In Re the Personal Restraint of Metcalf

963 P.2d 911, 92 Wash. App. 165
CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedAugust 31, 1998
Docket38546-1-I
StatusPublished
Cited by50 cases

This text of 963 P.2d 911 (In Re the Personal Restraint of Metcalf) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re the Personal Restraint of Metcalf, 963 P.2d 911, 92 Wash. App. 165 (Wash. Ct. App. 1998).

Opinion

*170 Ellington, J.

When inmates in Washington state prisons receive money, certain statutes require the Department of Corrections to make deductions for costs of incarceration, the crime victim’s compensation fund, and a savings account. These provisions were not in place when Tommy H. Metcalf was imprisoned in 1990, and he filed this personal restraint petition challenging the provisions on numerous federal and state constitutional grounds, seeking to withdraw his guilty plea. Metcalfs federal challenges were previously rejected in a federal class action. We elect to reach the merits of the federal claims, but we likewise reject the challenges, finding the statutes remedial and thus constitutional. We also reject Metcalf’s state constitutional claims, and deny the petition.

Facts

After Metcalf was incarcerated in 1990 for two counts of first degree murder, the Legislature enacted two statutes that mandate deductions from moneys received by prisoners. One statute requires deductions from a prisoner’s wages (RCW 72.09.111, effective June 30, 1994);* 1 the other *171 requires deductions from all other funds received (RCW 72.09.480, effective June 15, 1995). 2

For the wage deduction statute, the total amount of the deductions varies from 5 to 35 percent, depending on the class of work program in which the inmate participates. For example, for an inmate who participates in a class I work program, 35 percent of his or her wages are deducted, with 5 percent allocated to victim compensation, 10 percent allocated to the inmate’s savings account, and 20 percent allocated to incarceration costs. RCW 72.09-.lll(l)(a). The received funds deduction statute requires a flat 35 percent deduction, with the funds allocated as for *172 class I work program wage deductions. RCW 72.09.480.

On December 26, 1995, Metcalf filed a writ of mandamus and a personal restraint petition in the Supreme Court, alleging that the fund and wage deduction statutes violate several state and federal constitutional guaranties. The Supreme Court dismissed the writ and transferred the petition to this court. Extensive briefing followed. Metcalf’s federal constitutional claims included ex post facto, double jeopardy, due process, bill of attainder, and excessive fines violations.

Sometime in 1995, another prisoner filed an action in federal court challenging the received funds statute. The claims asserted included all the federal constitutional claims Metcalf makes here. 3 On July 30, 1996, the federal suit was certified as a class action for “persons who are inmates as that term is defined by RCW 72.09.015 or persons who are no longer inmates but who have had money deducted pursuant to [the received funds statute].” This class included Metcalf. On April 9, 1997, the district court dismissed numerous federal constitutional claims, including those related to ex post facto, double jeopardy, due process, bill of attainder, and excessive fines violations.

Discussion

Reviewability of Petition

A threshold issue is whether Metcalf’s claims are reviewable in a personal restraint petition (PRP). This requires a showing of restraint and an unlawful aspect of the restraint. RAP 16.4.

The crux of Metcalf’s claims is that the statutes are unconstitutional because they are punitive. If the statutes *173 are punitive, Metcalf argues they unlawfully restrain him within the meaning of the rules concerning PRPs. See RAP 16.4(c)(2), (6), (7).* 2* 4 We thus cannot resolve the reviewability issue without addressing the merits of Metcalf’s claims. See State v. S.M.H., 76 Wn. App. 550, 553, 887 P.2d 903 (1995).

A PRP is an appropriate vehicle by which to allege that a recently-enacted statute impinges on a detainee’s constitutional rights. See In re Personal Restraint of Runyan, 121 Wn.2d 432, 444-45, 853 P.2d 424 (1993). 5 67The State’s fear that reviewing this petition will render “all legislative decisions with respect to prisons . . . subject to review in a personal restraint petition” is misplaced; the rule itself sufficiently circumscribes the availability of the petition for review of later enactments.

Res Judicata and Collateral Estoppel

Res judicata and collateral estoppel prevent the relitigation of claims or issues between identical parties *174 and their privies. The party asserting these defenses bears the burden of proof. Bradley v. State, 73 Wn.2d 914, 916, 442 P.2d 1009 (1968). Here, that party is the State, which asserts that dismissal of the federal class action estops Metcalf.

To prove res judicata, the State must show concurrence of identity between two actions in four respects: (1) subject matter; (2) cause of action; (3) persons and parties; and (4) the quality of the persons for or against whom the claim is made. U.S. Bank v. Hursey, 116 Wn.2d 522, 529, 806 P.2d 245 (1991). Res judicata should not be applied when it would work an injustice. Henderson v. Bardahl Int’l Corp., 72 Wn.2d 109, 119, 431 P.2d 961 (1967).

Collateral estoppel is similar to res judicata, applying to issues instead of claims. Collateral estoppel has four requirements: (1) the issue decided in the prior adjudication must be identical with the one presented in the second; (2) the prior adjudication must have ended in a final judgment on the merits; (3) the party against whom the plea of collateral estoppel is asserted must have been a party or in privity with a party to the prior litigation; and (4) application of the doctrine must not work an injustice. State v. Williams, 132 Wn.2d 248, 254, 937 P.2d 1052 (1997). Because Metcalf raises a number of state constitutional claims not advanced in the federal class action, we analyze only whether collateral estoppel operates as a bar to his federal claims.

The federal action was a challenge to the received funds statute, and advanced ex post facto, double jeopardy, due process, bill of attainder, and excessive fine claims identical to those asserted by Metcalf.

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963 P.2d 911, 92 Wash. App. 165, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-the-personal-restraint-of-metcalf-washctapp-1998.