State ex rel. R.S. v. Trent

• Decision Date: 12 March 1982
• Docket Number: No. 15444,15444
• Court: West Virginia Supreme Court
• Parties: STATE ex rel. R. S. v. George TRENT, Supt., WVISB, et al.

Page 166

289 S.E.2d 166

169 W.Va. 493

STATE ex rel. R. S. v. George TRENT, Supt., WVISB, et al.

No. 15444.

Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia.

March 12, 1982.

Syllabus by the Court

1. W.Va.Code § 49-5-13(b) (1980 Replacement Vol.) requires the juvenile court at the dispositional stage of delinquency proceedings to "give precedence to the least restrictive" of the enumerated dispositional alternatives "consistent with the best interests and welfare of the public and the child."

2. Before ordering the incarceration of a child adjudged delinquent, the juvenile court is required to set forth upon the record the facts which lead to the conclusion that no less restrictive alternative is appropriate. The record must affirmatively show that the child's behavioral problem is not the result of social conditions beyond the child's control, but rather of an intentional failure on the part of the child to conform his actions to the law, or that the child will be dangerous if any other disposition is used, or that the child will not cooperate with any rehabilitative program absent physical restraint.

3. A child who is mentally incapable of conforming his conduct to prescribed legal norms and who cannot restrain himself from committing proscribed antisocial acts, thereby presenting a danger to himself or to others, comes within the definition of "mental illness" and shall be treated accordingly.

4. Where the director of a correctional institution to which a delinquent child has been committed determines that continued incarceration will not accomplish the rehabilitation of the child and recommends that the child be returned to the custody of the committing court for placement in another facility better suited to meet the needs of the child, the court to which such recommendation is directed is required by W.Va.Code § 49-5-13(b)(5) to defer to the discretion of the director and to take steps to implement an appropriate alternative disposition.

5. The circuit court must act affirmatively and in good faith to secure proper custody of a juvenile whom the director of a correctional institution has determined to be unamenable to treatment by further incarceration.

6. A child adjudged delinquent and committed to the custody of the State has both a constitutional and a statutory right to treatment.

7. All officers and employees of the State charged with implementing the provisions of the juvenile law are required to act in the best interests of the child and the public in establishing an individualized program of treatment for each child adjudged delinquent.

Charles R. Garten, Jr., Charleston, Paul Mones, Morgantown, for relator.

Chauncey H. Browning, Jr., Atty. Gen. and Janet Frye Steele, Asst. Atty. Gen., for respondents.

McGRAW, Justice:

The petitioner, a sixteen-year-old male currently incarcerated in the West Virginia Industrial School for Boys, seeks a writ of habeas corpus to compel his release from the institution and a writ of mandamus to compel the committing court to place him in an appropriate residential treatment facility to meet his individual rehabilitative needs. He contends that his incarceration is illegal in that: (1) the committing court failed to receive him into its custody upon the recommendation of the Superintendent of the Industrial School; (2) he has demonstrated a history of mental illness; and (3) he was not accorded the least restrictive dispositional alternative. The petitioner also contends that he is entitled to receive individual treatment consistent with his therapeutic needs. We find merit in the petitioner's contentions and we grant the writ of mandamus prayed for. The writ of habeas corpus is conditionally awarded.

The petitioner has a history of delinquent and maladaptive behavior since the age of eight. He was expelled from school in the third grade and never returned. He has a history of severe drug and alcohol abuse since the age of eleven and may have been the subject of child abuse. He has been charged with numerous instances of breaking and entering, destruction of property, shoplifting and auto theft and has spent a good deal, if not the majority, of his youth in mental health facilities, detention centers and correctional institutions. Periodic psychological evaluations of the petitioner have led to diagnoses that he suffers from organic brain syndrome with behavioral reaction, emerging antisocial personality disturbance, borderline mental retardation and possible learning disabilities, all generally characterized as being within the mild to moderate range of impairment. Prognoses vary from below average to poor.

On April 21, 1980, the petitioner was committed to the Industrial School for Boys by the Circuit Court of Ohio County, after being adjudged delinquent on a charge of breaking and entering. He remained incarcerated there until April 7, 1981, at which time he was released from custody upon the recommendation of the Superintendent of the Industrial School, who had determined that continued incarceration of the petitioner at the school would be of no benefit to him. The petitioner was released into the custody of his mother but was placed with an aunt until his mother could move into a mobile home. On April 10, 1981, the petitioner was arrested for stealing a car and was incarcerated in the Ohio County Jail until April 12, 1981. On April 15, 1981, he was again arrested and incarcerated for the theft of a motor home.

Upon motion of counsel for the petitioner, the circuit court ordered that the petitioner undergo psychological testing and evaluation. The tests were conducted from April 29, 1981 to May 4, 1981. On May 8, 1981, the petitioner was adjudged delinquent and was committed to the Industrial School for Boys for a term of not less than six months nor more than one year. On August 19, 1981, the Superintendent of the Industrial School, respondent herein, wrote a letter to the committing court recommending that the petitioner be returned to the custody of the court and that the Department of Welfare be directed to locate immediately an alternative facility for disposition of the petitioner. The Superintendent's stated reason for this recommendation was that incarceration of the petitioner at the Industrial School would not achieve his rehabilitation and was not in the petitioner's best interests. On August 26, 1981, Judge George Spillers of the First Judicial Circuit wrote a letter to Mr. Ronald Klug, the Supervisor of the Department of Welfare in Ohio County, directing him to implement the recommendations of Superintendent Trent. On November 5, 1981, Superintendent Trent wrote another letter to the circuit court indicating that he had received no response to his previous letter of August 19, 1981.

On December 1, 1981, Superintendent Trent again wrote to the committing court stating that the petitioner's placement at the school was not effective and again recommended that the petitioner be returned to the custody of the court for placement in an alternative facility. The Superintendent also suggested two out-of-state facilities which might be suited to the petitioner's needs. The petition in this case was filed on December 14, 1981.

The petitioner contends that his continued incarceration at the Industrial School following the Superintendent's recommendation that he be discharged into the custody of the committing court was illegal in that the committing court was required by law to comply with the Superintendent's recommendation. The petitioner also contends that his commitment was illegal in the first instance because the circuit court did not afford him the least restrictive dispositional alternative available which was consistent with the purpose of his custody and because he had made a showing of mental illness. Finally, the petitioner asserts that not only is his present incarceration unlawful for the above-stated reasons, but that he is entitled to receive individual treatment consistent with his therapeutic needs. On this ground the petitioner demands a writ of mandamus.

I.

We turn first to the petitioner's contention that his commitment to the Industrial School by the circuit court on May 8, 1981, was unlawful in the first instance. W.Va.Code § 49-5-13(b) (1980 Replacement Vol.) requires the juvenile court at the dispositional stage of delinquency proceedings to "give precedence to the least restrictive" of the enumerated dispositional alternatives "consistent with the best interests and welfare of the public and the child." See State ex rel. C.A.H. v. Strickler, W.Va., 251 S.E.2d 222 (1979). Moreover, juveniles are constitutionally entitled to the least restrictive treatment that is consistent with the purpose of their custody. State ex rel. K.W. v. Werner, W.Va., 242 S.E.2d 907 (1978). A juvenile against whom delinquency proceedings are brought as the result of the child's commission of an act which would be a crime if committed by an adult may be committed to an industrial home or correctional facility "[u]pon a finding that no less restrictive alternative would accomplish the requisite rehabilitation of the child ...." W.Va.Code § 49-5-13(b)(5); State ex rel. S.J.C. v. Fox, W.Va., 268 S.E.2d 56 (1980).

In State ex rel. D.D.H. v. Dostert, W.Va., 269 S.E.2d 401 (1980), however, we held that a court having jurisdiction of juvenile proceedings "cannot justify incarceration in a secure, prison-like facility on the grounds of rehabilitation alone." Syl. pt. 5, in part. Rather the court's decision to commit the juvenile to an industrial school or correctional facility must be grounded on a number of factors indicating that incarceration is the appropriate disposition.

In this regard the court should specifically address the following: (1) the danger which the child poses to society; (2) all other less restrictive alternatives which have been tried either by the court or by other agencies to whom the child was previously directed to...