Goldsby v. Carnes

429 F. Supp. 370, 1977 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16738
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Missouri
DecidedMarch 24, 1977
DocketCiv. A. 20122-1
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 429 F. Supp. 370 (Goldsby v. Carnes) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Goldsby v. Carnes, 429 F. Supp. 370, 1977 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16738 (W.D. Mo. 1977).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER DIRECTING ENTRY OF FIRST AMENDED CONSENT JUDGMENT

JOHN W. OLIVER, District Judge.

I.

On January 3, 1973, this Court filed a memorandum opinion and entered a consent *371 judgment in the above case involving the Jackson County Jail in Kansas City, Missouri. An appendix to that consent judgment establishing rules and regulations for the jail was approved and filed on February 8, 1973. See Goldsby v. Carnes, (W.D.Mo. 1973) 365 F.Supp. 395.

This case now pends on the joint motion of the parties for the approval of a first amended consent judgment and the approval of certain memoranda and agreements attached thereto and made a part thereof by reference. The joint motion will be granted and the first amended consent judgment entered of record for the reasons we now state.

II.

Our January 3, 1973 memorandum opinion directed attention to the impact of Monroe v. Pape, 365 U.S. 167, 81 S.Ct. 473, 5 L.Ed.2d 492 (1961), on federal court jurisdiction in cases involving state and local correctional institutions and to the Task Force Report on Corrections of the President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice (1967), written some six years after the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in that case. We noted that the Task Force Report had concluded in 1967 that, generally speaking, “correctional administrators have been slow to develop policies and procedures to guide correctional officials and protect the rights of offenders” and that, in some instances, particular correctional administrators had offered “strong resistance to the introduction of increased legal controls in the correctional area.”

We were able, however, to state in our original 1973 memorandum opinion in this case that:

The consent judgment presented in this case reflects a highly exceptional instance in which those responsible for the administration of a particular correctional institution went all the way in their recognition of the duty which rests upon correctional authorities to provide new procedures consistent with the requirements of the Constitution. This case presents the unusual situation in which all parties and their respective counsel agreed that this mission was accomplished within the framework of this particular litigation.

We, of course added that “this Court is most grateful for the cooperation it has received and publicly commends the parties and their counsel for their contributions and assistance.” 1

The 1973 consent decree became effective precisely at the time the legal responsibility for the administration of the Jackson County Jail was shifted from the Sheriff of Jackson County, Missouri, to the new administrative officials authorized by the then recently adopted Jackson County Charter. The new administrative officials to be named under the Charter had been consulted during the course of the litigation and before the original consent deeree was entered. Those new officials were therefore in a position to commence, and did promptly commence, the implementation of the substantial and fundamental changes required by the decree without delay.

While the physical location of the Jackson County Jail on the top floors of the forty year old Jackson County Court House and the outmoded architectural design of that facility present many problems almost incapable of solution, experience over the past four years under the original consent decree has established that the provisions *372 and requirements of the 1973 decree have been effective in improving the operation and maintenance of that institution in a manner consistent with the requirements of the Constitution of the United States.

*371 The Honorable George W. Lehr, Presiding Judge of Jackson County; the Honorable Harry Wiggins, Western Judge; and the Honorable Joseph J. Bolger, Eastern Judge; and Sheriff William Kenneth Carnes all approved, both individually and in their official capacities, the consent judgment entered in this case. Those gentlemen and members of their respective staffs worked cooperatively with Ronald L. Roseman, Esq. and Allen M. Ressler, Esq., attorneys for the plaintiffs; and with Thomas J. Walsh, Esq., attorney for Sheriff Carnes, and Herbert M. Kohn, Esq., Tom J. Helms, Esq., and Austin B. Speers, Esq., attorneys for the County Court, in a highly commendable manner.

*372 The parties to this action and their respective counsel, however, have commendably recognized that experience over the past four years has also established that there are areas of compliance with the 1973 consent decree, and particular modifications and changes in that decree which may be made, which will permit still further improvements under the circumstances.

When it became apparent that it might become necessary for counsel for plaintiffs to commence appropriate ancillary proceedings in this Court in regard to the enforcement of particular provisions of the original 1973 decree, counsel for the respective parties, in much the Same manner as did counsel for the parties four years ago, initiated a series of conferences which enabled them to present the following joint motion to modify the 1973 consent judgment:

COME NOW the parties in the above-captioned cause, by and through their attorneys, and move the Court to enter an order for modification of a consent judgment heretofore entered by this Court on January 3, 1973.
1. That during the passage of time between the entry of the judgment on January 3, 1973 and the date of this motion a number of changes have taken place that affect the terms and conditions of the decree, and that, in the opinion of the parties, are of sufficient magnitude to warrant a request being presented to this Court to enter a modification of the original judgment to reflect such changes.
2. That as a consequence of the above the parties, by and through their representatives, have met and conferred, and as a result of such deliberations they have agreed upon a proposed amendment of the consent judgment to submit to this Court for the purpose of adoption and entry, if such meets with the approval of the Court; that a copy of the proposed first amended consent judgment and appendix thereto is attached to this motion.
3.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
429 F. Supp. 370, 1977 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16738, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/goldsby-v-carnes-mowd-1977.