Bobby Battle, and United States of America, Plaintiff-Intervenor-Appellee v. Park J. Anderson

594 F.2d 786, 1979 U.S. App. LEXIS 16213
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedMarch 15, 1979
Docket78-1889
StatusPublished
Cited by26 cases

This text of 594 F.2d 786 (Bobby Battle, and United States of America, Plaintiff-Intervenor-Appellee v. Park J. Anderson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bobby Battle, and United States of America, Plaintiff-Intervenor-Appellee v. Park J. Anderson, 594 F.2d 786, 1979 U.S. App. LEXIS 16213 (10th Cir. 1979).

Opinions

BARRETT, Circuit Judge.

On October 26, 1977, this Court affirmed an order of the District Court directing the defendants-appellants, hereinafter, for convenience only, referred to as the State of Oklahoma to effect specific inmate population reductions at two badly deteriorated penal institutions which were unquestionably overcrowded, resulting in degenerative conditions and circumstances so injurious to health, safety and security as to amount to cruel and unusual punishment prohibited by the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution. Battle v. Anderson, 564 F.2d 388 (10th Cir. 1977). We there observed:

We, too, [just as the District Court], abhor any situation or circumstance requiring the intervention of the federal courts in matters involving the administration, control and maintenance by the sovereign states of their penal systems. It is a delicate role assigned to the federal courts to display that restraint so necessary “in the maintenance of proper federal-state relations.” Townsend v. Sain, 372 U.S. 293, 83 S.Ct. 745, 9 L.Ed.2d 770 . (1963). . . . We are cognizant of the complexity of problems confronting the states in upgrading not only a host of state institutions and facilities but in properly maintaining them both physically and with adequate personnel. If we were to close our eyes to the financial burdens a variety of “piecemeal” federal court orders would impose upon the states and their taxpayers we would refuse to come to grips with reality. We are in sympathy with the ever increasing budgetary demands upon state taxpayers. There are constitutional and statutory limits on a state’s capacity to finance capital outlays. No one state governmental body is authorized to dictate a specific course of action. • The governmental wheels often turn slowly simply as a result of pressure generated by a multitude of needs. Those charged with the administration of state government must pick and choose, set priorities and goals, many of which must later be abandoned or delayed because of unforeseen emergencies.

564 F.2d at pp. 392, 393.

The jurisdiction of the District Court was first invoked on April 24, 1972, when Bobby Battle, then an inmate at the State Penitentiary located at McAlester, Oklahoma, filed a pro se civil rights action. The American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma thereafter provided Battle with legal assistance. Following a serious and disastrous riot at the McAlester prison in 1973 resulting in $20 million in property damage and tragic loss of lives, the United States was granted the right of intervention under the [788]*788Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C.A. § 2000h-2.

In 1974 the District Court conducted hearings resulting in an order entered May 30, 1974, which found generally for plaintiffs and plaintiff-intervenor on issues of racial discrimination, segregation, disciplinary rules, punishment for disciplinary procedures, administrative lockups, use of force, access to the courts, religious freedom and other matters. The District Court refers to that order as Battle I. Battle v. Anderson, 376 F.Supp. 402 (E.D.Okl.1974). The Court held several compliance hearings, generally at six month intervals, on the constitutional violations found in these areas and found that the State of Oklahoma was making progress but that the full mandates of the order had not yet been met.

On June 14, 1977, the District Court entered an Order following hearings conducted on a Motion for Supplemental Relief involving “overcrowding” of inmate population at two Oklahoma State penal institutions, i. e., the Oklahoma State Penitentiary at McAlester, Oklahoma, and the Oklahoma State Reformatory at Granite, Oklahoma. The District Court found that the overcrowded conditions existing at the two penal institutions whose total inmate population then was 4,600 in a.system designed for 2,400, which amounted to an overcrowded populace of 191%, amounted to cruel and unusual punishment in relation to the physical and mental well-being of the inmates. The District Court ordered that the State of Oklahoma effect reductions in the inmate population at the McAlester penitentiary at the rate of 100 per month until the total population is reduced to 800 and reduction of the population at the reformatory at Granite at the rate of 50 per month until reduced to 450. This Court affirmed October 26, 1977, in Battle v. Anderson, supra. We there acknowledged:

We are satisfied that the State of Oklahoma has, since the 1973 disastrous riot, made .significant progress in upgrading its penal system. The State contends that the 1974 Oklahoma Legislature appropriated $16,285,090.00 to the penal system, representing an increase of 46.9% over the previous year; that the 1976 Legislature appropriated $44,000,000.00, an increase of 534% over the 1973 appropriation. There can be no doubt that the State of Oklahoma has, as the District Court acknowledged, made significant strides and efforts to remedy the serious deficiencies. Even so, the Court’s finding that the presently existing overcrowding condition at the two facilities, when considered with other circumstances, constitutes cruel and unusual punishment is not clearly erroneous.

564 F.2d at p. 400.

The instant appeal was primarily generated by the District Court’s Order of February 7, 1978, directing the plaintiff (the Civil Liberties Union) and the plaintiff-intervenor (the United States by and through the Civil Rights Division, Department of Justice) . to “. . . report on the level of defendants’ compliance with its prior orders in this cause, Battle I, 376 F.Supp. 402 (1974) and Battle II, 447 F.Supp. 516, aff’d, 564 F.2d 388 (10th Cir. 1977).” [R., Vol. IV, p. 64.] Detailed investigations were pursued by many experts employed by plaintiffs and plaintiff-intervenor leading to the “Plaintiffs’ and Plaintiff-intervenor Joint Compliance Report” filed with the District Court on July 24, 1978. [R., Vol. II, Cover Page.] That report, supplemented by exhibits, is 43 pages in length. The United States (plaintiff-intervenor) “. conducted extensive discovery into the current operations of the Oklahoma Department [of Corrections].” [R., Vol. IV, p. 65.] The matter of the Joint Compliance Report was brought on for hearing by the District Court on August 14 and 15, 1978, only one week after the State of Oklahoma filed its “Response to Joint Compliance Report.” [R., Vol. IV, pp. 1-38.] The District Court allowed the State of Oklahoma only 10 days within which to respond to the Joint Compliance Report. On August 4, 1978, the Court denied the State of Oklahoma’s Motion for Continuance and for Pre-Hearing Conference.

[789]*789The Response is, we believe, significant in several respects, to-wit: (a) nothing in the record indicates that the District Court conferred with the respective parties prior to the formal evidentiary hearings held on August 14-15, 1978; thus, one may conclude that the Court did not find any need to make preliminary inquiries or requests for current information relating to the State of Oklahoma’s position or intended action on the issues; (b) there is no contradiction to the contentions contained in the Response that “The defendants are making considerable progress in reducing the number of prisoners in certain space areas.

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Bluebook (online)
594 F.2d 786, 1979 U.S. App. LEXIS 16213, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bobby-battle-and-united-states-of-america-plaintiff-intervenor-appellee-ca10-1979.