Watts v. Hadden, Civil Action No. 78 M 495

• Decision Date: 20 April 1979
• Docket Number: Civil Action No. 78 M 495,78 M 633,78 M 619,78 M 752,78 M 1116 and 79 M 12.,78 M 669,78 M 715,78 M 889,78 M 584,78 M 618
• Parties: Jerry Wayne WATTS, Robert Joseph Allen, Clarence Lloyd Giron, Brien Douglas Wilson, William F. Nicholson, Lee Arthur Sena, Craig Douglas Hassler, Kenneth Erb, Jr., Thomas R. Wilson, Bryan Lee Michaels, and Ricky Campbell, Petitioners, v. John T. HADDEN, Warden, Federal Correctional Institute, Englewood, Colorado, Griffin Bell, Attorney General of the United States; Norman Carlson, Director, United States Bureau of Prisons, Audrey Kaslow, Commissioner, U. S. Parole Commission, Respondents.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Colorado

469 F. Supp. 223

Jerry Wayne WATTS, Robert Joseph Allen, Clarence Lloyd Giron, Brien Douglas Wilson, William F. Nicholson, Lee Arthur Sena, Craig Douglas Hassler, Kenneth Erb, Jr., Thomas R. Wilson, Bryan Lee Michaels, and Ricky Campbell, Petitioners, v. John T. HADDEN, Warden, Federal Correctional Institute, Englewood, Colorado, Griffin Bell, Attorney General of the United States; Norman Carlson, Director, United States Bureau of Prisons, Audrey Kaslow, Commissioner, U. S. Parole Commission, Respondents.

Civil Action Nos. 78 M 495, 78 M 584, 78 M 618, 78 M 619, 78 M 633, 78 M 669, 78 M 715, 78 M 752, 78 M 889, 78 M 1116 and 79 M 12.

United States District Court, D. Colorado.

April 20, 1979.

Daniel J. Sears, Federal Public Defender, Denver, Colo., for petitioners.

Jerre W. Dixon, Asst. U. S. Atty., Denver, Colo., for respondents.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

MATSCH, District Judge.

In 1974 the United States Supreme Court made a thorough review of the legislative history and language of the Youth Corrections Act (YCA), 18 U.S.C. § 5005 et seq., and held that because the Congress had so clearly constructed a comprehensive program of rehabilitative treatment and supervision for offenders less than 22 years old, no such person could be given a regular sentence in the absence of an explicit finding by the sentencing judge that the defendant would not benefit from such alternative treatment. Dorszynski v. United States, 418 U.S. 424, 94 S.Ct. 3042, 41 L.Ed.2d 855 (1974). These consolidated civil actions are petitions for writs of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2241 filed by inmates of the Federal Correctional Institution at Englewood, Colorado. Each of the petitioners has been sentenced under the YCA and each of them contends that he is being held unlawfully because the Bureau of Prisons and the United States Parole Commission have purposefully and systematically failed to follow the requirements of the YCA.

I. The Statute.

The YCA was enacted in 1950. The legislative history reviewed in Dorszynski, supra, reflects the concern that youth is a time of vulnerability, when special factors operate to produce habitual criminals, and that confinement of criminally oriented young people in prisons was actually fostering rather than inhibiting antisocial conduct. See H.R.Rep.No.2979, 81st Cong., 2d Sess., 2-3 (1950), U.S.Code Cong.Serv.1950, p. 3983. To provide an alternative system for young federal law offenders Congress gave judges several options which "represented a departure from traditional sentencing, and focuses primarily on correction and rehabilitation." Dorszynski, supra at 433, 94 S.Ct. at 3048. These choices were created to give an opportunity to correct the deficiencies of the individual offender and to return him to the freedom of the community when he has shown sufficient progress that he may be expected to act responsibly. The statute enables the court to consider four different dispositions in the case of a youthful offender.

Upon a finding that there is no need for commitment, the judge may suspend the imposition or execution of sentence and place the defendant on probation with such special terms and conditions as may be indicated. 18 U.S.C. § 5010(a).

Subsection 5010(b) authorizes the court, in lieu of the penalty of imprisonment otherwise provided by law, to sentence the youth offender to the custody of the Attorney General for "treatment and supervision" until discharged by the Parole Commission under the provisions of subsection 5017(c). That subsection requires that the youth offender be released conditionally under supervision not later than four years from the date of his conviction, and discharged unconditionally on or before six years from the date of conviction.

If the sentencing judge finds that the youth offender may not be able to derive maximum benefit from treatment before the expiration of six years from the date of conviction, he may, in lieu of the penalty of imprisonment otherwise provided by law, sentence the youth offender to the custody of the Attorney General for "treatment and supervision" for any further period that may be authorized by law for the offense of conviction "or until discharged by the Commission as provided in subsection 5017(d) of this chapter." 18 U.S.C. § 5010(c). Under subsection 5017(d) a youth offender committed under subsection 5010(c) must be released conditionally under supervision not later than two years before the expiration of the term imposed by the court and he may be discharged unconditionally at the expiration of not less than one year from the date of conditional release. Unconditional discharge must be granted on or before the expiration of the maximum sentence imposed.

Finally, upon an express finding that the youth offender will not derive benefit from treatment under the YCA, the court may sentence under the penalty provisions applicable to the offense of conviction.

As an aid in making the selection among these options, the court may order the commitment of the offender to the custody of the Attorney General for observation and study "at an appropriate classification center or agency." 18 U.S.C. § 5010(e). The Commission is required to report its findings within sixty days from the date of such order or within such additional period as the court may grant.

"Treatment" is defined in subsection 5006(f):

`treatment' means corrective and preventive guidance and training designed to protect the public by correcting the antisocial tendencies of youth offenders;

In 18 U.S.C. § 5011 the Congress provided for a variety of institutions and imposed obligations on the Director of the Bureau of Prisons, as follows:

Committed youth offenders not conditionally released shall undergo treatment in institutions of maximum security, medium security, or minimum security types, including training schools, hospitals, farms, forestry and other camps, and other agencies that will provide the essential varieties of treatment. The Director shall from time to time, designate, set aside, and adapt institutions and agencies under the control of the Department of Justice for treatment. Insofar as practical, such institutions and agencies shall be used only for treatment of committed youth offenders, and such youth offenders shall be segregated from other offenders, and classes of committed youth offenders shall be segregated according to their needs for treatment.

Under 18 U.S.C. § 5012, no youth offender is to be committed until the Director certifies that proper and adequate treatment facilities and personnel have been provided. 18 U.S.C. § 5013, authorizes the Director to contract with any appropriate public or private agencies for the custody, care, subsistence, education, treatment and training of committed youth offenders. Under 18 U.S.C. § 5014 it is required that each committed youth offender shall be studied at a classification center or agency. The section provides:

The Director shall provide classification centers and agencies. Every committed youth offender shall first be sent to a classification center or agency. The classification center or agency shall make a complete study of each committed youth offender, including a mental and physical examination, to ascertain his personal traits, his capabilities, pertinent circumstances of his school, family life, any previous delinquency or criminal experience, and any mental or physical defect or other factor contributing to his delinquency. In the absence of exceptional circumstances, such study shall be completed within a period of thirty days. The agency shall promptly forward to the Director and to the Commission a report of its findings with respect to the youth offender and its recommendations as to his treatment. As soon as practicable after commitment, the youth offender shall receive a parole interview.

18 U.S.C. § 5015 provides that upon receipt of the report and recommendation from the classification agency, the Director is authorized to make the following choices as to each committed offender:

(1) recommend to the Commission that the committed youth offender be released conditionally under supervision; or

(2) allocate and direct the transfer of the committed youth offender to an agency or institution for treatment; or

(3) order the committed youth offender confined and afforded treatment under such conditions as he believes best designed for the protection of the public.

The Director is also authorized to transfer a committed youth offender from one agency or institution to any other agency or institution at any time. 18 U.S.C. § 5016 requires that the Director "shall cause periodic examinations and reexaminations to be made of all committed youth offenders and shall report to the Commission as to each such offender as the Commission may require."

Subsection 5017(a) provides for the interaction of the Director and the U. S. Parole Commission in determining the release date of a youth offender in this language:

The Commission may at any time after reasonable notice to the Director release conditionally under supervision a committed youth offender in accordance with the provisions of section 4206 of this title. When, in the judgment of the Director, a committed youth offender should be released conditionally under supervision he shall so report and recommend to the Commission.

18 U.S.C. § 5021 provides for the issuance of a certificate setting aside the conviction of a youth offender upon his unconditional discharge before the expiration of the maximum sentence imposed upon him or before the expiration of the maximum period of probation fixed by the court.

As the Supreme Court observed in Dorszynski, supra, as to persons committed for treatment under the YCA "the execution of the sentence was to fit the person, not the crime for which he was convicted." 418 U.S. 424, 434, 94 S.Ct. 3042, 3048, 41 L.Ed.2d 853. What treatment is provided is the primary responsibility of the...