Sigler v. Lowrie
| Decision Date | 08 January 1969 |
| Docket Number | No. 19212.,19212. |
| Citation | 404 F.2d 659 |
| Parties | Maurice SIGLER, Appellant, v. Vincent R. LOWRIE, Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit |
Melvin Kent Kammerlohr, Asst. Atty. Gen. of Nebraska, Lincoln, Neb., for appellant, Clarence A. H. Meyer, Atty. Gen. of Nebraska, Lincoln, Neb., on the brief.
Fredric H. Kauffman, Lincoln, Neb., for appellee.
Before VOGEL, LAY and BRIGHT, Circuit Judges.
The warden of the Nebraska State Penitentiary appeals from an order enjoining him from taking a prisoner's "pay" to reimburse the state for certain expenses. These costs were incurred when the state chartered a plane to return the prisoner from California to Nebraska after the latter had escaped from prison in 1963. The expenses amounted to $464.50. Upon return to Nebraska the prisoner pled guilty to an escape charge in Lancaster County District Court and was taxed $44.40 in court costs. In this action the federal district court treated the prisoner's motion as one filed under the Civil Rights Act. After an evidentiary hearing, the trial court allowed the warden to pay the court costs to the county and to cancel any credits which might have accrued in the prisoner's "spending account" prior to his escape. However, the warden was enjoined in taking from the prisoner's account any future earnings to reimburse the state for the plane expense because this would deprive the prisoner of property without due process of law. The court further ordered the warden to lift any restrictions placed upon petitioner's "spending account." The warden defends his action as a "disciplinary" measure allowed under the Nebraska statutes.
Upon review, we find the prisoner has failed to show proper grounds for relief in the federal courts. We reverse.
The applicable Nebraska statutes provide:
The testimony shows that a prisoner may earn up to $15.00 a month for his labor under the statute. The evidence reflects that an amount up to one-third of his total prison earnings may be placed in his "spending account," while the balance of his earnings goes to his "wage saving account." Within the latter account are also any monies which the prisoner brings into prison with him or which might be sent to him during his confinement. This account is turned over to the prisoner only when he is released. The "spending account," on the other hand, is used by the prisoner for miscellaneous purchases while in prison. The testimony reflects that the prisoner's "spending account" has been "frozen" until such time that the expenses for the plane and court costs relating to the escape are paid. The deputy warden testified that no monies the prisoner possesses or receives from outside sources have or will be taken. We also construe his testimony to mean that only prison earnings credited to his "spending account" have been cancelled.
We agree with the learned trial judge that to "fine" the prisoner as a penalty for escape and thereby summarily take from him vested monies in order to pay the "fine" would be to deprive him of property without due process of law. Cf. Strong v. State ex rel. Barrett, 129 Tenn. 472, 166 S.W. 967 (1914). However, we find that neither the state statutes nor the warden's interpretative application of them deprives the prisoner of any such constitutional right.
The Nebraska Legislature has provided in § 83-436 that a prisoner will be paid for labor at a rate to be regulated by the director of prisons. There exists no constitutional right for such payment and it is readily apparent that such compensation is by grace of the state. Cf. Draper v. Rhay, 315 F.2d 193 (9 Cir. 1963). And, it is equally clear at least up to one-third of such compensation is a matter of conditional grace subject to the warden's administrative discretion. A state legislature may grant a favor to a convicted criminal, but it also may attach such conditions to the granting of the favor as it deems proper. See Ughbanks v. Armstrong, 208 U.S. 481, 488, 28 S.Ct. 372, 52 L.Ed. 582 (1908).
Under § 83-439 it is provided that up to one-third of the monies earned may be provided for the prisoner's use. The precise amount is placed within the warden's discretion as to what is "just and equitable" and may depend upon the prisoner's "character," his "crime" and "deportment."
The statute also provides that this fund may be paid out to the prisoner, his wife or family, or held for the prisoner's discharge "as the warden may deem best." The warden's discretion is thus limited in how this fund may be used. The statute does not provide for the warden to make payment of monies to third parties for the debts of the prisoner.1 However,...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
McMaster v. State of Minn.
...(citing Draper v. Rhay, 315 F.2d 193, 197 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 375 U.S. 915, 84 S.Ct. 214, 11 L.Ed.2d 153 (1963); Sigler v. Lowrie, 404 F.2d 659 (8th Cir.1968), cert. denied, 395 U.S. 940, 89 S.Ct. 2010, 23 L.Ed.2d 456 (1969)). The mere fact that prisoners may be required to work witho......
-
Board of Trustees of Weston County School Dist. No. 1, Weston County v. Holso
...F.2d 605 (10th Cir. 1976); Smith v. Young Men's Christian Association of Montgomery, Inc., 462 F.2d 634 (5th Cir. 1972); Sigler v. Lowrie, 404 F.2d 659 (8th Cir. 1969); Marland v. Heyse, 315 F.2d 312 (10th Cir. 1963); Stringer v. Dilger, 313 F.2d 536 (10th Cir. 1963); Marshall v. Sawyer, 30......
-
Flood v. Margis
...a cause of action may be said to exist. Screws v. United States, 325 U.S. 91, 108, 65 S.Ct. 1031, 89 L.Ed. 1495 (1945); Sigler v. Lowrie, 404 F.2d 659, 662 (8th Cir.1968), cert. denied, 395 U. S. 940, 89 S.Ct. 2010, 23 L.Ed.2d 456 In addition, the plaintiff's claim asserted in paragraph 7 i......
-
Miller v. Campbell, 00-2539-D/V.
...(same); Lyon v. Farrier, 727 F.2d 766, 769 (8th Cir.1984) (same); Manning v. Lockhart, 623 F.2d 536, 538 (8th Cir.1980); Sigler v. Lowrie, 404 F.2d 659 (8th Cir.1968); Woodall v. Partilla, 581 F.Supp. 1066 (N.D.Ill.1984); Anderson v. Hascall, 566 F.Supp. 1492, 1496 (D.Minn.1983). Accord, Ba......