Case Title: Askew v. Schuster

Citation: 331 So. 2d 297

Docket Number: 

State: florida

Court: Florida Supreme Court

Date: 1976-04-21T00:00:00Z

Document:
331 So. 2d 297 (1976)
Honorable Reubin O'D. ASKEW, Governor of the State of Florida, et al., Appellants,
v.
Joel Edward SCHUSTER et al., Appellees.
No. 48137.

Supreme Court of Florida.
April 21, 1976.
Robert L. Shevin, Atty. Gen., and Donna Holshouser Stinson, Asst. Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, for appellants.
Harry Lewis Michaels, Tallahassee, David C. Holloman and John H. Treadwell, Arcadia, for appellees.
D. Stephen Kahn, Tallahassee, for Lew Brantley, Tom Gallen, Julian B. Lane and Guy Spicola, amicus curiae.
ROBERTS, Justice.
We have for review by direct appeal a final judgment by the Circuit Court in and for DeSoto County holding the latter portion of Section 945.025(3), Florida Statutes, relating to the conversion of G. Pierce Wood Memorial Hospital to be unconstitutional. We have jurisdiction pursuant to Article V, Section 3(b)(1), Constitution of Florida.
Appellees, mental patients at G. Pierce Wood Memorial Hospital, a mental hospital in Arcadia, Florida, brought a class action for declaratory relief seeking to permanently enjoin appellants from housing convicted felons on any part of the premises or in the vicinity of G. Pierce Wood Memorial Hospital and to permanently enjoin them from establishing a medium security prison within the confines or vicinity of said hospital.
To assist in alleviating the critical shortage of prison facilities in Florida, appellants proposed plans which involved a conversion of a portion of said hospital into prison facilities. The plan entailed the taking over of approximately fourteen structures as prison area which area would be surrounded by a double row of chainlink fences, one twelve feet high with an umbrella arm of mesh and the inner one *298 four feet high. Between the two fences, there will be a peri-guard electronic security alarm system, an underground perimeter surveillance system between the two fences. This consists of a pressure sensitive four-pipe buried underground sensor alarm system which operates on constant equalized pressure. The alarm is set off by zones and there will be eleven zones in the configuration which reflect back to the control room and the outside patrol cars when violated. Correctional officers will be in patrol vehicles around the perimeter 24-hours a day.
After hearing and an extended tour of G. Pierce Wood Memorial Hospital facility, the trial judge permanently enjoined appellants from committing any act toward the conversion of G. Pierce Wood Memorial Hospital into a prison facility and ordered them to return G. Pirece Wood Memorial's physical facilities to their original state. Recognizing the critical shortage of prison facilities and the statutory authority for construction of such a facility as this, the trial court found from what it stated to be uncontradicted evidence which it evaluated in detail in its final judgment, that such a proposal by the State would:
The trial court determined that the latter portion of Section 945.025(3), Florida Statutes, relating to the conversion of G. Pierce Wood Memorial Hospital is unconstitutional and explicated:
This statutory provision provides:
The following statutes are relevant to the disposition of this cause. Section 394.459, Florida Statutes, provides in pertinent part:
Section 394.457(8), Florida Statutes, provides:
We cannot agree with the trial judge that Section 945.025(3), Florida Statutes, is unconstitutional in part and, therefore, cannot concur that the conversion of the facilities constitutes a violation of the Baker Act.
By Section 945.025(3),[1] Florida Statutes, the most recent enactment by the Legislature on this subject, the Legislature recognized and expressly approved the conversion of a portion of the hospital to house prisoners. Appellants contend that by its ruling in this cause, the trial court sought to legislate to obtain a result which it felt was just, thereby imposing its own social view in place of the Legislature's which was not within its province to do. The trial judge in its final judgment did not determine that this statute conflicted with *300 any constitutional provision either state or federal but rather found that it was inconsistent with prior statutory provisions.
Absent a violation of due process or a specific constitutional guarantee, courts cannot substitute their judgment for that of the Legislature. As this Court explicated in In re Apportionment Law, Senate Joint Resolution No. 1305, 263 So. 2d 797 (Fla. 1972), in emphasizing the constitutional principle of separation of power:
In City of Jacksonville v. Bowden, 67 Fla. 181, 64 So. 769 (1914), cited as authority in In Re Apportionment Law, supra, Judge Whitfield stated:
Recently the Supreme Court of the United States in Kahn v. Shevin, 416 U.S. 351, 94 S. Ct. 1734, 40 L. Ed. 2d 189 (1974), upholding a Florida Statute granting a widow an annual $500 property tax exemption, reiterated the basic constitutional proposition that courts do not substitute their social and economic beliefs for the judgment of legislative bodies which are elected to pass the laws. See Ferguson v. Skrupa, 372 U.S. 726, 83 S. Ct. 1028, 10 L. Ed. 2d 93 (1963). Cf. Pepper v. Pepper, 66 So. 2d 280 (Fla. 1953); State v. Barquet, 262 So. 2d 431 (Fla. 1972). By the judgment below, the trial judge effectually substituted her social beliefs in place of legislative judgment.
Although we find no inconsistency between the Act in question and Sections 394.457(8) and 394.459, Florida Statutes, we restate the fundamental rule of statutory construction which would be applicable here were the statutes inconsistent, that the last expression of legislative will prevails. Cf. State v. Board of Public Instruction, 113 So. 2d 368 (Fla. 1959); Jacksonville Beach v. Albury, 291 So. 2d 82, Fla.App., affirmed, 295 So. 2d 297 (Fla. 1974); Johnson v. State, 157 Fla. 685, 27 So. 2d 276 (1946).
Accordingly, we find that Section 945.025(3), Florida Statutes, is constitutional and as the last expression of the Legislature's will prevails over Sections 394.457(8) and 394.459, Florida Statutes. By Section 945.025(3), Florida Statutes, the Legislature approved the conversion of a portion of G. Pierce Wood Memorial Hospital into a correctional facility. The judgment of the trial court is reversed and the cause is remanded for further proceedings consistent herewith.
It is so ordered.
OVERTON, C.J., and ADKINS, BOYD, ENGLAND, SUNDBERG and HATCHETT, JJ., concur.
[1]  Chapter 75-49, Laws of Florida, effective date July 1, 1975.