Jane Doe v. John Kelly

878 F.3d 710
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedDecember 22, 2017
Docket17-15381 17-15383
StatusPublished
Cited by34 cases

This text of 878 F.3d 710 (Jane Doe v. John Kelly) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jane Doe v. John Kelly, 878 F.3d 710 (9th Cir. 2017).

Opinion

OPINION

CALLAHAN, Circuit Judge:

The influx of detainees in the Tucson Sector of the U.S. Border Patrol in 2015 resulted in Defendants (federal government officials and agents) holding detainees being processed for longer periods of time in overcrowded and unsanitary cells at eight different stations. Plaintiffs brought this action alleging inhumane and punitive treatment, and seeking injunctive relief. The district court granted a preliminary injunction requiring that Defendants provide detainees with mats and blankets after 12 hours. Defendants appeal, alleging that the district court misapprehended the standard set forth in Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520, 99 S.Ct 1861, 60 L.Ed.2d 447 (1979), and that the order was too rigid and burdensome. Plaintiffs also appeal, alleging that the district court should have ordered Defendants to provide the detainees with beds and mattresses, allow them access to showers, and deliver adequate medical care through medical professionals. We hold the district court did not abuse its discretion and properly applied precedent such that neither side has shown that the limited preliminary injunction is illogical, implausible, or without support in the record. United States v. Hinkson, 585 F.3d 1247, 1262 (9th Cir. 2009) (en banc).

I. BACKGROUND

Plaintiffs filed this action in the United States District Court for Arizona on behalf of detainees confined in U.S. Customs and Border Protection Facilities within the Tucson Sector of the U.S. Border Patrol. The Border Patrol’s mission is to detect and prevent the entry of certain individuals—including terrorists, unauthorized aliens, drug smugglers, and other criminals—into the United States between ports of entry. The Tucson Sector patrols 262 miles of the United States-Mexico border in southern Arizona, and, according to Defendants, in fiscal year 2016, “apprehended 64,891 individuals, the second highest of any Border Patrol sectors.” The number of individuals apprehended in the Tucson Sector varies widely. Defendants represent that between 2009 and 2016, apprehensions each month ranged “from a high of 31,432 in March 2009, to a low of 4,071 in July 2015.”

When a Border Patrol agent apprehends an individual, the person is taken to one of eight stations in the Tucson Sector. At the station, the Border Patrol processes the detainee, ascertaining the individual’s identity and immigration and criminal history. The individual is then repatriated, transferred into the custody of another agency, referred for prosecution in accordance with the law or, in rare circumstances, released.

Plaintiffs alleged that the conditions in the stations were deplorable and that it took up to three days for individuals to be processed before transfer. Plaintiffs alleged that:

detainees are packed into overcrowded and filthy holding cells, stripped of outer layers of clothing, and forced to endure brutally cold temperatures. They are denied beds, bedding, and sleep. They are deprived of basic sanitation and hygiene items like soap, sufficient toilet paper, sanitary napkins, diapers, and showers. And they are forced to go without adequate food, water, medicine, and medical care.

In the fall of 2016, the district court certified the case as a class action. Plaintiffs then sought a preliminary injunction.

II. THE DISTRICT COURT’S ORDERS

A. The Standards for Reviewing Conditions of Confinement

After setting forth the appropriate standards for issuing a mandatory preliminary injunction, the district court considered the standards for reviewing conditions of confinement. It first noted that when the government takes a person into custody, it must provide for the'person’s “basic human needs—e.g. food, clothing, shelter, medical care, and reasonable safety.” De-Shaney v. Winnebago Cnty. Dep’t of Soc. Servs., 489 U.S. 189, 199-200, 109 S.Ct. 998, 103 L.Ed.2d 249 (1989); see also Farmer v. Brerman, 511 U.S. 825, 832, 114 S.Ct. 1970, 128 L,Ed.2d 811 (1994).

Citing Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520, 535, 99 S.Ct. 1861, 60 L.Ed.2d 447 (1979), among other cases, the district court concluded that when evaluating the constitutionality of pretrial detention conditions, it had to determine whether the condition's amounted to punishment. Citing Demery v. Arpaio, 378 F.3d 1020, 1030 (9th Cir. 2004), the district court explained that “[t]o constitute punishment, the governmental action must cause harm or disability that either significantly exceeds or is independent of the inherent discomforts of confinement.” The court noted that even in the absence of evidence of express intent, it may infer an intent to punish “if the restriction or condition is not reasonably related to a legitimate governmental objective or is excessive in relation to the legitimate governmental objective.” See Pierce v. Cnty. of Orange, 526 F.3d 1190, 1205 (9th Cir. 2008).

The district court noted that the ’Supreme Court held that “[mjaintaining institutional security and preserving internal order and discipline are essential goals that may require limitation or retraction of the retained constitutional rights of both convicted and pretrial detainees.” Bell, 441 U.S. at 546, 99 S.Ct. 1861. ■ Indeed, the Supreme -Court commented that- “in the absence of substantial evidence in the record to indicate that officials have exaggerated their responses to these conditions, courts should ordinarily defer to their expert judgment in such matters.” Id. at 540 n.23, 99 S.Ct, 1861 (quoting Pell v. Procurer, 417 U.S. 817, 827, 94 S.Ct. 2800, 41 L.Ed.2d 495 (1974)).

'Based on these case's, the district court opined that a' condition of confinement “violates the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments if it imposes some harm to the detainee that significantly ■ exceeds ór' is independent of the inherent discomforts of confinement and is not reasonably related to a legitimate governmental objective or is excessive in relation to the legitimate governmental objective.” See Kingsley v. Hendrickson, — U.S. —, 135 S.Ct. 2466, 2473-74, 192 L.Ed.2d 416 (2015). This led the court to reason that decisions defining the constitutional rights of prisoners establish a floor for Plaintiffs’ constitutional rights. See Padilla v. Yoo, 678 F.3d 748, 759 (9th Cir. 2012). The district court concluded that it could presume Plaintiffs were being subjected to punishment “if they are confined in conditions identical to, similar to, or more restrictive than those under which the criminally convicted are held.” See Sharp v. Weston, 233 F.3d 1166, 1172-73 (9th Cir. 2000).

The district court then observed:

This is precisely the case here.

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878 F.3d 710, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jane-doe-v-john-kelly-ca9-2017.