Micklus, Gregory Bernard v. Carlson, Norman, Director, U. S. Bureau of Prisons Fenton, Charles, Warden, U.S.P. Lewisburg, Pa

632 F.2d 227, 30 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 359, 1980 U.S. App. LEXIS 14372
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit
DecidedSeptember 3, 1980
Docket79-2234
StatusPublished
Cited by70 cases

This text of 632 F.2d 227 (Micklus, Gregory Bernard v. Carlson, Norman, Director, U. S. Bureau of Prisons Fenton, Charles, Warden, U.S.P. Lewisburg, Pa) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Micklus, Gregory Bernard v. Carlson, Norman, Director, U. S. Bureau of Prisons Fenton, Charles, Warden, U.S.P. Lewisburg, Pa, 632 F.2d 227, 30 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 359, 1980 U.S. App. LEXIS 14372 (3d Cir. 1980).

Opinions

OPINION OF THE COURT

A. LEON HIGGINBOTHAM, Jr., Circuit Judge.

This appeal concerns, among other things, the existence vel non of causes of action for damages by a prisoner sentenced as a “young adult offender” under the Youth Corrections Act (YCA), 18 U.S.C. §§ 5005-5026, becáuse of the government’s failure to provide him with the treatment and segregation required by the YCA. The district court held that no private cause of action was implied in the YCA; that no cause of action for damages existed in the appellant’s favor under the fifth, eighth or fourteenth amendments; that the claims for [230]*230injunctive and declaratory relief were mooted by the appellant’s parole on the YCA sentence; and that the appellee, Carlson, was not personally served as required by Fed.R.Civ.P. 4(d)(1).

For the following reasons, we agree with the district court that no private cause of action can be implied in the YCA and that service on Carlson in his individual capacity was not properly accomplished under Fed.R. Civ.P. 4(d)(1). In contrast to the district court, however, we conclude that the appellant’s requests for injunctive and declaratory relief are not moot and that a cause of action for damages exists directly under the fifth amendment.

I.

The following statement of facts is taken from the pro se complaint filed in this case by the appellant, Gregory Micklus. Because this is an appeal from the grant of the appellees’ motion to dismiss, the facts as pleaded in the complaint will be treated as true. Miree v. DeKalb County, 433 U.S. 25, 27 n.2, 97 S.Ct. 2490, 2492 n.2, 53 L.Ed.2d 557 (1977).

On September 30, 1974, Micklus was sentenced by the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona after pleading guilty to armed bank robbery, a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2113(d). He was sentenced as a young adult offender to a thirteen to fifteen year term of imprisonment.1 The trial judge could have sentenced Micklus as an adult offender to a maximum term of twenty-five years.

At the time of his sentencing, Micklus was twenty-five years old. He was designated to serve his term initially at the U. S. Penitentiary at McNeil Island, Washington, an adult facility, where it was recommended that he be placed in “close custody,” and where he allegedly received no training or treatment. In February 1975, he was transferred to the U. S. Penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kansas, another adult facility, “for more effective custody.” While there, he was charged with disciplinary infractions. He claimed these infractions occurred when he was defending himself against a homosexual attack by fellow prisoners in Leavenworth’s carpentry shop.

In September 1975, he was transferred to the U.S. Penitentiary at Marion, Illinois where appellee, Charles Fenton, was the warden. Micklus remained in the adult population and allegedly was subjected to homosexual attacks by four prisoners in three separate incidents between July 15, and July 22, 1976. He claims that he attempted an escape from Marion as a result of these assaults and because of certain additional threats by other prisoners.2 He [231]*231was wounded by prison guards during his escape attempt. Following his conviction in the Eastern District of Illinois for attempted escape, he was sentenced to a regular five-year adult term to be served consecutively to his YCA sentence. As a result of the escape attempt and his conviction, Micklus was placed in administrative segregation, otherwise known as the “control unit.”

On June 17, 1977, upon his release from the Marion control unit, he was transferred to the U.S. Penitentiary at Terre Haute, Indiana, where on June 23 he was charged with misconduct for refusing to enter the general population. His reasons were “fears of homosexual pressures and my being labeled as an informant while confined at Marion.” As a result of this refusal to enter the general population, he was transferred to the U.S. Penitentiary at Lewis-burg, Pennsylvania, on September 21, 1977. As at Terre Haute, Micklus refused to enter Lewisburg’s general population in October and November 1977 and he was charged with misconduct for these refusals. Fenton was warden at Lewisburg while Micklus was confined there.

Lewisburg officials referred Micklus’ case on November 11, 1977 for possible transfer to McNeil Island. On January 1, 1978, he was referred to the Federal Correctional Institution at Lompoc, California and was accepted. Because he filed a habeas corpus action not directly connected to the instant case, his movement from Lewisburg to Lompoc was temporarily prevented. On March 13, 1978, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, in response to Micklus’ habeas corpus petition, ordered him transferred to a facility where he would be segregated from regular adult offenders and would receive treatment as required by 18 U.S.C. § 5011.3 The court found that Micklus’ incarceration at Lewis-burg was in violation of Section 5011 of the YCA and that Lompoc did not qualify as an institution where he would receive the required segregation and treatment. The government’s appeal was dismissed as moot because of Micklus’ parole from his YCA sentence on September 1, 1978. Micklus v. Carlson, 591 F.2d 1336 (3d Cir. Jan. 31, 1979).

On July 6, 1978, the pro se complaint in this action was filed. The action was brought pursuant to the YCA and the first, fifth, eighth and fourteenth amendments, seeking both legal and equitable relief. Micklus named as defendants Carlson, Director of the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, and Fenton, Warden of the U.S. Penitentiary at Lewisburg. The complaint does not specify whether the plaintiff asserts his claims against the defendants in their official or individual capacities. Before the defendants responded to the complaint, Micklus was paroled from his YCA sentence. The defendants thereafter filed a motion to dismiss, or, in the alternative, for summary judgment.

On November 27, 1978, the Magistrate recommended that the complaint insofar as monetary damages were sought be dismissed as to Carlson, and that Micklus be given the opportunity to amend the complaint insofar as monetary damages were sought against Fenton in order to provide specifics of Fenton’s affirmative involvement in the deprivation of Micklus’ rights. Report of Magistrate (Nov. 27, 1978), reprinted in App., at 43a-51a. After objec[232]*232tions to this report were filed by both parties in the form of exceptions and motions, the district court remanded the case to the Magistrate. The Magistrate adhered to his initial recommendations and further recommended that the complaint be dismissed insofar as money damages were sought against Fenton. Report of Magistrate (Feb. 26, 1979), reprinted in App., at 54a-62a.

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Bluebook (online)
632 F.2d 227, 30 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 359, 1980 U.S. App. LEXIS 14372, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/micklus-gregory-bernard-v-carlson-norman-director-u-s-bureau-of-ca3-1980.