Source: https://openjurist.org/224/f3d/95/ronald-nussle-v-willette-correction-officer-porter-correction-officer
Timestamp: 2019-01-21 22:36:51
Document Index: 173119614

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1997', '§ 1983', '§ 1997', '§ 1997', '§ 1997', '§ 1997', '§ 1997', '§ 1997', '§ 1997', '§ 1997', '§ 1997', '§ 1997', '§ 1997', '§ 1997', '§ 3626', '§ 1997', '§ 3626', '§ 3626', '§ 1997', '§ 3626', '§ 1997', '§ 3626', '§ 3626', '§ 1997', '§ 3626', '§ 1997', '§ 1997', '§ 3626', '§ 3626', '§ 3626', '§ 1997', '§ 3626', '§ 1997', '§ 3626', '§ 3626', '§ 3626', '§ 3626', '§ 3626', '§ 1997', '§ 3626', '§ 1997', '§ 3626', '§ 802', '§ 1997', '§ 3626', '§ 3626', '§ 3626', '§ 3626', '§ 3626', '§ 3626', '§ 3626', '§ 3626', '§ 3626', '§ 3626', '§ 1997', '§ 3626', '§ 3626', '§ 3626', '§ 3626', '§ 3626', '§ 3626', '§ 3626', '§ 3626', '§ 802', '§ 3626', '§ 3626', '§ 3626', '§ 636', '§ 3626', '§ 3626', '§ 3626', '§ 1997']

224 F. 3d 95 - Ronald Nussle v. Willette Correction Officer Porter Correction Officer
224 F3d 95 Ronald Nussle v. Willette Correction Officer Porter Correction Officer
224 F.3d 95 (2nd Cir. 2000)
RONALD NUSSLE, Plaintiff-Appellant,
WILLETTE, CORRECTION OFFICER, and PORTER, CORRECTION OFFICER, Defendants-Appellees.
Docket No. 99-0387
Whether or not assault or excessive force claims are subject to the amended version of the § 1997e(a) exhaustion requirement turns entirely on whether such claims fall within the category of actions "brought with respect to prison conditions" covered by that provision. If particular incidents of assault or the use of excessive force do not constitute "prison conditions" within the meaning of the statutory text, then Nussle's § 1983 claim should not be subject to the exhaustion requirement. Conversely, if claims for particular instances of assault or excessive force are properly considered claims "brought with respect to prison conditions," then Nussle must fulfill § 1997e(a)'s requirement that he exhaust "such administrative remedies as are available"5 before taking his federal claims to court. 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a). The issue is one of first impression in this Circuit. See Liner v. Goord, 196 F.3d 132, 135 (2d Cir. 1999) (declining to resolve the "complex legal issue[]" of whether § 1997e(a)'s exhaustion requirement encompasses particular claims for excessive force).
A. Statutory Text of § 1997e(a)
The use in § 1997e(a) of the term "prison conditions," however, is scarcely free of ambiguity. Section 1997e(a) itself provides no definition of what constitutes a claim "brought with respect to prison conditions"-and neither does § 1997e(h), the definitional provision of § 1997e, or § 1997, which also defines terms used in § 1997e. The plain meaning of "prison conditions" in § 1997e(a) does not obviously encompass particular instances of excessive force or assault, as the defendants argue here-indeed, it actually suggests the opposite. In the context of this statute, the term "conditions," used in its plural form, denotes "attendant circumstances" or an "existing state of affairs"-as exemplified by such ordinary phrases as "living conditions," "playing conditions," and "adverse weather conditions." WEBSTER'S THIRD NEW INTERNATIONAL DICTIONARY 473 (1961); see also Booth, 206 F.3d at 300 01 (Noonan, J., concurring and dissenting). In light of this definition of "conditions," the use of the term "prison conditions" in § 1997e(a) would appear to refer to "circumstances affecting everyone in the area affected by them," rather than "single or momentary matter[s]," such as beatings or assaults, that are directed at particular individuals.7 Booth, 206 F.3d at 300 01 (Noonan, J., concurring and dissenting); see also Carter, 1999 WL 14014, at *3 ("The ordinary, contemporary, common meaning of the phrase 'prison conditions' refers to such things as medical treatment, food, clothing, and the nature and circumstances of the housing available in prison.").
B. Relationship between 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a) and 18 U.S.C. § 3626(g)(2)
While § 1997e(a) does not expressly define the term "prison conditions," similar language is used and explicitly defined in a different section of the PLRA, 18 U.S.C. § 3626(g)(2).8 This definition, by its own terms, only applies to "this section"-i.e., 18 U.S.C. § 3626. Nevertheless, the defendants urge that § 1997e(a) should be read in pari materia with 18 U.S.C. § 3626, based on the interpretive canon that language "used in one portion of a statute . . . should be deemed to have the same meaning as the same language used elsewhere in the statute." Mertens v. Hewitt Assocs., 508 U.S. 248, 260 (1993); see also Russo v. Trifari, Krussman & Fishel, Inc., 837 F.2d 40, 45 (2d Cir. 1988) ("Construing identical language in a single statute in pari materia is both traditional and logical."). Other courts have read the "prison conditions" language of § 1997e(a) in pari materia with the definition provided in 18 U.S.C. § 3626(g)(2). See, e.g. Booth, 206 F.3d at 294; Freeman, 196 F.3d at 643 44; Beeson, 28 F. Supp. 2d at 888; Giannattasio, 2000 WL 335242, at *11 *12. But see Carter, 1999 WL 14014, at *3 *4 (declining to rely upon the § 3626(g)(2) definition to interpret meaning of "prison conditions" under § 1997e(a)). The text of § 3626(g)(2), however, is no less ambiguous than the text of § 1997e(a) itself-indeed, judges have reached opposite conclusions on whether § 1997e(a) encompasses excessive force and assault claims notwithstanding their common reliance on 18 U.S.C. § 3626(g)(2) for guidance. Compare, e.g., Booth v. Churner, 206 F.3d at 294 95 (opinion of the court) (excessive force claims are encompassed within the § 3626(g)(2) definition); and Beeson, 28 F. Supp. 2d at 888 89 (same), with Booth, 206 F.3d at 301 02 (Noonan, J., concurring and dissenting) (excessive force claims do not fall within the definition in 18 U.S.C. § 3626(g)(2) and are therefore outside the scope of § 1997e(a)); Baskerville, 1998 WL 778396, at *4 *5 (same).
Section 3626(g)(2) encompasses two categories of civil actions: (1) those brought with respect to "conditions of confinement," and (2) those brought with respect to "the effects of actions by government officials on the lives of persons confined in prison." 18 U.S.C. § 3626(g)(2) (Supp. 2000). Section 3626(g)(2)'s reference to "conditions of confinement" is "no more apt" to include particular instances of assault or excessive force than the reference to "prison conditions" in § 1997e(a) itself. Booth, 206 F.3d at 301 (Noonan, J., concurring and dissenting). To characterize particular instances of assault or the use of excessive force as "conditions of confinement" clearly departs from normal, everyday use of the phrase, as the Third Circuit concedes and other courts apparently do not urge. See id. at 294, 296 n.5 (opinion of the court) (excessive force claims "do not naturally fall into" category of actions "with respect to conditions of confinement"); id. at 301 (Noonan, J., concurring and dissenting) (statutory phrase "'conditions of confinement' does not encompass specific batteries").
Instead, those courts requiring exhaustion have, without exception, placed excessive force and assault claims within the second category set forth in § 3626(g)(2), "effects of actions by government officials on the lives of persons confined in prison." See, e.g., id. at 294 95 (opinion of the court); Beeson, 28 F. Supp. 2d at 888 89 (quoting and following Moore v. Smith, 18 F. Supp. 2d 1360, 1363 (N.D. Ga. 1998)). In so doing, however, these courts have simply assumed it to be self-evident that such claims fall within the scope of § 3626(g)(2)'s second category-with a typical example being the Third Circuit's broad reading of that phrase to include almost all actions by government officials that "affect the lives of prisoners similarly . . . [by making] their lives worse." Booth, 206 F.3d at 295; see also Beeson, 28 F. Supp. 2d at 888 89 (concluding, without analysis, that excessive force claims are included within the ambit of § 3626(g)(2)).
We disagree with the notion that particular instances of assault or excessive force self-evidently constitute "effects of actions by government officials on the lives of persons confined in prison" under the second category of § 3626(g)(2), since such awkward language would not, ordinarily, be used to describe such incidents. In his dissent from the Third Circuit's decision in Booth v. Churner, Judge Noonan, sitting by designation, vividly argues this point:
Booth, 206 F.3d at 302 (Noonan, J., concurring and dissenting); see Giannattasio, 2000 WL 335242, at *12 (holding that the use of excessive force does not constitute a "prison condition" in the ordinary sense of the term). The use of "roundabout phraseology," of course, does not necessarily end the inquiry, for Congress certainly "has a right to define one thing to mean something different from what it normally means." Benjamin v. Jacobson, 172 F.3d 144, 173 (2d Cir.) (en banc) (Calabresi, J., concurring), cert. denied, 120 S. Ct. 72 (1999). Still, the "elephantine way" in which Congress drafted § 3626(g)(2), Booth, 206 F.3d at 302 (Noonan, J., concurring and dissenting), does signal the need for closer inquiry-for it is hardly certain that the text of the statute includes claims of excessive force or assault, at least not without further explanation.9 Cf. Benjamin, 172 F.3d at 192 n.35 (Calabresi, J., concurring) ("[I]f [a legislature] seems to say that a banana is an apple, we should not hesitate to try to figure out what it really meant to say.").
Since the text of both 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a) and 18 U.S.C. § 3626(g) are ambiguous, we turn to the structure and purpose of the statute as a whole, the legislative history of the PLRA, and the broader legal context for interpretive guidance concerning the meaning of "prison conditions" and the relationship between § 1997e(a) and § 3626(g)(2). See McCarthy v. Bronson, 500 U.S. 136, 139 (1991); Crandon v. United States, 494 U.S. 152, 158 (1990) (in addition to statutory language, courts must also look to the "design of the statute as a whole and to its object and policy" to determine the statute's meaning).
Sections 3626(g)(2) and 1997e(a), enacted by §§ 802 and 803 of the PLRA, respectively, advance distinct statutory purposes. While 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a) is concerned with filtering out frivolous suits administratively, before they get to court, 18 U.S.C. § 3626-codified in an entirely different title of the U.S. Code-is concerned with the different purpose of preventing "courts from micromanaging prison systems . . . [and] usurping the authority given to prison administrators to decide matters of routine prison administration." Baskerville, 1998 WL 778396, at *4 (internal quotation marks, citations, and footnote omitted); see also Benjamin, 172 F.3d at 182 (Calabresi, J., concurring) (noting that by enacting § 3626, "Congress meant to get the federal courts out of the business of running jails").
In this light, the term "government officials" in § 3626(g)(2) is most plausibly understood to refer to administrative and policymaking officials, rather than those prison employees, such as the corrections officers alleged to have used excessive physical force against Nussle, who have day-to-day contact with inmates but no administrative or policymaking authority. See Giannattasio v. Artuz, No. 97 Civ. 7606, 2000 WL 335242, at *12 (concluding that the second category in § 3626(g)(2) refers to "acts of supervisory officials, such as the imposition of general rules and policies, that influence how a prison is run . . . [and not] day-to-day interactions between prisoners and corrections officers"); Baskerville, 1998 WL 778396, at *4 (interpreting § 3626(g)(2) in light of that section's purpose to conclude that the definition "contemplates actions by prison officials that have broad effects on prison administration"). A similar use of the term "official" in a different part of the same section supports this conclusion. Section 3626(a)(3)(F), concerned with the prerequisites for the issuance of prisoner release orders, confers standing to oppose such release orders upon "[a]ny State or local official" whose "jurisdiction or function includes" the appropriation of funds for prison facilities; the construction, operation, or maintenance of those facilities; or the prosecution or custody of prisoners who might be released under such orders. See, e.g., Ruiz v. Estelle, 161 F.3d 814, 819 21 (5th Cir. 1998) (discussing and interpreting § 3626(a)(3)(F)), cert. denied, 526 U.S. 1158 (1999). As in § 3626(g)(2), this usage of the word "official" quite clearly refers to those officials with administrative or policymaking responsibility.
An examination of cases in which § 3626 directly has been applied also reinforces this conclusion: the types of "government officials" who were defendants or parties to consent decrees in the institutional reform actions brought prior to the enactment of the PLRA routinely were senior policymaking or administrative officials. See, e.g., Miller v. French, 120 S. Ct. 2246, 2250 51 (2000) (inmate class action initially brought against Indiana prison officials, including superintendent of correctional facility); Ruiz v. Johnson, 178 F.3d 385, 387 (5th Cir. 1999) (inmate class action initially brought against Texas prison officials, including director of Texas Department of Criminal Justice and members of Texas Board of Criminal Justice), abrogated by French, 120 S.Ct. 2246; Benjamin, 172 F.3d at 149 50 (seven class actions by pretrial detainees initially brought against New York City prison officials, including commissioner of corrections), cert. denied, 120 S.Ct. 72 (1999); Hadix v. Johnson, 133 F.3d 940, 941 (6th Cir.) (inmate class action initially brought against "various state prison officials" in Michigan), cert. denied, 524 U.S. 952 (1998); Inmates of Suffolk County Jail v. Rouse, 129 F.3d 649, 652 (1st Cir. 1997) (class action by pretrial detainees initially brought against Massachusetts prison officials, including Suffolk County sheriff and Massachusetts corrections commissioner), cert. denied, 524 U.S. 951 (1998); Gavin v. Branstad, 122 F.3d 1081, 1083 (8th Cir. 1997) (inmate class action initially brought against "a number of Iowa state officials"), cert. denied, 524 U.S. 955 (1998). Moreover, many of the institutional reform actions to which 18 U.S.C. § 3626 is addressed initially were brought as class actions. See, e.g., Benjamin, 172 F.3d at 149 50. By their nature, such aggregated claims target the actions of senior officials, and, indeed, the "prospective relief" that subsequently resulted typically took the form of consent decrees between plaintiffs and elected or appointed state officials or injunctions mandating action at the policymaking levels of the state or local government, not lower level government employees. See, e.g., id. (discussing consent decrees that were entered in actions brought by classes of pretrial detainees in mid-1970s). See generally Mark Tushnet & Larry Yackle, Symbolic Statutes and Real Laws: The Pathologies of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act and the Prison Litigation Reform Act, 47 DUKE L.J. 1, 12 22 (1997) (discussing the kinds of litigation in the 1970s and 1980s that catalyzed the political and judicial responses that ultimately resulted in the enactment of the PLRA).
We therefore decline the defendants' invitation to blindly import the 18 U.S.C. § 3626(g)(2) definition of "civil actions brought with respect to prison conditions" into 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a) without regard to context and the distinct statutory purposes that these two provisions advance. See Carter, 1999 WL 14014, at *3 4; Baskerville, 1998 WL 778396, at *4. Cf. French, 120 S.Ct. at 2259 (automatic stay provision of § 3626(e)(2) "must be read not in isolation, but in the context of § 3626 as a whole"). And even to the extent that we may rely upon § 3626(g)(2), it stretches that provision's definition too far to characterize lower level government employees, such as corrections officers, as "government officials," since such a reading of the term "officials" would include just about any government employee without regard to level of responsibility or authority. See Giannattasio, 2000 WL 335242, at *12.
As revealed by this examination of statutory purpose and context, it is clear that particular instances of assault or excessive force were never meant to be included within the ambit of § 3626(g)(2) at all. In context, it makes little sense to apply the definition in § 3626(g)(2) to particular cases of assault or excessive force that do not contemplate ongoing judicial supervision or some other form of "prospective relief" affecting large numbers of inmates-let alone individual claims that complain of past, wholly completed conduct-since § 3626 does not even cover claims for compensatory money damages. See 18 U.S.C. § 3626(g)(7) ("the term 'prospective relief' means all relief other than compensatory monetary damages"). In addition to the rather "inept" use of language that would result from the defendants' interpretation, Booth, 206 F.3d at 302 (Noonan, J., concurring and dissenting), including particular claims of this sort would do nothing to advance the purpose of the section.
Title 18, section 3626(g)(2) of the United States Code provides:
18 U.S.C. § 3626(g)(2) (Supp. 1999) (as amended by PLRA § 802).
It should be noted that § 3626(g)(2) explicitly excludes "habeas corpus proceedings challenging the fact or duration of confinement in prison" from its reach. 18 U.S.C. § 3626(g)(2). Superficially, this exclusion might suggest that Congress meant to divide the universe of civil actions brought by prisoners into two broad categories-(1) habeas corpus actions challenging the very fact or duration of imprisonment, which are excluded from § 3626; and (2) actions that do not challenge imprisonment as such, but some particular aspect of imprisonment-and meant to include this second category in its entirety. Cf. McCarthy v. Bronson, 500 U.S. 136, 139 40 (1991) (relying on similar categorization of prisoners' actions to interpret 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(B), which authorizes nonconsensual referral of petitions brought by prisoners to magistrate judges); Booth, 206 F.3d at 295 (discussing McCarthy).
However, the fact that habeas actions have been excluded from § 3626(g)(2) does not mean that all other claims that might be brought by prisoners are necessarily included by negative implication. Since it is hardly obvious that excessive force and assault claims fall within either of § 3626(g)(2)'s two categories, it remains necessary for us to interpret the breadth of these categories to determine whether such claims fall within the definition of "actions brought with respect to prison conditions"-and indeed, to determine whether § 3626(g)(2) should be relied upon to interpret § 1997e(a) at all.