US v. State of Mich.

• Decision Date: 03 March 1988
• Docket Number: No. G84-63.,G84-63.
• Citation: 680 F. Supp. 270
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff, v. STATE OF MICHIGAN, James J. Blanchard, Governor of Michigan, Michigan Corrections Commission; Gwen Andrew, Chairman, Michigan Corrections Commission, Thomas Eardley, G. Robert Cotton, Dwayne Waters, Don Le Duc, Members, Michigan Corrections Commission, Michigan Department of Corrections, Perry M. Johnson, Director, Michigan Department of Corrections, Robert Brown, Jr., Deputy Director, Michigan Department of Corrections, Dale Foltz, Regional Administrator, State Prison of Southern Michigan, John Jabe, Warden, Michigan Reformatory, Theodore Koehler, Warden, Marquette Branch Prison, John Prelesnik, Administrator, Reception and Guidance Center, State Prison of Southern Michigan, and Jack Bergman, Administrator, Michigan Intensive Programming Center, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Michigan

680 F. Supp. 270

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff, v. STATE OF MICHIGAN, James J. Blanchard, Governor of Michigan, Michigan Corrections Commission; Gwen Andrew, Chairman, Michigan Corrections Commission, Thomas Eardley, G. Robert Cotton, Dwayne Waters, Don Le Duc, Members, Michigan Corrections Commission, Michigan Department of Corrections, Perry M. Johnson, Director, Michigan Department of Corrections, Robert Brown, Jr., Deputy Director, Michigan Department of Corrections, Dale Foltz, Regional Administrator, State Prison of Southern Michigan, John Jabe, Warden, Michigan Reformatory, Theodore Koehler, Warden, Marquette Branch Prison, John Prelesnik, Administrator, Reception and Guidance Center, State Prison of Southern Michigan, and Jack Bergman, Administrator, Michigan Intensive Programming Center, Defendants.

No. G84-63.

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

March 3, 1988.

Andrew J. Barrick, U.S. Dept. of Justice, Civil Rights Div., Washington, D.C., for plaintiff.

National Prison Project of the American Civil Liberties Union by Elizabeth Alexander and Adjoa Aiyetoro, Washington, D.C., and Patricia A. Streeter, Detroit, Mich., as amicus curiae.

Frank J. Kelly, Atty. Gen., State of Mich. by Thomas Nelson and Brian MacKenzie, Lansing, Mich., for defendants.

OPINION

ENSLEN, District Judge.

The issue to be addressed in this opinion is whether the defendants' use of food loaf for prisoners in segregation units violates either the standards created by the Consent Decree and the State Plan for Compliance or constitutional standards. Food loaf is a substance prepared by grinding up and combining the various components of a regular prison meal.¹ This substance is formed into a loaf and baked. The baked loaf is then tightly wrapped in plastic and served to the inmate without tray or utensils. The only liquid provided to a prisoner placed on food loaf is water, which is made available through drinking fountains installed in segregation cells. All parties appear to agree that the caloric and nutritional content of the food loaf is substantially similar to the caloric and nutritional content of normal prison meals. Indeed, there could be little dispute on that issue, since the food loaf is prepared, as I have indicated, by combining the various items which make up a regular meal.

At present, the Department's Policy Directive number PD-BCF-50.04 (Jan. 1, 1987) provides that:

A prisoner housed in segregation may be immediately placed on the food loaf if he or she is observed engaging in any of the following behavior:

1. Misuse of food, serving tray, or eating utensils.

2. Refusing or failing to return uneaten food, the serving tray, dishes or eating utensils to the door slot....

3. Destroying a serving tray or throwing a tray or food.

4. Using containers to hold or throw other substances, such as human waste products.

Upon observing such behavior, staff must complete a misconduct report. The inmate is then placed on food loaf beginning with the next meal. The diet continues, three meals a day, for fourteen days, unless a hearing officer determines that the prisoner did not engage in the conduct as charged. Prisoners with special diet restrictions are given food loaf prepared within those restrictions, with certain notable exceptions. Prisoners with food allergies that do not require dietary restrictions or prisoners who are lactose-intolerant do not receive food loaf which omits those foods. Nothing in the policy restricts the number of times a prisoner may be placed on food loaf, nor does the policy require a period of normal meals between impositions of food loaf.

Defendants maintain that this policy was instituted not as a punitive measure, but as an administrative measure to control certain behavior which has become a serious problem in the segregation units at the consent decree institutions — the throwing of food, utensils and human waste by prisoners.² Testimony at the previous compliance hearing indicated that this behavior is a relatively serious problem in the segregation units at the decree institutions, and one which contributes to the explosive environment that presently exists in those units. It also appears that the behavior is more frequently targeted toward guards, although prisoners are also subjected to it.

As indicated above, prisoners are placed on food loaf without the benefit of a prior hearing to determine whether the behavior charged actually occurred. A disciplinary hearing is held, however, sometime after the prisoner is placed on food loaf.³ The policy directive provides that the hearing officer may make one of three determinations. First, the hearing officer may determine that the prisoner did not engage in the conduct as charged. In this instance, the prisoner is immediately returned to normal meals. Second, the hearing officer may determine that the prisoner is guilty of misconduct as charged. In this instance, the food loaf diet continues for fourteen days. Finally, the hearing officer may determine that the misconduct charge must be dismissed for "procedural reasons," but that the prisoner in fact engaged in the conduct as charged. In this event, the prisoner remains on food loaf for the entire fourteen day period, although the misconduct charge is deleted from his file.

The use of food loaf in segregation units raises at least three questions. First, the Court must determine whether its use violates the Consent Decree and the State Plan for Compliance. Second, I must determine whether food loaf constitutes a cruel and unusual punishment within the meaning of the Eighth Amendment. And finally, I must determine whether its use implicates the due process rights of prisoners in segregation units.

1. The Consent Decree. As the parties and amicus agree, the starting point for any discussion of this issue must be the Consent Decree and the State Plan for Compliance entered in this case. Neither document addresses the use of food loaf itself.⁴ The State Plan for Compliance, however, provides that, "Prisoners in segregation and RGC shall continue to be served three meals per day, which are essentially the same meals as those served to general population." State Plan for Compliance § J(2). In evaluating whether food loaf violates the Consent Decree, then, the Court must determine whether food loaf is "essentially the same" as the meals served to prisoners in the general population.

Amicus argues strenuously that food loaf is not the same as the food served to the general public, pointing out that, "One could as easily argue that a child's water colors are `essentially the same' as those of Claude Monet because both creations are formed from the same materials." Amicus Brief in Support of an Order Banning Food Loaf at 2. While the argument is not without some logical appeal, I must disagree.

Food loaf is prepared from the same food items as meals served to the general population. While the contents of food loaf on any given day may be different from the contents of the regular prison meal, the food loaf is prepared using "normal" ingredients, and its contents, like the contents of a regular prison meal, differ from day to day. The caloric content of a food loaf meal is similar to the caloric content of a meal comprised of separate food items, and the nutritional value of the loaf is comparable to the nutritional value of the regular meals. The primary difference between food loaf and the regular meal is in its preparation, not its content. But that difference is not so striking as to make food loaf not "essentially the same" as the regular prison meal, at least not as the food loaf policy is presently written.⁵ Moreover, food loaf is not the "normal" meal inside the segregation units. It is given to inmates who have engaged in certain prohibited behavior, and it is given to them for a relatively short period of time, at least in most instances. Because the content of the food loaf is essentially similar to the content of normal prison meals, and because it is not fed to prisoners as a matter of course, but rather only as a result of the prisoner's negative conduct, I can find no grounds for holding that its use violates either the Consent Decree or the State Plan.⁶

2. The Eighth Amendment. The fact that food loaf does not violate the Consent Decree would not sanction its use if the practice constituted cruel and unusual punishment within the meaning of the Eighth Amendment. I have no trouble characterizing the use of food loaf as a "punishment," despite the defendants' protestations to the contrary. Defendants characterize the practice as "an administrative action taken to maintain a clean and healthy environment," and have repeatedly claimed that food loaf is not used as a "sanction for misconduct," but rather as a method for removing "the opportunity for such behavior." Policy Directive PD-BCF-50.04. An analysis of the actual imposition of food loaf, however, indicates that it is, indeed, a punishment.

Food loaf is imposed only for specific types of misconduct. Its use is always accompanied by a misconduct report and disciplinary charge. There can be no doubt that eating food loaf is less pleasant than eating a regular prison meal, and thus, it is not difficult to conclude that inmates placed on food loaf consider it to be a punishment for misconduct. Moreover, the purpose of food loaf, as described by the policy directive, indicates its punitive character. It is specifically designed to prevent the throwing of food, utensils and human waste by removing the opportunity to engage in that behavior and also, hopefully, by impressing inmates with the understanding that extremely unpleasant results will occur whenever they engage in the prohibited behavior.⁷

Finally, witnesses at the most recent compliance hearing testified that food loaf was a necessary measure in order to maintain staff morale within the segregation units. See also, Defendants' Memorandum of Law...