary.

2. The First Amendment of the Constitution protects the right to demonstrate or protest in the manner involved here.

3. The transfer to the Maryland House of Correction constituted both a denial of due process, because executed without a formal hearing, and denial of equal protection of the laws, since other prisoners are granted hearings prior to transfer.

4. Plaintiff was deprived of the rights, privileges, and immunities to which he is entitled under the Constitution.

On the basis of these contentions, plaintiff believes that the defendants have violated Title 18, United States Code, § 241, and prays that his rights be declared. These rights, according to the complaint, include the right to appointed counsel, the issuance of a writ of habeas corpus, and a declaration that the transfer was unconstitutional.

Roberts' choice of actions is incorrect. Title 18 is concerned with crimes and criminal procedures, and Section 241 imposes criminal penalties for the violation of an individual's civil rights. Suit must therefore be brought by the United States. Actions of a civil nature cannot be brought under these provisions. E. g. Mattheis v. Hoyt, 136 F.Supp. 119 (W.D.Mich.1955). On the other hand, were the court to treat the complaint as a habeas corpus petition, it still would be forced to deny relief because Roberts has failed to meet the federal requirement that he exhaust his state remedies. 28 U.S.C. § 2254.

However, even though Roberts has not selected a statute under which relief could be granted, I feel that it is the court's duty, under these circumstances, to frame his allegations in terms of an appropriate statute. Ample authority exists for the position that the mere fact that one seeks the wrong form of relief should not necessarily preclude the court from considering his claims. In the case of Roberts v. Pegelow, 313 F.2d 548 (4th Cir. 1963), the Fourth Circuit dismissed the appeal because the issues became moot, but, nevertheless, held:

"Unlearned inmates of penal institutions, however, are usually ignorant of the legal niceties of the procedural rules in the courts. If one presents in his own behalf a petition which clearly merits some relief, he ought not to fail entirely because he misconceives the nature of the proceeding or mislabels his petition. If the petition substantively is one for injunctive relief, the court most certainly has a discretionary right to treat it as such, despite the fact that the untutored petitioner has mistakenly designated it as a petition for a writ of habeas corpus." Id. at 550.

Courts have acted similarly in Richey v. Wilkins, 335 F.2d 1 (2d Cir. 1964) (the court treated the complaint as one for damages even though plaintiff requested general relief); Kregger v. Posner, 248 F.Supp. 804, 806 (E.D.Mich.1966) ("the court should view the allegations in a complaint for damages under this section 42 U.S.C. § 1983 prepared by a prison inmate, without benefit of counsel, as liberally as possible"); Beckett v. Kearney, 247 F.Supp. 219 (N.D.Ga. 1965) ("his petition does not bear a label, but it is the duty of this Court to give relief if demanded by the facts regardless of the form of action"); United States ex rel. Henson v. Myers, 244 F.Supp. 826 (E.D.Pa.1965) (action under 18 U.S.C. § 241 treated as a request for a preliminary injunction under 42 U.S.C. § 1983).

Most cases containing allegations that relate to prison conditions have been brought under Title 42, U.S.C. § 1983, which provides that

"Every person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State * * * subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress."

Title 28, U.S.C. § 1343, bestows on the federal courts jurisdiction to enforce such claims. The case of Monroe v. Pape, 365 U.S. 167, 81 S.Ct. 473, 5 L.Ed. 2d 492 (1961) brings section 1983 into the field of tort litigation. In so doing, Monroe affords recovery to citizens injured by the negligent and irresponsible conduct, as well as the willful actions, of state officers. Because liability may exist under section 1983 where a defendant has acted in a nonwillful manner, that section is the one best suited to compensate private citizens for damages arising from unconstitutional actions on the part of state authorities.⁴ Its main purpose is to create a federal right of action where a state official has deprived a citizen of a right secured under the Fourteenth Amendment. Monroe v. Pape, supra.

Numerous cases have incorrectly limited section 1983 to instances where denial of due process is alleged. E. g., Joyce v. Ferrazzi, 323 F.2d 931 (1st Cir. 1963); Hardy v. Kirchner, 232 F.Supp. 751 (E.D.Pa.1964); Bryant v. Harrelson, 187 F.Supp. 738 (S.D.Tex.1960). At the same time, these cases have limited section 1985(3), a conspiracy section requiring that violations thereunder be perpetrated by two or more persons, to claims of denial of equal protection of the laws. Were these cases correct interpretations of section 1983, there would exist a hiatus in the law whereby a citizen would have no recourse under the Civil Rights Act (42 U.S.C. §§ 1981-1995) against a state official acting alone and not in concert with another in depriving the citizen of equal protection of the laws. This loophole, favoring the illegal activity of a state official, has been removed by cases holding that section 1983 covers all rights protected by the Fourteenth Amendment, e. g., Powell v. Workmen's Compensation Board of the State of New York, 327 F.2d 131 (2d Cir. 1964), and that it may be employed to encompass conspiracies. E. g., Cohen v. Norris, 300 F.2d 24 (9th Cir. 1962).

Since the instant case...