Rudolph v. Cuomo
| Decision Date | 21 February 1996 |
| Docket Number | 93 Civ. 1414 and 92 Civ. 7365 (SWK) (THK).,92 Civ. 4735,No. 92 Civ. 3402,92 Civ. 5335,92 Civ. 4737,92 Civ. 3402 |
| Citation | 916 F. Supp. 1308 |
| Parties | Lynn RUDOLPH, Joey Abney, Theodore Toler, Charles H. Hamilton, Kenneth Iniss, Gary Vann, Jeffrey Davis, Robert S. Shaheer, Ronald Gantt, George Lewis, and LeRoy Williams on behalf of Themselves and a Class Consisting of All Similarly Situated Individuals, Plaintiffs, v. Mario CUOMO, Governor of New York State, Patrick J. Bulgaro, Director of the New York State Division of the Budget, Thomas A. Coughlin III, Commissioner of New York State Department of Correctional Services, Christopher Artuz, Acting Superintendent of Green Haven Correctional Facility, Cyril Coefield, Acting Deputy Superintendent of Security of Green Haven Correctional Facility, Defendants. Thomas BERRY, Stanley Punter, and John Lopez, Plaintiffs, v. Mario CUOMO, Governor of New York State, Robert Abrams, Attorney General of New York State, Thomas A. Coughlin III, Commissioner of New York State Department of Correctional Services, Charles J. Scully, Superintendent of Green Haven Correctional Facility, and Wallace Oldham, Deputy Superintendent of Green Haven Correctional Facility, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York |
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Debevoise & Plimpton by Rodney W. Ott, New York City, for Plaintiffs.
Dennis C. Vacco, Attorney General of the State of New York by Barbara K. Hathaway, New York City, for Defendants.
In these consolidated civil rights actions brought pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, plaintiffs, a class of inmates including all inmates incarcerated at New York State's Green Haven Correctional Facility ("Green Haven") from January 1, 1992 to the present, who were or are now subject to either of the two policies at issue in this case, challenge as unconstitutional two changes in the regulations of the New York Department of Correctional Services ("DOCS"): (1) a one-time, three-week pay lag of inmate wages; and (2) a mandatory five dollar disciplinary surcharge imposed when an inmate is found guilty of certain violations of prison misbehavior rules. On May 23, 1995, Magistrate Judge Theodore H. Katz issued a Report and Recommendation (the "Report") recommending that defendants' motion for summary judgment dismissing all of plaintiffs' claims be granted. Plaintiffs now seek an order rejecting the Report. For the reasons set forth below, plaintiffs' motion is denied and the Report is adopted in full.
Green Haven is a correctional facility located in Stormville, New York housing state prisoners. According to prison regulations, all able-bodied Green Haven inmates must perform work assignments during their period of incarceration. See Green Haven Inmate Orientation Handbook ("Green Haven Handbook"), annexed to the Affidavit of Rodney W. Ott, dated Feb. 28, 1994 (the "Ott Aff."), as Exh. "11," at 41-42. While inmates may request a particular work assignment, prison officials do not guarantee that such requests will be granted in all instances. Id. The rate of pay ranges from sixty cents to two dollars per day, depending on the nature of the work.2 See Complaint at ¶ 49; Answer at ¶ 17.
Earnings accumulated in this way are not given directly to inmates, but rather are placed in a special account. Inmates are allowed to deduct earnings from their accounts by sending money home to family members, ordering from approved catalogs or making purchases at the facility commissary. See Defs.' Interrog.Resp. at No. 5. When inmates make a monetary transaction, they fill out a "withdrawal slip" and DOCS debits their accounts accordingly. Under this system, inmates never actually receive or handle cash payments for their work. See Deposition of Russell DiBello, taken on July 19, 1993, annexed to the Ott Aff. as Exh. "4" ("DiBello Dep."), at 111-13.
On January 9, 1992, DOCS implemented a new policy whereby state prison inmates' compensation for work performed while incarcerated was reduced by twenty percent over a period of fifteen weeks (the "Pay Lag Policy"). In other words, DOCS withheld the equivalent of three weeks pay from each inmate. The Pay Lag Policy provided that inmates would be entitled to receive the withheld funds, known as "lagged payroll," upon release from the prison system, a period of time which varies from inmate to inmate.
Under state law, DOCS' employees are authorized to issue a misbehavior report ("MR") to any inmate who violates prison rules. See N.Y.Comp.Codes R. & Regs. tit. 7, § 270.2. After an MR is entered, the charge is reviewed by an area supervisor and then forwarded to a reviewing officer. See Deposition of Cyril Coefield, taken on Nov. 3, 1993, annexed to the Ott Aff. as Exh. "10" (the "Coefield Dep."), at 18-19. The reviewing officer either dismisses the charge or designates it as a Tier I, Tier II or Tier III violation, depending on several factors, including the frequency of the inmate's violations and the severity of the conduct. See Green Haven Handbook at 14. Because many of the violations allow for hearings in a range of tiers, see N.Y.Comp.Codes R. & Regs. tit. 7, § 270.2, similar MRs are often designated to different tiers, see N.Y.Comp. Codes R. & Regs. tit. 7, §§ 270.1 and 270.2.
After a violation has been assigned to a certain tier, the reviewing officer refers the MR to a hearing officer and a hearing is conducted. The level of due process accorded an inmate at the hearing corresponds to the tier to which the infraction has been assigned. See N.Y.Comp.Codes R. & Regs. tit. 7, § 270. Tier I violations, representing the least severe infractions, are subject to a violation hearing and are adjudicated by a prison sergeant. Tier II violations give rise to a disciplinary hearing and are adjudicated by a lieutenant. Tier III violations, the most severe penalty level, are adjudicated at a superintendent's hearing, presided over by a captain or other high level employee such as a deputy superintendent, senior counselor, steward or education director. See Coefield Dep. at 20-22. In no circumstance may a charging, investigating or reviewing officer serve in an adjudicative role at the hearing. Inmates found guilty of Tier II or Tier III offenses are entitled to an administrative appeal and subsequent judicial review in a state court Article 78 proceeding. See N.Y.Comp. Codes R. & Regs. tit. 7, §§ 253.8 and 254.8; N.Y.Civ.Prac.L. & R. §§ 7801, et seq.
On December 18, 1991, the New York State Commissioner of Correctional Services issued a new order, effective January 1, 1992, requiring inmates convicted of misbehavior in a Tier II or Tier III disciplinary hearing to pay a five dollar mandatory disciplinary surcharge (the "Disciplinary Surcharge" or "Disciplinary Surcharge Policy"). See N.Y.Comp.Codes R. & Regs. tit. 7, §§ 253.7 and 254.7. Monies collected from the Disciplinary Surcharge are deposited in the state general fund and are not allocated specifically to the DOCS budget. See Affidavit of Donald Selsky, dated Apr. 28, 1994, at ¶ 5.
On May 11, 1992, plaintiffs brought suit challenging the Pay Lag and Disciplinary Surcharge Policies. In their complaint, plaintiffs claim that the Pay Lag Policy is unconstitutional in that it (1) deprives them of property without due process of law because they possess a property right in the timely payment of their compensation; (2) violates the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment; and (3) impairs their rights under the Constitution's Contracts Clause.
With respect to the Disciplinary Surcharge Policy, plaintiffs claim several constitutional violations: (1) violation of inmates' rights to procedural due process based on the introduction of bias into the disciplinary system; (2) infringement of inmates' substantive due process rights when state officials allow forfeitures and confiscations of property without explicit statutory authorization; and (3) violation of the Equal Protection Clause on the ground that the Disciplinary Surcharge does not expressly provide for a waiver in cases of indigence or unreasonable hardship, despite the fact that other mandatory surcharges do provide such a possibility.
On May 23, 1995, Magistrate Judge Katz issued his Report recommending that the Court grant defendants' motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint. First, the Magistrate Judge held that the Pay Lag Policy does not violate any of the asserted constitutional protections. The Magistrate Judge found that while inmates have a property interest in wages they have earned, Report at 9-11, they have no such property interest in the timely payment of these wages, id. at 12-15. With respect to the Takings Clause claim, the Magistrate Judge found that since plaintiffs lack a vested property right in the prompt payment of inmate wages, there could be no compensable taking, and, furthermore, plaintiffs lack a reasonable investment-backed expectation in such prompt payment. Id. at 16-18. Finally, the Magistrate Judge determined that the Pay Lag Policy does not impair their contract rights under the Contracts Clause because there is no contract between plaintiffs and the state, and that even if such a contract exists, it does not provide for the timely payment of wages.
Second, the Magistrate Judge dismissed plaintiffs arguments with respect to the Disciplinary Surcharge Policy. Magistrate Judge Katz found that any interest on the part of adjudicating officers is far too remote to give rise to an inference of bias. Id. at 26-35. The Report also concludes that the Disciplinary Surcharge Policy does not involve a forfeiture without due process of law, and that even if such actions constitute a forfeiture, there is adequate statutory authority for the Disciplinary Surcharge Policy. Id. at 35-39. Finally, the Magistrate Judge found that the lack of an...
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