Stone v. Egeler, M-70-72 C.A.

• Decision Date: 18 December 1973
• Docket Number: No. M-70-72 C.A.,M-70-72 C.A.
• Parties: David L. STONE and Emory Hyatt, Jr., et al., Plaintiffs, v. Charles EGELER et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Michigan

377 F. Supp. 115

David L. STONE and Emory Hyatt, Jr., et al., Plaintiffs, v. Charles EGELER et al., Defendants.

No. M-70-72 C.A.

United States District Court, W. D. Michigan, S. D.

December 18, 1973.

William S. Easton, (court appointed), Marquette, Mich., for plaintiffs.

Frank J. Kelley, Atty. Gen., Lansing, Mich., for defendants.

OPINION AND ORDER

FOX, Chief Judge.

This is a civil rights action brought by plaintiffs, David L. Stone and Emory Hyatt, Jr., against the Warden and Deputy Warden of the state prison at Jackson, Michigan, and the Deputy Director of Prisons in charge of correction facilities.

In their complaint, plaintiffs allege that while confined at the state prison at Jackson they were placed in administrative segregation pending investigation of their alleged involvement in the sale and possession of narcotics within the prison, that they were never prosecuted for the alleged offense, that they were thereafter transferred to the state prison at Marquette, and that such transfer was a punitive transfer imposed without the type of hearing demanded by due process requirements.

Plaintiff Stone claims that his administrative segregation for approximately two months, as well as his transfer from Jackson to Marquette, has resulted in the loss of approximately $1,000.00 in benefits under the G. I. Bill of Rights, increased travel costs for his wife's visits, inability to become involved in institutional programs, and a blemish on his record. Plaintiff Hyatt claims that the matter has adversely affected his release on parole. The relief sought is an order which would in effect prescribe the type of hearing which inmates must have and the rights which must be accorded to them when faced with charges of the type here involved. Plaintiff Stone claims actual damages of $1,600.00 and punitive damages of $3,000.00. Plaintiff Hyatt also seeks an order directing the Parole Board to release him on parole unless it determines that he is guilty of the charge of dealing in narcotics at Jackson. Plaintiffs also ask that they be returned to the prison at Jackson and that any loss of good time be restored to them.

Defendants filed a motion to dismiss the complaint for failure to state a cause of action, and on the ground that there are no genuine issues as to any material fact and defendants are entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. It is the defendants' position that the plaintiffs were administratively detained pending investigation of their involvement in bringing contraband narcotics into the prison at Jackson, that the police authorities ultimately determined there was insufficient evidence to prosecute in the state courts, and that thereafter plaintiffs were transferred from Jackson to Marquette not as a punitive matter, but for administrative reasons. All of this, it is claimed, is a reasonable course of conduct in the internal regulation and administration of the internal affairs of the Michigan penal institutions.

On November 5 and 9, 1973, the court held a full evidentiary hearing in this matter at which plaintiffs were represented by counsel. It appears from the evidence that in latter part of 1971, the prison officials suspected that the plaintiffs were involved in smuggling heroin into the prison at Jackson where plaintiffs were then confined. A state police investigation was conducted in December 1971. Upon completion of the investigation, the state police concluded that there was insufficient evidence to warrant a prosecution in the Circuit Court. Approximately a month and a half later, plaintiffs were transferred from Jackson to the branch prison at Marquette, Michigan.

Gerald Hansen, Deputy Warden of the prison at Jackson, Michigan testified that the primary reason for the plaintiffs' transfer from Jackson was the security and good order of the institution and the well-being of the inmates. Assuming that is true, it is also true that the event which led to the transfer was the suspicion that the petitioners were involved in illicit drug traffic, and that after a thorough police investigation it was concluded there was insufficient evidence to prosecute the petitioners. The transfer to Marquette followed immediately thereafter. It is also undisputed that no hearing was held with respect to the proposed transfer from Jackson to Marquette at which petitioners could voice any objections.

At the hearing, defendants made an effort to equate the prisons at Jackson and Marquette. However, the regulations of the Michigan Department of Corrections belie this and indicate that the prison at Marquette is the ultimate maximum security institution in the Michigan penal system to which are sent the worst and most recalcitrant offenders. For example, BCF Regulation C-3, entitled "Inter-Institutional Transfer Policy" (defendants' Exhibit B) provides for the transfer of the following types of prisoners to the prison at Marquette:

"Long-term inmates who are believed to be escape risks; inmates who are dangerous or extremely assaultive; or those who have demonstrated that they are persistent management problems requiring maximum-security supervision; or appropriate cases requiring protection should be transferred to the Marquette Branch Prison. Offenders should be 20 years of age or older; however, exceptions will be made for the younger serious behavior problem."

Similarly, the regulation pertaining to the specific transfer of prisoners from the prison at Jackson (SPSM) to the prison at Marquette (defendants' Exhibit A) provides as follows:

"Inmates believed to be escape threats, either by circumstances of sentence or as indicated by their behavior, and men with poor institutional records necessitating maximum-security supervision over a protracted period, or those who require protection, should be transferred from SPSM to the appropriate facility, in most cases Marquette."

The court is aware that courts have in the past declared that a prisoner has no vested right to remain in any particular prison. See Gray v. Creamer, 465 F.2d 179, 187 (3rd Cir. 1972); Bundy v. Cannon, 328 F.Supp. 165, 173 (D.Md.1971). However, courts in recent years have also recognized that in certain circumstances a prisoner is entitled to some type of hearing before such a transfer is made.¹ In Gomes v. Travisono, 353 F. Supp. 457 (D.R.I.1973), the court held that the Fourteenth Amendment barred the transfer of prisoners from the Rhode Island prison system to prisons outside the state without prior due process hearings similar to those the court had previously decreed for punitive segregation. It is true that the transfers in Gomes involved transfer to another state, but a transfer from the prison at Jackson in the lower peninsula of Michigan to the prison at Marquette in a remote point in the upper peninsula of Michigan some 420 miles distant could well involve deprivations as serious as the deprivations which prompted the court to reach its decision in Gomes v. Travisono, supra. For example, in the case of petitioner Stone, the very distance involved made visitations from his family in the Jackson area impractical and prohibitively expensive and interfered with the college program upon which he had embarked at Jackson.

The court also notes that in the report of the National Advisory Commission On Criminal Justice Standards and Goals, Standard 2.13 deals with "Procedures for Nondisciplinary Changes of Status". The Standard, which is quoted in toto in the appendix to this opinion, requires something less than the due process elements proposed for imposition of major disciplinary sanctions. Nevertheless it recommends some semblance of a hearing procedure where a change in a prisoner's status is contemplated, involving substantially adverse changes in such things as the degree, type, or location of custody. The recommendation of the Commission is that in such situations an administrative hearing be held, with notice to the prisoner, an opportunity to be heard, and a written report by the prison authority communicating its final decision. This standard provides in pertinent part as follows:

"3. Where reviews involving substantially adverse changes in degree, type, location, or level of custody are conducted, an administrative hearing should be held, involving notice to the offender, an opportunity to be heard, and a written report by the correctional authority communicating the final outcome of the review. Where such actions, particularly transfers, must be made on an emergency basis, this procedure should be followed subsequent to the action. In the case of transfers between correctional and mental institutions, whether or not maintained by the correctional authority, such procedures should include specified procedural safeguards available for new or initial commitments to the general population of such institutions."

The court finds from the evidence presented at the hearing that the transfer of petitioners from the prison at Jackson to the prison at Marquette was triggered because of a suspicion that they were involved in illicit drug traffic;...