Small v. Sutton

653 F. Supp. 900
CourtDistrict Court, D. Colorado
DecidedFebruary 18, 1987
DocketCiv. A. No. 85-K-936
StatusPublished

This text of 653 F. Supp. 900 (Small v. Sutton) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Colorado primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Small v. Sutton, 653 F. Supp. 900 (D. Colo. 1987).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

KANE, District Judge.

In this civil rights case, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, defendants filed an objection to the Order of Magistrate Richard B. Harvey dated June 5, 1986. The magistrate’s order concluded that various Colorado Parole Board member defendants are entitled only to qualified immunity when they grant, deny, revoke, or as in the instant case, impose the conditions of parole. Defendants argue they are entitled to absolute immunity and thus request dismissal. In the alternative, defendants argue if they are entitled only to qualified immunity, I should dismiss for this reason.

[901]*901I.

BACKGROUND

Plaintiff, Arthur Everett Small, Jr., was convicted of sexual assault on a child and sentenced to five years in the Colorado Department of Corrections. When plaintiff became eligible for parole, defendants imposed the standard parole conditions regarding release, residence, conduct, report, weapons and association. The defendant Parole Board also imposed the following additional conditions:

(1) [plaintiff] parolee agrees to participate in a mental health program at the request of his parole agent and complete the program recommended by the proper authorities;

(2) [plaintiff] parolee agrees to participate in a monitored antabuse therapy program, if medically approved, until terminated by his parole agent or the Parole Board. Plaintiff further agrees to pay all costs.

(3) [plaintiff] Arthur Small, will not be in the company of anyone under the age of eighteen without proper adult supervision.

Parole Order/Conditions of Parole, defendants’ exhibit 1

Defendants submit plaintiff agreed to the conditions as set forth by his signature, and subsequently was discharged on parole. While plaintiff argues he did not agree to the additional conditions. He maintains he was coerced into signing, since refusal meant continued incarceration. Plaintiff argues the imposition of such conditions subjects him to cruel and unusual punishment, deprives him of due process, and imposes upon him ex post facto penalties. He submits the magistrate’s order granting defendants only qualified immunity was fully justified under decisional law and should be upheld. Defendants argue in their discretionary evaluation of the parolee, they deemed it wise and in the best interest of parolee and the public to impose the standard along with the mentioned additional parole conditions.

II.

ABSOLUTE IMMUNITY

Total agreement on the issue of immunity is lacking among federal courts as applied to discretionary acts of state parole board members. However, in Tripati v. United States Immigration and Naturalization Service, 784 F.2d 345 (10th Cir. 1986), the Tenth Circuit explicitly granted absolute immunity to the role of federal probation officers who assisted in decisions regarding pretrial release and selection of appropriate sentence. The Tripati court noted probation officers were intimately associated with a quasi-judicial function, and thus absolutely immune from civil suit for damages. Tripati, as with the instant plaintiff, alleged deprivation of his constitutional rights by parole officers. He alleged probation officers made false statements in a pretrial bond report and a pre-sentence report. Nonetheless, absolute immunity was deemed proper.

The district court in Tripati, dismissed the suit against the defendant probation officers, ruling qualified immunity would further policies underlying the official doctrine. On appeal, however, the Tenth Circuit held absolute immunity was applicable to federal probation officers who were intimately associated with the judicial phase of the criminal process. The court made specific mention of the extension of absolute immunity to probation officers in similar situations based on a “quasi-judicial” function analysis. Huges v. Chesser, 731 F.2d 1489, 1490 (11th Cir.1984) (granting state probation officer absolute 42 U.S.C. § 1983 immunity); Spaulding v. Nielsen, 599 F.2d 728, 729 (5th Cir.1979) (granting absolute immunity to federal probation officers); Burkes v. Callion, 433 F.2d 318, 319 (9th Cir.1970), cert, denied, 403 U.S. 908, 91 S.Ct. 2217, 29 L.Ed.2d 685 (1971) (granting “similar, if not the same,” 42 U.S.C. § 1983 immunity given to judges, to Los Angeles County probation officer). The Tripati court explicitly stated agreement with the above circuit court opinions. Finally, Tripati recognized probation officers who as[902]*902sist in pretrial release and or sentencing determinations “perform critical roles.” The obvious question is whether decisions to discharge on parole and impose accompanying conditions are also quasi-judicial functions “intimately associated with the judicial process” and thus invest parole board members with absolute immunity.

In Cleavinger v. Saxner, 474 U.S. 193, 106 S.Ct. 496, 88 L.Ed.2d 507 (1985), the United States Supreme Court decided members of a federal prison’s Institution Discipline Committee who heard cases of inmates charged with rules infractions, were entitled to qualified, as opposed to absolute immunity. The court, however, noted it has not yet decided whether state parole officers enjoy absolute immunity as a matter of federal law, but recognized that some federal appellate courts have granted absolute immunity in such cases. Sellars v. Procunier 641 F.2d 1295, (9th Cir.1981), cert, denied 454 U.S. 1102, 102 S.Ct. 678, 70 L.Ed.2d 644 (1981) (granting absolute immunity to state parole officials from civil rights actions); Evans v. Dillahunty, 711 F.2d 828, 830-831 (8th Cir.1983); United States ex rel. Powell v. Irving, 684 F.2d 494 (7th Cir.1982) (granting absolute immunity from section 1983 damage action to state parole board officials reviewing parole applications).

The Cleavinger court refused to perceive the discipline committee’s function as a “classic” adjudicatory one, nor to view the committee members as independent, since they are subordinate employees of the warden. The court noted it did not equate the discipline committee membership to service upon a traditional parole board. The court said the parole board is a neutral and detached hearing body, and has been described as an impartial professional body, serving essentially as an arm of the sentencing judge. The

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Bluebook (online)
653 F. Supp. 900, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/small-v-sutton-cod-1987.