Norman S. Sykes, III v. Ralph Krieger

551 F.2d 689
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedApril 29, 1977
Docket75-1948, 75-1949
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 551 F.2d 689 (Norman S. Sykes, III v. Ralph Krieger) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Norman S. Sykes, III v. Ralph Krieger, 551 F.2d 689 (6th Cir. 1977).

Opinion

CECIL, Senior Circuit Judge.

On November 30, 1971, eleven named plaintiffs seeking relief for themselves and a class similarly situated, instituted this action in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, for infringement of constitutional rights alleged - to arise as a result of conditions existing in the Cuyahoga County Jail. The original parties named as defendants were the operations officer of the jail, the Sheriff, the bond commissioner, the county commissioners, county prosecutor, Clerk of Courts of Cuyahoga County, the chief judge and chief probation officer of the Common Pleas Court, the administrator of the Cuyahoga County Hospital Board and representatives of the Ohio.Adult Parole Authority.

Jurisdiction was premised on Section 1983, Title 42, U.S.C. and Sections 1331, 1343(3)(4), Title 28, U.S.C. Only injunctive *690 and declaratory relief was sought pursuant to Sections 2201 and 2202, Title 28, U.S.C.

The basis of this lawsuit — the condition of the Cuyahoga County Jail — is graphically described by the Sheriff, Ralph Kreiger, as follows:

“The Cuyahoga County Jail is the product of a long neglected situation which has worsened over the years. The Sheriff has responsibility for managing a dilapidated jail constructed for fewer than 300 people. The jail now houses over 600 defendants. Persons charged with murder, sex deviations, vicious street crimes, and lesser offenses are mingled indiscriminately due to the impossibility of segregating them in the limited space available. The jail, in essence, is little more than a human warehouse.
“The jail almost defies attempts at humanization. Five hours a day are taken up with feeding the population of 600. There is little room for counseling, exercise, job training, and very little for just moving around. The cells are unbearably cold during winter and stifling with the stench of confinement during the summer. The absence of showers and delousing facilities at intake exposes inmates and staff alike to the dangers of infection by vermin and sundry dermatological infections. In addition, there is the ever present danger of fire and the staff’s inability to respond to such a disaster in the absence of a fire alarm system.
“Such degrading living conditions are not only destructive to the inmates, but to the jail’s staff, to visitors, and indeed, to the community at large. Where the hours of idleness are long and the living conditions appalling, little wonder that the bruising experience of incarceration breeds contempt and desire for revenge in many of these men.” (Pfs. Ex. 6, Brief P. 4).

After extensive preliminary proceedings, including the filing of an amended complaint on January 24, 1972, a trial was held in the District Court on March 26, 1975, to consider the issues that were unresolved after a partial consent order had been entered into by the parties. During the course of this trial, evidence was admitted indicating that, as of March 22, 1975, approximately 12 percent of the persons detained in the jail were under the jurisdiction of the State of Ohio and 5 percent were under the jurisdiction of the City of Cleveland.

Evidence was also admitted showing that the City of Cleveland maintained a workhouse which the Trial Judge thought could be used to reduce the population of the County Jail. Similarly, evidence was admitted of the operation by the State of Ohio of psychiatric facilities which the Judge concluded could be utilized for treatment of emotionally disturbed inmates of the Jail.

After this trial, plaintiffs, on April 7, 1975, moved for leave to file a Supplemental Complaint naming Governor Rhodes of Ohio, Dr. Timothy Moritz, Director of the Department of Mental Health and Retardation of the State of Ohio and Ralph Perk, Mayor of the City of Cleveland, as parties defendant to the action. On April 9, 1975, the District Judge granted leave to file a Supplemental Complaint and ordered that the new defendants be served with copies by certified mail.

Thereafter, on April 23, 1975, defendants Rhodes and Moritz moved to dismiss the supplemental complaint for the reason that it failed to allege a controversy between the named plaintiffs and the motioning defendants or to state a claim upon which relief could be granted. The Trial Judge denied this motion on May 15, 1975 and stated:

“The undisputed lack of appropriate psychiatric facilities of the County Jail is integrally related to the inability of state and local institutions to make their services available for county prisoners in need of psychiatric care and counseling. Accordingly, this Court has Ordered the ' joinder of defendants herein for purposes of according complete relief in light of the overriding constitutional standards at issue in this proceeding.”

In support of his decision he cited Rule 19(a) F.R.C.P. and Swann v. Charlotte *691 Mecklenburg Board of Education et al., 402 U.S. 1, 91 S.Ct. 1267, 28 L.Ed.2d 554' (1971).

The Trial Judge, on May 15,1975, entered another order 1 in which he granted class action status and relief to the parties without giving Rhodes and Moritz an opportunity to be heard. He ordered that

“The defendants herein including the City of Cleveland and the State of Ohio shall present to the Court a joint comprehensive detailed, written plan for creation of a psychiatric ward by no later than June 30, 1975, to be effective no later than July 31,1975, providing for: a. A comprehensive, detailed, written plan for psychiatric screening of all inmates on a continuing basis; b. A comprehensive, detailed written plan for observation and treatment of psychiatric inmates; c. A joint comprehensive, detailed and written plan for the training of jail security personnel in the detection, observation and handling of psychiatric cases; * * * ”

The Trial Judge entered another order on May 29, 1975 in which he reiterated his prior findings and orders against the State of Ohio, as were contained in the second order of May 15, 1975.

On June 2, 1975, the defendants Rhodes and Moritz moved that the orders of May 15, 1975 denying Defendants’ Motion to dismiss and certifying a class action be vacated and reconsidered and the Motion to Dismiss be granted. In the alternative, they requested that the orders be amended pursuant to Section 1292(b), 28 U.S.C. and Rule 5 F.R.App. Procedure so as to permit an interlocutory appeal. They further requested a stay of execution pending an interlocutory appeal.

The defendants Rhodes and Moritz, on June 4, 1975, moved that the order of May 29, 1975, commanding them to join in the presentation of a plan for the creation of a psychiatric ward at the County Jail, be reconsidered and vacated. The defendants requested, in the alternative, a stay of execution until the motion was ruled upon or pending appeal.

The Trial Judge denied these motions for reconsideration by a notation of June 13, 1975, in the margin of Defendants’ Motion of June 4th.

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551 F.2d 689, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/norman-s-sykes-iii-v-ralph-krieger-ca6-1977.