United States Court of Appeals
For the First Circuit
No. 00-1052
JAAN LAAMAN, ET AL.,
Plaintiffs, Appellants,
v.
WARDEN, NEW HAMPSHIRE STATE PRISON, ET AL.,
Defendants, Appellees.
APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
[Hon. Paul J. Barbadoro, U.S. District Judge]
Before
Torruella, Chief Judge,
Coffin, Senior Circuit Judge,
and Boudin, Circuit Judge.
Elliott Berry with whom Alan Linder, and New Hampshire Legal
Assistance, were on brief, for appellants.
Daniel J. Mullen, Senior Assistant Attorney General, with whom
Philip T. McLaughlin, Attorney General, was on brief, for appellees.
January 17, 2001
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TORRUELLA, Chief Judge. A 1975 civil rights suit by inmates
in New Hampshire State Prison ultimately resulted in a consent decree,
which was amended in 1990. In response to a 1993 suit alleging
contempt of that decree, and pursuant to the Prison Litigation Reform
Act of 1995 (the "PLRA"), 18 U.S.C. § 3626, prison officials
successfully moved to terminate the decree. The principal issue on
appeal is when, if ever, must the district court afford inmates who
allege "current and ongoing" violations of federal rights the
opportunity to supplement the existing record.
BACKGROUND
This proceeding has a complex procedural history, which we
summarize for the purpose of this appeal.
In 1975, inmates at the New Hampshire State Prison in Concord
(the "Prison") filed individual civil rights actions (later
consolidated into a class action) against state officials in federal
district court pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Laaman v. Helgemoe, 437
F. Supp. 269, 275 (D.N.H. 1977). In an extensive opinion, the court
made "specific findings" that prison conditions violated inmates'
Eighth Amendment rights, id. at 323-25, and issued a sixteen-part order
specifying required relief, id. at 325-30. The order was implemented
in a consent decree approved by the court on August 10, 1978, which was
later amended by a second consent decree approved on May 22, 1990.
Judge Devine, who had inherited the case from then-District Judge
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Bownes, approved the second decree. The amended decree provided that
the district court would "retain jurisdiction . . . for the purpose of
assuring compliance" until July 1, 1993.
Two weeks prior to the expiration of the district court's
jurisdiction, the inmates filed a civil contempt motion alleging that
prison officials had failed to comply with the decree. Although the
district court determined the necessary level of compliance to avoid a
finding of contempt and held an evidentiary hearing in December of
1995, no order issued. Upon Judge Devine's death in February of 1999,
the case was reassigned to Judge Barbadoro, with the motion for
contempt still pending. Mindful that the PLRA had "significantly
changed the rules governing consent decrees addressing prison
conditions,"1 Judge Barbadoro ordered the plaintiffs to "explain[] why
the Consent Decree should not be terminated and the pending Motion for
Contempt be deemed moot." Laaman v. Powell, Civil Nos. 75-258-SD/B,
77-256-SD/B, 87-301-SD/B (D.N.H. April 20, 1999) [hereinafter Laaman,
April 20 Order]. The district court then terminated the decree in a
June 15, 1999 order, holding that "[t]he findings called for in
1 The PLRA, in part, sought "to oust the federal judiciary from day-to-
day prison management" and serve as a "last rite" for many consent
decrees. Inmates of Suffolk County Jail v. Rouse, 129 F.3d 649, 655
(1st Cir. 1997) (citing 141 Cong. Rec. 14,419 (1995)). This "ambient
intent" provides the basis for the general unfriendliness of the PLRA
toward existing consent decrees, the termination of which this Court
has held to be constitutional and provided for by statute. Id. at 655-
61.
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§ 3626(b)(2) were never made," and that "plaintiffs have failed to
demonstrate that a basis currently exists for finding that the decree
'extends no further than necessary to correct the violation of the
Federal right,' or that the decree is 'narrowly drawn and the least
intrusive means to correct' any alleged violations of the plaintiffs'
federal rights." Laaman v. Powell, Civil No. 75-258-B (D.N.H. June 15,
1999) [hereinafter Laaman, June 15 Order]. Plaintiffs, noting that
§ 3626(b)(3) limits termination in certain cases of "current and
ongoing" violations of federal rights, and claiming that the delay in
disposition had prejudiced them unfairly, appealed to this Court.
DISCUSSION
First, appellants argue that the PLRA, specifically
§ 3626(b)(3), requires that a district court allow plaintiffs an
opportunity to present evidence prior to exercising its termination
power under § 3626(b)(2), and that they were denied this opportunity.
Second, in the absence of such a statutory mandate, they suggest that
the district court abused its discretion here by failing to provide
plaintiffs an opportunity to supplement the existing record. Third,
two remaining issues not directly considered by the parties - the
district court's actual rationale and the scope of further proceedings
- require attention.
A
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Whether the PLRA requires that inmates be given an
opportunity to supplement the existing record is purely a question of
statutory interpretation, and as such, we afford it de novo review.
Rouse, 129 F.3d at 653-54. We begin with the language of the statute
itself. Stowell v. Ives, 976 F.2d 65, 69 (1st Cir. 1992). In so
doing, we assume that the words of the statute comport with their
ordinary meaning, and that their ordinary meaning accurately expresses
legislative intent, FMC Corp. v. Holliday, 498 U.S. 52, 57 (1990), only
resorting to legislative history or other aids of statutory
construction in the case of ambiguity or an unreasonable result, United
States v. Charles George Trucking Co., 823 F.2d 685, 688 (1st Cir.
1987).
The PLRA does not specifically provide for an evidentiary
hearing prior to termination of a consent decree. Cagle v. Hutto, 177
F.3d 253, 258 (4th Cir. 1999), cert. denied, 120 S. Ct. 2723 (2000).
18 U.S.C. § 3626(b)(2) provides for the "immediate termination of
prospective relief if the relief was approved or granted in the absence
of a finding by the court that the relief is narrowly drawn, extends no
further than necessary to correct the violation of the Federal right,
and is the least intrusive means necessary to correct the violation of
the Federal right."2 However, § 3626(b)(3) expressly limits the court's
2 Given the extensive nature of the consent decree here and the fact
that it long pre-dated the enactment of the PLRA, neither side contends
that this consent decree meets the (b)(2) requirements. Cf. Rouse, 129
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termination power, noting that "[p]rospective relief shall not
terminate if the court makes written findings based on the record that
prospective relief remains necessary to correct a current and ongoing
violation of the Federal right, extends no further than necessary to
correct the violation of the Federal right, and that the prospective
relief is narrowly drawn and the least intrusive means to correct the
violation" (emphasis added). Several courts have read these two
sections together as creating a gap that might be filled by an
evidentiary hearing. See Benjamin v. Jacobsen, 172 F.3d 144, 165-66
(2d Cir.), cert. denied sub nom. Benjamin v. Kerik, 528 U.S. 824 (1999)
(noting that the (b)(3) requirement of "written findings" meant that
the "immediate termination" of (b)(2) was necessarily less than
instantaneous); see also Berwanger v. Cottey, 178 F.3d 834, 839 (7th
Cir. 1999) ("immediate" in (b)(2) does not mean "instant," given that
court needs "time to make finding" called for in (b)(3)). Because the
PLRA does not on its face address whether the district court must make
these written findings when the conditions of (b)(3) are met, nor does
it explain how a court could make written findings of current
conditions on the basis of a stale record, courts have suggested that
there are circumstances in which additional evidentiary findings are
appropriate or even necessary prior to termination. See Hadix v.
F.3d at 661 (finding it implausible, on the record, that (b)(2)
requirements were met by prior factual findings).
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Johnson, 228 F.3d 662, 671-72 (6th Cir. 2000); Gilmore v. California,
220 F.3d 987, 1008, 1010 (9th Cir. 2000); Cagle, 177 F.3d at 258; Loyd
v. Alabama Dep't of Corr., 176 F.3d 1336, 1342 (11th Cir.), cert.
denied, 528 U.S. 1061 (1999); Benjamin, 172 F.3d at 165-66 ("Evidence
presented at a prior time . . . [can] not show a violation that is
'current and ongoing.'" As a result, "the record" referred to in
(b)(3) "must mean a record reflecting conditions as of the time
termination is sought.").
The other courts of appeals that have assessed whether the
PLRA requires an evidentiary hearing prior to termination of a consent
decree have reached somewhat different results as to when such a
hearing is required. In Benjamin, the Second Circuit interpreted
§ 3626(b) "to mean that, when the plaintiffs so request . . . the
district must allow the plaintiffs an opportunity to show current and
ongoing violations of their federal rights." Id. (emphasis added); see
also Hadix, 228 F.3d at 671-72 ("[T]he party opposing termination must
be given the opportunity to submit additional evidence."). The
Eleventh Circuit, although it did not find that an evidentiary hearing
was mandated by statute, found that a district court's refusal to hold
such a hearing constituted an abuse of discretion, even when current
reports were being provided to the court. See Loyd, 176 F.3d at 1342.
The Fourth Circuit has placed a higher burden on the plaintiff, holding
that a district court " may, in its discretion conduct a pretermination
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evidentiary hearing," but that it "at a minimum . . . must hold such a
hearing when the party opposing termination alleges specific facts
which, if true, would amount to a current and ongoing constitutional
violation." Cagle, 177 F.3d at 258 (emphasis added).
Although we did not specifically address this issue in Rouse,
we suggested a similar approach to that taken by the Eleventh Circuit
in Loyd, albeit with more weight given to the district court's
familiarity with the consent order and subsequent proceedings. The
Rouse plaintiffs had argued that in the absence of findings to satisfy
the (b)(2) burden, "the district court should have conducted an inquiry
into whether a violation of a federal right exists currently." Rouse,
139 F.3d at 661. We noted "the district court's intimate familiarity
with this protracted litigation [and] its informed evaluation of
current prison conditions." Id. at 662. Our decision not to require
further evidentiary findings was based partly on the fact that the
Rouse court had been receiving periodic reports as to the incidents
covered by the consent decree. Id.
We think the approach hinted at in Rouse is the correct one.
As the Fourth Circuit said in Cagle, the plain language of § 3626(b) is
reasonably clear. If Congress had wished to create a right to an
evidentiary hearing for plaintiffs, it certainly could have done so.
Cagle, 177 F.3d at 258. However, we are unwilling to rob the (b)(3)
limitation of all force, or to leave its application entirely to the
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unreviewed discretion of the district court. Despite the PLRA's
general unfriendliness toward the continuation of existing consent
decrees, Congress clearly anticipated that a district court might make
"written findings based on the record" of "current and ongoing
violation[s]." It is hard to imagine how a district court could ever
make such written findings without an updated record. In certain
circumstances, then, it would seem an appropriate use of the court's
discretion to hold an evidentiary hearing; similarly, in certain
circumstances it would be an abuse of that discretion to deny
plaintiffs an evidentiary hearing once requested.
B
Given that they are not entitled by statute to an evidentiary
hearing, plaintiffs argue that in this case the district judge abused
his discretion by not holding a hearing. We first assess whether
further evidence was necessary in this case, and then determine whether
plaintiffs in fact lacked the opportunity to supplement the record.
We should start by noting that if any record would benefit
from supplementary findings, it would be this one. Although an
extensive trial record exists, no fact-finding took place after 1995.
"Evidence presented at a prior time [can]not show a violation that is
'current and ongoing.'" Benjamin, 172 F.3d at 166. At times, an
evidentiary hearing is not necessary because the district court has a
comprehensive knowledge of whether a prison is, or is not, continuing
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to violate the consent decree. See Rouse, 129 F.3d at 662 (district
court had been receiving periodic evaluations). But see Loyd, 176 F.3d
at 1342 (possession of eleven reports, the most recent two months
prior, by district court, insufficient). Not only had the district
court here received no further information on potential violations
between the 1995 trial and the 1999 ruling, but the case had been
transferred to an entirely different judge who lacked any intimate
knowledge of the prison conditions or the circumstances of the decree.
Cf. Rouse, 129 F.3d at 661 ("A trial court generally is thought to be
the best interpreter of its own prior rulings and findings, and this
case is no exception.") (internal citations omitted). The attenuated
and inevitably disjointed history of the present case suggests that the
ordinary factors counseling reliance on the district court's
familiarity with the case are lacking here.
Appellee argues that the district court did not abuse its
discretion because it allowed the plaintiffs to supplement their
findings in a memorandum, received that memorandum, and found that
plaintiffs had not met their burden under (b)(3). The district court
did request that plaintiffs "explain[] why the Consent Decree should
not be terminated and the pending Motion for Contempt be deemed moot."
Laaman, April 20 Order. Plaintiffs filed a memorandum on May 15, 1999,
highlighting the evidence of Eighth Amendment violations committed
prior to 1995 that was contained in the existing record. The district
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court then found that "plaintiffs have failed to demonstrate that a
basis currently exists for finding that the decree 'extends no further
than necessary to correct the violation of the Federal right,' or that
the decree is 'narrowly drawn and the least intrusive means to correct
any alleged violations of the plaintiffs' federal rights." Laaman,
June 15 Order.
Of course, the district court could not have abused its
discretion if it did, in actuality, grant plaintiffs the opportunity to
supplement the evidentiary record, and they simply neglected to do so.
However, although the April 20 Order could have been understood as an
opportunity for plaintiffs to supplement the record with more
contemporaneous allegations of constitutional violations, it could also
have been interpreted as a limited request for plaintiffs to highlight
the most heinous parts of the already existing record. See Laaman,
April 20 Order at 2 ("It does not appear from a review of the record
that the Laaman Consent Decree can survive.") (emphasis added).
Plaintiffs apparently did not interpret the April 20 Order as a request
to enhance the record or introduce new allegations of harm. Although
plaintiffs' discussion of (b)(3) in their responsive memorandum noted
that "the record may include supplemental information," the extensive
list of constitutional violations presented in their response only
addressed those which had occurred prior to 1995 and were already
contained in the record. Moreover, neither the district court's June
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15, 1999 Order nor its June 30, 1999 Order (following plaintiffs'
Motion to Alter or Amend) suggested that the failure to provide
supplementary evidence of current and ongoing violations was relevant
to the decision.
Given our holding in Rouse and the similar approaches taken
by other courts of appeals that have reached this issue, we think that
in certain cases the PLRA allows a plaintiff the opportunity to present
evidence consistent with § 3626(b)(3) prior to the termination of a
consent decree under § 3626(b)(2). The scope of that evidentiary
presentation is a matter of discretion for the district court; however,
Rouse contemplates that the district court exercise that discretion
based on its familiarity with the record and with any "current and
ongoing" violations that might not appear in the record due to its age,
while considering the PLRA's bias toward the termination of consent
decrees. In this case, given the peculiar circumstances of the
litigation, the severe potential for prejudice upon termination of the
consent decree, and the substantial evidence of violations prior to
1995, the district court should have more clearly indicated its
evidentiary requirements in the April 20 Order, or at the very least
given plaintiffs an opportunity to amend their May 15 pleading to
address supplementary allegations. To simply terminate without
allowing plaintiffs such an opportunity was an abuse of the district
court's discretion.
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C
There remain two issues requiring brief comment. One relates
to the district court's June 15, 1999 order in which the court declared
that the existing consent decree did not meet the conditions of
§ 3626(b)(2) and went on to say the following:
Moreover, plaintiffs have failed to demonstrate
that a basis currently exists for finding that
the decree "extends no further than necessary to
correct the violation of the Federal right" or
that the decree is "narrowly drawn and the least
intrusive means to correct" any alleged
violations of the plaintiffs' federal rights.
Accordingly, the Consent Decree must be
terminated.
Laaman, June 15 Order. This determination was repeated in substance in
the court's June 30, 1999 order.
What may be buried in this paragraph and account for the
ultimate result is a double assumption: that no matter what the
plaintiffs showed in an evidentiary hearing, nothing in that showing
could in light of the new statutory requirements justify a continuation
of this consent decree; and that the only option permitted was to
terminate the decree while reserving (as the June 15 order did)
"plaintiffs right to seek relief from any further alleged Eighth
Amendment violation in separate actions." The first assumption may
well be right, given the stringent conditions attached to the "is not
terminated" provision in § 3626(b)(3). But the second assumption,
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which we may be misattributing to the district court's order, does not
seem to us correct.
The "limitation" provision, preserving an option to
perpetuate an existing decree even though the now required findings
were "absen[t]" when the "relief was [originally] approved or granted,"
§ 3626(b)(2), is not in our view limited to cases where current
violations exist and the statutory findings can now be made as to the
original decree. Rather, while the statutory language is not perfectly
clear, it appears to us likely that the limitation provision assumes
that the district court may modify the decree so that it both addresses
the current violation and conforms to the statutory requirements ("no
further than necessary, etc.). See Gilmore, 220 F.3d at 1007-08.
Such a reading would appear to serve Congress's double
purpose of assuring that there is still a "current and ongoing
violation" to justify an existing decree and also its overriding
purpose that all such decrees rest on findings that show that the
decree is no broader than necessary, in the terms set forth in both
§ 3626(b)(2) and (b)(3). Since this legal issue has not fully been
argued by the parties, we do not foreclose the district court from
considering it further after full briefing; but as presently advised
the court's apparent rationale quoted above seems to us mistaken.
The other issue that warrants brief comment but, again, not
a resolution, is what options are open to the district judge if, on
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remand, he should find that a current and ongoing violation exists. In
our view it should not be assumed that the district court is then
automatically required to alter the consent decree and make the
statutory findings that would permit the decree to continue. But see
Gilmore, 220 F.3d at 1008 (holding to the contrary). Imagine, for
example, that the evidentiary hearing shows few or limited violations
that could more appropriately be rendered by terminating the present
case and allowing an individual to press a new suit in which a fresh
decree could be addressed directly to these issues.
However, it seems to us that the legal issues thus raised and
the judgments called for are more reasonably made only after the
district court has had an opportunity in an evidentiary hearing to get
a fuller picture of what "current and ongoing violation[s]" of federal
rights, if any, still exist. If there are none - and the burden
remains on the plaintiffs to show that such violations persist - the
question of perpetuating this case and molding new but narrower relief
will be moot; conversely, if violations are shown, the court will have
a more developed context for answering the legal and policy questions
that we have noted but on which we reserve judgment.
CONCLUSION
Plaintiffs should have the opportunity to demonstrate
"current and ongoing" violations of constitutional rights that would
prevent termination of the Consent Decree pursuant to § 3626(b)(3).
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Whether this determination may be facilitated by proffered showings and
briefings in the first instance or whether a full-fledged evidentiary
hearing is required before further action is a matter for the
discretion of the district court. The decision below is vacated and
remanded for further action consistent with this opinion.
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