Opinion ID: 771827
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Atypicality of Confinement

Text: 31 Despite our conclusion that Taylor did not receive the process that was due, he cannot succeed on his claims if he fails to establish a protected liberty interest. See Arce v. Walker, 139 F.3d 329, 333 (2d Cir. 1998). In recognizing that states may create liberty interests, the Supreme Court has, in the context of prisoner rights, limited those interests to freedom from restraint that imposes atypical and significant hardship ... in relation to the ordinary incidents of prison life. Sandin, 515 U.S. at 483-84. Sandin applies to incidents of both administrative and disciplinary segregation. See Arce, 139 F.3d at 334-35. 32 The inquiry into the severity of confinement assesses whether differences in conditions between a restrictive housing status and the general population or other restrictive statuses constitute a significant hardship. See Welch, 196 F.3d at 393; Arce, 139 F.3d at 336; Wright, 132 F.3d at 136; Brooks v. DiFasi, 112 F.3d 46, 48-49 (2d Cir. 1997). The trial court in the instant case determined that Taylor submitted insufficient evidence to establish an atypical and significant hardship. The evidence offered included the following. 33 First, plaintiff provided a copy of the Garner Correctional Institution Close Custody Status Handbook. Within this handbook is information detailing differences in conditions between Phase I close custody and Phases II and III. Second, plaintiff submitted a sworn declaration in support of his motion for a temporary restraining order that lists various hardships he experienced in close custody relative to inmates in the general population. While this document is not technically a part of Taylor's summary judgment papers, the district court nonetheless considered it, and faulted Taylor for failing to provide supporting documentary evidence or affidavits. Taylor's declaration however, can form a proper basis to support his summary judgment motion. See Sealey v. Giltner, 197 F.3d 578, 586 (2d Cir. 1999) (holding that an inmate's testimony alone, if found credible and persuasive by trier of fact, may establish atypical confinement). 34 Equally important, we have emphasized since the time of the district court's decision that the duration of the claimed deprivation is to be taken into account in deciding whether the prisoner's confinement constitutes an atypical and significant hardship. See id. (Both the conditions [of confinement] and their duration must be considered . . . .); Welch, 196 F.3d at 393 ([T]he duration and the frequency of such deprivations are highly relevant to whether the conditions of a plaintiff's confinement should be considered atypical.). We recently found that 305 days confinement under normal segregated housing unit conditions met the Sandin standard for atypicality. See Colon v. Howard, 215 F.3d 227, 231-32 (2d Cir. 2000). While in Sealey we held that a 101-day confinement in highly-restrictive segregated housing in New York was not an atypical confinement, see 197 F.3d at 589-90, in Colon we recognized that a confinement of less than 101 days could meet the Sandin standard on a more fully developed record, see 215 F.3d at 232 n.5. 35 It is undisputed that at a minimum, plaintiff spent almost five months in close custody before his complaint was filed. Aggregative sentences of 125-288 days are relatively long, requiring a district court to articulate specific findings before determining whether such confinement is atypical or significant. See Sims v. Artuz, 230 F.3d 14, 23 (2d Cir. 2000). It is also undisputed that plaintiff remained in close custody pursuant to an indefinite term of confinement from the time he filed his complaint in September 1997 through the briefing on the summary judgment cross-motions in May 1999. Moreover, if Taylor's appellate brief is to be believed, he further remained in close custody through January 2000, when the brief was filed, and he may remain there to this day. 36 The continuing, indefinite duration of Taylor's term of confinement to close custody complicates the analysis contemplated by Sandin because it calls into question the precise length of confinement that should be considered. Prior cases addressing length of confinement are distinguishable in that they involved situations where either (a) the inmate's indefinite term was completed prior to the initiation of the federal lawsuit, or else (b) the inmate's sentence was determinate from the outset even though it may have been completed only after the filing of the federal complaint. See, e.g., Sims, 230 F.3d at 18-19 (detailing the lengths of sentences imposed); Colon, 215 F.3d at 229 (plaintiff served 305 days in special confinement before initiating federal suit); Sealey, 197 F.3d at 581 (plaintiff served 153 days before starting lawsuit); Welch, 196 F.3d at 391 (inmate served 90-day disciplinary sentence before filing federal complaint); Ayers v. Ryan, 152 F.3d 77, 80 (2d Cir. 1998) (explaining that after inmate's sentence in segregated housing was reduced to 180 days, inmate filed § 1983 complaint several months later); Arce, 139 F.3d at 331-32 (plaintiff completed a total of 18 days in administrative housing before bringing suit more than two years later); Brooks, 112 F.3d at 48 (inmate completed 180-day sentence in keeplock before filing complaint in federal court); Frazier v. Coughlin, 81 F.3d 313, 316 (2d Cir. 1996) (per curiam) (inmate was removed from Close Supervision Unit after complaint was filed, following eleven months' confinement); Rodriguez, 66 F.3d at 474 (noting that plaintiff spent a total of three days in administrative confinement). 37 While we do not rule out the possibility that the entirety of plaintiff's confinement should ultimately be considered, we believe the issue presents sufficient difficulties to merit additional briefing from the parties and full consideration by the district court in the first instance. We must add that the district court may be able to avoid the issue altogether, if the duration question proves to be resolvable on alternative grounds. For example, the district court may conclude that even the relatively limited term served by Taylor prior to filing his complaint in September 1997 constituted an atypical and significant hardship. 38 Moreover, the parties do not dispute that Taylor has not completed the Phase I program due to his refusal to sign a renunciation statement. Although Taylor has argued that being required to sign such a statement violates his Fifth Amendment rights, as we explain below that claim has been abandoned on appeal. Therefore, the question arises to what extent, if any, Taylor is responsible for the length of his confinement to close custody. See Sealey, 197 F.3d at 587 ([W]e must focus only on the interval during which Defendant . . . is responsible.). If the district court concludes on remand that Taylor's refusal negated defendants' responsibility for his continued confinement, then that conclusion could also resolve the duration question. 39 Because the district court erred in concluding that Taylor provided insufficient evidence on which to make the atypicality determination, the denial of summary judgment for Taylor on this basis was inappropriate. On remand, it must undertake a Sandin analysis, considering both the duration of Taylor's segregation in close custody and the severity of his confinement compared to other categories of confinement. When conducting this analysis, the district court should identify with specificity the facts upon which its conclusion is based. Wright, 132 F.3d at 137; accord Kalwasinski v. Morse, 201 F.3d 103, 106 (2d Cir. 1999) (per curiam); Brooks, 112 F.3d at 49. 40 We decline to make this determination in the first instance because the question of atypicality requires a fact-intensive inquiry that the trial court is in a better position to make. See Ayers, 152 F.3d at 83. Before undergoing such analysis however, it may consider seeking further briefing on the Sandin issue. In his appellate brief, Taylor included a more detailed comparison of prison conditions than he submitted in connection with the motions below. 41 We also leave for the district court the issue of whether plaintiff has satisfied the second part of his burden in showing a protected liberty interest. We require plaintiffs such as Taylor not only to establish an atypical and significant hardship, but also to show that the state has granted its inmates, by regulation or by statute, a protected liberty interest in remaining free from that confinement. Frazier, 81 F.3d at 317. II Taylor's Other Claims 42 Taylor includes in his appellate brief no argument regarding either his claim that requiring him to sign the renunciation form violated his right against self-incrimination under the Fifth Amendment, or his claim that an officer ranked higher than lieutenant should preside at a classification hearing. Consequently, we deem these claims abandoned. See Arce, 139 F.3d at 337. We turn then to the other claims discussed in Taylor's pro se appellate brief. A. Fourth Amendment Claim 43 Taylor argued in his submissions to us and the district court that the provisions of Administrative Directive 6.14 §20 violate his right to privacy under the Fourth Amendment. This section provides that when a member of a security risk group is scheduled for release, the prison is to notify the relevant outside law enforcement authorities and provide a profile of the inmate. The district court made no mention of this claim in its opinion, perhaps because plaintiff did not expressly include this cause of action in his complaint. On remand, Taylor should be afforded the opportunity to amend his complaint to add this cause of action expressly and obtain a ruling from the district court. B. First Amendment Free Exercise Claim 44 The district court dismissed Taylor's claim that confinement in close custody violated his right to free exercise of his religion because it determined that a separate action was pending on this question. The trial court reviewed the complaint in Taylor v. Acosta, No. 3:97CV1972 (D. Conn. filed Sept. 16, 1997), a case filed the same day as the instant case, and found that the religion claims contained in both actions are the same. In administering its docket, a district court may dismiss a second suit as duplicative of an earlier suit, see Curtis v. Citibank, N.A., 226 F.3d 133, 138 (2d Cir. 2000), unless there are special circumstances, not present here, that favor giving priority to the second, see Motion Picture Lab. Technicians Local 780 v. McGregor & Werner, Inc., 804 F.2d 16, 19 (2d Cir. 1986). 45 Our review of the complaints in Taylor v. Acosta and this case substantiates that both claims concern whether Taylor was deprived of his access to religious services, materials and meals particular to his religion. Since Taylor v. Acosta was assigned docket number 97CV1972 and the instant case was assigned docket number 97CV1973, we know Acosta was filed first. In the present circumstances we see no abuse of discretion, see Curtis, 226 F.3d at 138, in the district court's decision to dismiss Taylor's First Amendment claim from the proceeding below. We note however, that to the extent supported by evidence, it would be proper as an element of the Sandin atypicality analysis to compare the restrictions on Taylor's exercise of religion while in close custody to the restrictions placed on Orthodox Jews in the general population.