United States ex rel. Hoss v. Cuyler
| Decision Date | 01 May 1978 |
| Docket Number | Civ. A. No. 74-2148. |
| Citation | 452 F. Supp. 256 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America ex rel. Stanley B. HOSS v. Julius T. CUYLER, Individually and as Superintendent of the State Correctional Institution at Graterford, his Agents and Successors in Interest, Robert N. Mauger, Individually, as Acting Deputy Superintendent of Custody and as a member of the Program Review Committee of the State Correctional Institution at Graterford, Pennsylvania, his Agents and Successors in Interest, Daniel T. Sims, Individually, as Deputy Superintendent for Treatment, and as a member of the Program Review Committee of the State Correctional Institution at Graterford, Pennsylvania, his Agents and Successors in Interest, Lawrence Reid, Individually, as Director of Treatment, and as a member of the Program Review Committee of the State Correctional Institution at Graterford, Pennsylvania, his Agents and Successors in Interest, and William B. Robinson, Individually and as Commissioner of Corrections, his Agents and Successors in Interest, Camp Hill, Pennsylvania. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Pennsylvania |
COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED
COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED
COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED
James A. Backstrom, Jr., Roy G. Rifkin, H. Vincent McKnight, Jr., Student Counsel, Indigent Prisoner Litigation Program, Philadelphia, Pa., for plaintiff.
Maria P. Vickers, Asst. Atty. Gen., Philadelphia, Pa., for defendants (in their official capacities).
Joseph Goldberg, Philadelphia, Pa., for defendants (in their unofficial capacities).
SUR PLEADINGS AND PROOF
This action under the Civil Rights Act of 1871 was instituted by Stanley B. Hoss to redress alleged deprivations of his civil rights during his confinement at the State Correctional Institution at Graterford. Hoss contends that he has been subjected to cruel and unusual punishment and deprived of liberty without due process of law. The case was tried to the Court, sitting at Graterford, on June 1, 1976. Since that time, the parties have unsuccessfully attempted to settle the case. In addition, decision has been deferred to allow completion of psychiatric evaluations of Hoss which were conducted pursuant to an order of this Court. In the interim, counsel have supplemented the record with various documents. Now that the record is complete, I make the following
1. Plaintiff is Stanley Barton Hoss, an inmate of the State Correctional Institution at Graterford, Pennsylvania (SCI Graterford), who is confined to that institution's Behavior Adjustment Unit (BAU).
2. Defendant Julius T. Cuyler is the Superintendent of SCI Graterford.
3. Defendant Robert N. Mauger is one of the two majors of the guard at SCI Graterford. From October 1975 to May 1976 he served as acting Deputy Superintendent for Operations at the institution, replacing Deputy Superintendent T. J. Meisberger, who was on sick leave.
4. Defendant Daniel T. Sims is the Deputy Superintendent for Treatment Services at SCI Graterford.
5. Defendant Lawrence Reid is Director of Treatment Services at SCI Graterford.
6. Defendant William B. Robinson is the Pennsylvania Commissioner of Correction.
7. Hoss was born March 1, 1943.
8. To keep in good physical condition, Hoss practices a demanding daily physical fitness regimen, including 1000 push-ups, 600 "dips," 600 sit-ups, and karate exercises. To develop his hands, he hits the cement wall of his cell daily.
9. According to the testimony and medical reports of psychiatrists, Hoss is not psychotic, although he does have a personality disorder known as "passive-aggressive personality." The term "passive-aggressive personality" was not defined at trial; Stedman's Medical Dictionary (4th unabr. lawyers' ed. 1976) defines it as follows on page 1061:
"a personality disorder in which aggressive feelings are manifested in passive ways, especially through mild obstructionism and stubbornness."
The SCI Graterford staff psychiatrist described Hoss' personality as "severely passive-aggressive or explosive."
10. Hoss is Caucasian. He frequently uses the epithet "nigger" in referring disparagingly to other persons. At trial, he explained that he does not use this word in a racial sense as a label for black persons; instead, he uses it as a derogatory name for any person — black or white — who does not treat him fairly or with respect.
11. On March 9, 1970, Hoss was convicted of first degree murder in the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, and was sentenced to death. On October 25, 1972, the death sentence was vacated and Hoss was sentenced to life imprisonment.
12. Until 1973, Hoss was incarcerated at the State Correctional Institution at Pittsburgh (SCI Pittsburgh).*
* Some of the testimony and exhibits referred to SCI Pittsburgh by its old name, Western State Penitentiary. The name was changed in 1959. See Act of Oct. 22, 1959, Act No. 467, § 1, 1959 Pa.Laws 1356, 1357, Administrative Code of 1929, § 202, 71 Pa.Stat.Ann. § 62 (Purdon).
13. On August 16, 1972, Hoss was implicated in the stabbing of a black inmate, Eugene Spruill, at SCI Pittsburgh. Immediately prior to the stabbing, Hoss had been in a "pre-release range" of the prison where he worked in the prison laundry and was locked up only from 3:00 p. m. to 6:00 a. m. As a result of the stabbing he was placed in SCI Pittsburgh's BAU, where he did not have these privileges.
14. On September 10, 1972, SCI Pittsburgh officials found Hoss guilty of misconduct in refusing to move to another cell and in threatening an officer.
15. On December 10, 1973, Hoss (who was confined to the BAU) and other SCI Pittsburgh inmates assaulted and killed Walter Peterson, a black prison guard.* For that slaying, Hoss was convicted on June 13, 1974 of second degree murder in the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, and was sentenced to a further prison term of ten to twenty years.
* The slaying was accomplished in an especially brutal manner. See Commonwealth v. Hoss, 469 Pa. 195, 197-98, 364 A.2d 1335, 1336 (1976).
16. Two days after the killing of Peterson, Hoss was transferred to the State Correctional Institution at Huntingdon (SCI Huntingdon), where he was kept for the duration of the Peterson murder trial. After that trial, on June 19, 1974, Hoss was transferred from SCI Huntingdon to SCI Graterford. Throughout the period of his incarceration at SCI Huntingdon, Hoss was held in that prison's BAU.
17. SCI Graterford is a part of the Pennsylvania prison system. It is under the supervision, management, and control of a board of trustees, a departmental administrative board within the Pennsylvania Department of Justice, and of the Bureau of Correction, a part of the Department of Justice headed by the Commissioner of Correction.*
* See Administrative Code of 1929, §§ 202, 911-916, 71 Pa.Stat.Ann. §§ 62, 301-306 (Purdon); Penal and Correctional Institutions Act of 1953, §§ 1-4, 71 Pa.Stat.Ann. §§ 831-834 (Purdon). These facts were not adduced at trial. They are established by the statutes cited, of which I take judicial notice. See Fed.R.Evid. 201.
18. At the time of trial, the inmate population of SCI Graterford was 1725, of which only about 200 were white. Although these figures are constantly changing, the ratio of black to white inmates at SCI Graterford remains high.
19. At the time of trial, SCI Graterford had 279 correctional officers, including guards. The guards work eight hour shifts and are divided into nine squads; two squads work during each shift.
20. Some of the administrative personnel at SCI Graterford, including defendants Cuyler, Sims, and Reid, are black.
21. The chief administrative officer at SCI Graterford is the superintendent. From the time of Hoss' arrival at SCI Graterford in June 1974 to the date of trial, the institution had three superintendents — Robert L. Johnson, who left a few days after Hoss' arrival; Ronald Marks, who served from the time Johnson left until early 1975; and defendant Cuyler, who became superintendent in early 1975.
22. SCI Graterford is administered in accordance with administrative regulations issued by the Commissioner of Correction, including Bureau of Correction Administrative Directive No. 801, which deals with prison disciplinary procedures and restricted housing categories. That Directive became effective on June 1, 1974 and was amended in several significant respects on February 12, 1977.* As amended, ¶ 1 of the Directive to be codified at 37 Pa.Code § 95.101 sets forth its "Scope and Purpose" as follows:
* A copy of the original (1974) version of the Directive was submitted at trial as Exhibit P-1; the 1977 amended version was forwarded to the Court by counsel as part of their supplementation of the record. The Directive is divided into various paragraphs and subparagraphs, some of which are numbered differently in...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Ruiz v. Estelle
...or general situation come within the designated bases for segregation. Mitchell v. Hicks, 614 F.2d at 1020. See Hoss v. Cuyler, 452 F.Supp. 256, 289-290 (E.D.Pa. 1978); Bono v. Saxbe, 450 F.Supp. 934, 941 (E.D.Ill.1978); Lamb v. Hutto, 467 F.Supp. 562, 566 (E.D.Va.1979). Thus, the determina......
-
Clark v. Brewer
...(five years confinement); Morris v. Travisono, 549 F.Supp. 291, 292 (D.R.I.1982) (six years confinement); United States ex rel. Hoss v. Cuyler, 452 F.Supp. 256, 270-76 (E.D.Pa.1978) (four years confinement); Calloway v. Fauver, 544 F.Supp. 584, 589-92 (D.N.J.1982) (five years confinement). ......
-
Canlis v. San Joaquin Sheriff's Posse Comitatus
...458 F.Supp. 945, 951 (D.D.C.1978); Kedra v. City of Philadelphia, 454 F.Supp. 652, 662 (F.D.Pa.1978); United States ex rel. Hoss v. Cuyler, 452 F.Supp. 256, 279 (E.D.Pa.1978); DesVergnes v. Seekonk Water District, 448 F.Supp. 1256, 1260 (D.Mass.1978), modified on other grounds, 601 F.2d 9 (......
-
Kedra v. City of Philadelphia
...of equal protection rights (§ 1985(3)), and interference with federal voting rights (§ 1985(3))." United States ex rel. Hoss v. Cuyler, 452 F.Supp. 256, 279 (E.D.Pa.1978). Here, as in that case, the allegations do not fit within any of those categories. Although the complaint cites the Equa......