Smallwood v. Missouri Bd. of Probation and Parole, 78-1313

• Decision Date: 03 November 1978
• Docket Number: No. 78-1313,78-1313
• Citation: 587 F.2d 369
• Parties: A. E. SMALLWOOD, Appellant, v. MISSOURI BOARD OF PROBATION AND PAROLE, Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

Page 369

587 F.2d 369

A. E. SMALLWOOD, Appellant, v. MISSOURI BOARD OF PROBATION AND PAROLE, Appellee.

No. 78-1313.

United States Court of Appeals,

Eighth Circuit.

Submitted Oct. 30, 1978.

Decided Nov. 3, 1978.

A. E. Smallwood, pro se.

John D. Ashcroft, Atty. Gen., and Philip M. Koppe, Asst. Atty. Gen., Jefferson City, Mo., for appellee.

Before LAY, BRIGHT and ROSS, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM.

A. E. Smallwood, an inmate at the Missouri Training Center for Men in Moberly, Missouri, brought this action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against the Missouri Board of Probation and Parole (the Board). Smallwood alleged that the Board violated his civil rights by utilizing constitutionally defective procedures in denying him parole. He sought injunctive and declaratory relief, including an order requiring the Board to reconsider his release. The district court ¹ dismissed the action on two grounds: (1) most of Smallwood's claims have already been litigated in a class action brought on behalf of Missouri prisoners, including Smallwood; and (2) Smallwood's remaining claims are properly raised solely in a petition for a writ of habeas corpus and Smallwood has failed to exhaust his state remedies on these claims. Smallwood timely appealed. We affirm.

Smallwood's complaint alleged seven distinct challenges to the procedures employed by the Board. The district court dismissed five of these claims on the ground that the issues had already been adjudicated in Williams v. Missouri Bd. of Probation and Parole, 444 F.Supp. 473 (W.D.Mo.1978). That case, a class action brought on behalf of all inmates in Missouri penal institutions who are or will be subject to the Board's jurisdiction and who are being or will be brought before the Board for a parole release hearing, raised the same issues as five of Smallwood's claims. Although that decision was reversed by this court, Williams v. Missouri Bd. of Probation and Parole, 585 F.2d 922 (8th Cir. 1978), the case will eventually effectively dispose of these five claims. The district court here ruled that Smallwood, as a member of the class in Williams, may not relitigate those issues. The judgment in a class action usually binds all members of the class. Although the Res judicata effect of such a judgment on class members may be challenged on a variety of grounds, See 7A C. Wright & A. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure § 1789 (1972 & Supp.1977), Smallwood has not challenged the court's conclusion that he is and will be bound by the result in Williams. The district court correctly resolved this aspect of the case.

Smallwood's two other claims, which the district court found to be outside the scope of the Williams class action, are that he was denied parole solely because he has not served a sufficient amount of time to satisfy some subjective standard that Board members have erected and that the decision denying him parole was based on inaccurate information about his involvement with drugs and/or alcohol. The primary question on this appeal is whether these claims may be brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 or whether they are properly raised only in a petition for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2254.

The Supreme Court has held that habeas corpus is the exclusive federal remedy for a state prisoner seeking release from confinement or reduction in sentence. Preiser v. Rodriguez, 411...