Patterson v. Hopkins

350 F. Supp. 676, 1972 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11971
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Mississippi
DecidedSeptember 15, 1972
DocketDC 71-65-S, DC 71-66-S
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 350 F. Supp. 676 (Patterson v. Hopkins) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Mississippi primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Patterson v. Hopkins, 350 F. Supp. 676, 1972 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11971 (N.D. Miss. 1972).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION

ORMA R. SMITH, District Judge.

This action was submitted to the court after a hearing on the merits on June 29, 1972, at the United States Courthouse at Clarksdale, Mississippi. The court has received and considreed proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law from the parties and the case is now ripe for decision. The findings of fact and conclusions of law required by Rule 52(a) F.R.Civ.P are incorporated in this Memorandum of Decision.

Earl Stanley Patterson (Patterson), a minor of the age of 17 years and a member of the black race, was arrested on a misdemeanor charge by officers of the City of Clarksdale, Coahoma County, Mississippi, on September 20, 1971 and incarcerated in the Coahoma County jail. 1 On the next day, September 21, 1971, a deputy sheriff of the county filed a petition with the Youth Court of *678 the county, of which defendant, Honorable Greek P. Rice, is the presiding judge, seeking to have Patterson adjudged delinquent and/or neglected within the purview of Mississippi’s Youth Court Act. 2 Patterson was incarcerated in the county jail until September 22, 1971, when he was released on bail. Patterson was subsequently adjudicated a delinquent by Judge Rice and was released on supervised probation. On September 23, 1971, Patterson, through his father, Frank Patterson, as next friend, filed the complaint in DC 71-65-S, seeking declaratory and injunctive relief based upon the guarantees of due process and equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States and the right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment. More will be said of this later.

Larry Fox (Fox), a minor of the age of fifteen years and- a member of the black race was arrested on a felony charge by officers of the Sheriff’s Department of Coahoma County, Mississippi on September 28, 1971 and incarcerated'in the county jail. On September 30, 1971 a petition was filed by a deputy sheriff of the county with the Youth Court, above mentioned, seeking to have Fox adjudged delinquent and/or neglected within the purview of the Youth Court Act. Fox was incarcerated in the county jail until September 29, 1971, when he was released into the custody of his mother. Subsequently Fox was adjudicated by Judge Rice as a delinquent under the Youth Court Act, and placed on supervised probation. Thereafter, on or about February 1, 1972, Fox was apprehended by Deputy sheriffs of the county for a violation of the conditions of his probation, and was incarcerated in the jail for a portion of a day before being released by agreement of the parties.

On September 30, 1971 Fox, through his mother as next friend, filed the complaint in DC 71-66-S, seeking relief similar to that sought by Patterson in DC 71-65-S.

The plaintiffs in the two actions are represented by the same group of attorneys. On December 29, 1971, a motion was filed in each action to consolidate the two for trial. The actions involve common questions of law and fact, and the court, on January 10, 1972, entered an order consolidating the actions for trial on any and all matters at issue.

The actions were originally filed against Thomas Hopkins, Sheriff of Coahoma County, Mississippi, Billie White, Chief of Police of the City of Clarksdale, Mississippi, 3 and Honorable Greek P. Rice, Youth Court Judge of Coahoma County, Mississippi. At a later stage in the proceedings the members of the Board of Supervisors of Coahoma County were made additional parties defendant in the actions.

Prior to the final hearing, the court heard and considered evidence on plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction. The motion was denied by an order entered on March 13, 1972. The court has heard the actions on the evidence introduced at the hearing on the motion for a preliminary injunction, as well as that introduced at the hearing on the merits. The court has also considered the stipulations and admissions on file and such other pertinent matters as are of record.

In each action, plaintiff seeks to represent a class of persons similarly situated; that is a class composed of “all juveniles residing within the confines of Coahoma County, Mississippi, the parents of all juveniles residing within the *679 confines of Coahoma County, Mississippi and all juveniles who are presently detained or may be detained by the defendants and the parents of such juveniles”.

With the exception of the allegations of facts peculiar to the named minor plaintiff in each action, the complaint in each action contains allegations similar, if not identical, to the other. To state the nature of the complaint in one action is to state the nature of the complaint in the other.

The Youth Court Act (Miss.Code Ann. §§ 7185-01 through 7185-30) was originally adopted by the Mississippi Legislature at its 1940 session. Ch. 300, Laws 1940. The Act was extensively amended by the Legislature at its 1966 session. Ch. 377, Laws 1966. The last amendment was adopted at the 1971 Session. Ch. 391, Laws 1971.

Plaintiffs contend that defendant Rice, Judge of the Youth Court, is charged with the duty to provide each delinquent child with the care, guidance and control, preferably in his own home, as will be conducive to the child’s welfare and the best interest of the state, and, when such child is removed from the control of his parents, the court’s duty is to secure for the child care as nearly as possible equivalent to that which should have been given the child by his parents.

Plaintiffs contend further that Judge Rice does not perform the duties of his office as the law requires, but, on the other hand, with the aid of defendant police officers, he acts in such a manner as to detain delinquent children in violation of their constitutional rights in the county jail in cells which are in close proximity to adult detainees and convicts and which are dirty, unsanitary and lacking in essential furnishings and equipment.

Plaintiffs also contend that delinquent children, while incarcerated, are not furnished nutritious food, medical examinations or treatment, soap, towels, books or other reading .material, psychological or religious services, educational or recreational opportunities or any other form of rehabilitative treatment or care.

The plaintiffs assert that the incarceration of delinquent children, including themselves, under such conditions, deprives them of due process of law as required by the Fourteenth Amendment, and subjects them to cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the guarantees of the Eighth Amendment. Each plaintiff seeks to recover damages in the sum of $50.00 for the violation of his constitutional rights and appropriate injunctive relief.

At a later stage in the proceedings, plaintiffs were allowed to amend each complaint to allege that prisoners within the jail were separated by race and that such pattern is contrary to the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
350 F. Supp. 676, 1972 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11971, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/patterson-v-hopkins-msnd-1972.