Wilson v. Kelley

294 F. Supp. 1005, 13 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 502, 1968 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8039
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Georgia
DecidedJune 27, 1968
DocketCiv. A. 11647
StatusPublished
Cited by59 cases

This text of 294 F. Supp. 1005 (Wilson v. Kelley) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wilson v. Kelley, 294 F. Supp. 1005, 13 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 502, 1968 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8039 (N.D. Ga. 1968).

Opinions

SIDNEY O. SMITH, Jr., District Judge:

In this three-judge suit, the plaintiffs bring this action for declaratory and injunctive relief. Plaintiffs are white and black inmates, former inmates, or prospective inmates of all Georgia penal institutions at the juvenile, municipal, county and state levels. The defendants [1008]*1008are the officials responsible for the operation of such institutions and, as finally constituted, include the Georgia State Board for Children and Youth and its Director (juveniles), a city jailor (municipal), two county sheriffs and a county Public Works Camp warden (county), the State Board of Corrections and its Director (state), and the state Personnel Board and its Director of the State Merit System.

The suit presents, and the case was tried, on three basic complaints seeking:

I. To abolish segregation in all jails and penal institutions of the state of Georgia.
II. To prevent alleged discrimination in the employment of Negroes at penal institutions and as deputy sheriffs within the state of Georgia, and
III. To abolish all county Public Works Camps within the state of Georgia.

I.

The Georgia penal system is not a single entity, but is made up of several parts with different officials responsible for the administration of each type unit. Juvenile offenders (under 17 years of age) are, after commitment by juvenile courts, confined in area detention centers or state training schools operated by the State Board for Children and Youth as a Division of the Department of Family and Children Services, the state welfare agency. City jails are maintained by most Georgia unincorporated municipalities and house offenders of local ordinances and, initially, offenders of state laws arrested by municipal policemen prior to transfer for state trial. Each of Georgia’s 159 counties also maintains through its Sheriff and deputies, a jail for housing persons accused of state violations prior to trial and for the service of minimal jail-type sentences. Prior to 1964 on an optional basis,1 the County Commissioners of several counties established Public Works Camps which are subject to the supervision and control of the State Board of Corrections. Upon approval, such camps are authorized to receive prisoners for service of a State sentence and to employ them on certain authorized public works within the county. The public works camps wardens and guards are appointed by the County Commissioners, subject to approval of the State Board. Since 1964, each county, rather than the state, is required to house and maintain a large class of misdemeanants convicted of state offenses.2 Thus some 72 county Public Works Camps now house state prisoners who are the responsibility of that county or neighboring counties who are too small or too poor to maintain such a facility as well as state prisoners assigned thereto by the Board of Corrections.

All felons and all other state prisoners are the responsibility of the Board of Corrections and are confined in penitentiary-type institutions, in state honor camps (primarily for first offenders) and the Alto Training Center (primarily for youthful offenders between 17 and 21 years of age). All tolled there are in excess of 10,000 persons under confinement in all institutions at any given time in Georgia.

With certain exceptions at the juvenile level, all prisoners are segregated by race in compliance with long-standing state policy enunciated in the statutes under attack in this case.3 While such [1009]*1009laws apply primarily to the state system, the other institutions through custom and practice have, as a matter of fact, housed their inmates by race.

Under such facts the law is clear, and this aspect of the case is controlled by the recent case of Frank Lee, Commissioner of Corrections of Alabama v. Washington, 390 U.S. 333, 88 S.Ct. 994, 19 L.Ed.2d 1212 (March 11, 1968) (36 LW 4225) and in particular by the lower court opinion of Washington v. Lee, 263 F.Supp. 327 (M.D.Ala.1966) which was termed “unexceptionable” by the Supreme Court in its affirmance.

Here, there are various motions by the defendants on the grounds that this is not a properly constituted class action under Rule 23. Any such doubts either as to the plaintiffs constituting a class or the propriety of the defendants’ standing as representative of a class as to this aspect of the cases are dispelled by the discussion in the district court opinion. 263 F.Supp. 327 at 329-331 (I and II). It would serve no purpose to repeat such reasoning and authorities here. Accordingly, as to segregated jail facilities, we hold that this is a properly constituted class action on both sides.

On the merits, the defendants candidly admit the effect of the Alabama case, and the statutes attacked insofar as they relate to physical and record segregation by race must fall as violative of the Fourteenth Amendment. It is reasonable to assume that the integration of such facilities will require careful planning and perhaps construction changes in existing institutions. The complete integration of all city and county jails, all county Public Works Camps, all state correctional institutions, and all juvenile facilities4 shall therefore be accomplished on or before January 1, 1969. In this connection it is noted that studies are already underway in anticipation of this ruling. The six months allowed 'to comply appears reasonable to the court. However, if any bona fide plan or program necessitates a minimal additional time to complete, application may be made to this district court in writing not later than December 1, 1968, for a variance. In this regard, the exceptional right of prison authorities “acting in good faith and in particularized circumstances, to take into account racial tensions in maintaining security, discipline, and good order in prisons and jails” is deemed to exist normally only after-the-fact and not before.5 Otherwise, any segregated custody subsequent to January 1, 1969, [1010]*1010shall be deemed to violate the dictates of Washington and the ruling of this court.

II.

The largest single employer in correctional work in Georgia is, of course, the State Board of Corrections. Presently, of some 857 employees only 13 are Negroes. Vacancies are filled by the Board of Corrections under the state merit system which operates under the “rule of threes” common to the federal and most state systems, wherein the hiring authority is.free to choose from three certified applicants. As seen, employees of the county Public Works Camps are named by thé county governing authorities, mainly on an appointive basis and a few on á' merit basis. The record is inexact as to such employees but it is apparent that most do not have Negro employees. The Sheriffs of each county are elected by popular vote and, with rare exception, name their own deputies. A growing number of Sheriffs throughout the state now employ Negro deputies, but many do not. City jails are maintained by city employees usually attached to the police department. The state-wide figures as to such employees are unknown. The single municipal defendant here (Davis) has no Negro employees.

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Bluebook (online)
294 F. Supp. 1005, 13 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 502, 1968 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8039, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wilson-v-kelley-gand-1968.