Opinion ID: 212402
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Whether the Facility is a Pretrial Detention Facility

Text: The Santa Ana facility easily fits within the definition of a pretrial detention facility. Because neither RLUIPA nor CRIPA defines pretrial detention facility, we look to the ordinary meaning of the words to define the term. See Perrin, 444 U.S. at 42, 100 S.Ct. 311. Detention is commonly understood as a period of temporary custody prior to disposition by a court. Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged 616 (1993); see also Black's Law Dictionary 514 (9th ed. 2009) (detention is [t]he act or fact of holding a person in custody; confinement or compulsory delay). The most common definition of a pretrial detainee is an individual who is held in custody pending adjudication of guilt or innocence. See Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520, 536-37, 99 S.Ct. 1861, 60 L.Ed.2d 447 (1979). Pretrial detention is simply the holding of a defendant before trial on criminal charges. Black's Law Dictionary 514. It is thus evident that the common, ordinary meaning of a pretrial detention facility is precisely what that phrase suggests: a facility where individuals who are not yet convicted are held pending court proceedings. To determine whether the Santa Ana facility falls within this definition we begin with the most logical placethe County's own characterization of the facility. According to the 2006-2007 Grand Jury Report, the Santa Ana facility is a secure detention facility located within a court building used for the confinement of persons. Grand Jury Report at 1 (emphasis added). The emphasized words in this description are an exact match to the text of RLUIPA. The facility's main purpose is to temporarily hold individuals who are awaiting court proceedings, including individuals awaiting trial. [4] See id. (the facility is for the confinement of persons solely for the purpose of a court appearance). Our conclusion could hardly be clearer. Based on the plain meaning of a pretrial detention facility, the Santa Ana Courthouse holding facility fits the bill. That Khatib was confined to the facility is undisputed. The County argues that RLUIPA only affords protection to inmates at long-term facilities with residential capabilities. This interpretation reads into the statute an additional qualification where none exists. The Act does not include any temporal restriction on the term institution. Nor should we import such a requirement, especially in light of the generous interpretative rule set forth by Congress. [5] See United States v. W.R. Grace, 526 F.3d 499, 505 (9th Cir.2008) (en banc) (where Congress expressly instructs that provisions of a statute shall be construed liberally, we should not ... read into the statute an unwritten additional hurdle, even if well intentioned). RLUIPA plainly covers persons residing in or confined to an institution. 42 U.S.C. § 2000cc-1(a) (emphasis added). Had Congress intended to cover only long-term, residential facilities, it would not have enacted a provision that includes both confined to and residing in. See Mountain States Tel. & Tel. Co. v. Pueblo of Santa Ana, 472 U.S. 237, 249, 105 S.Ct. 2587, 86 L.Ed.2d 168 (1985) (it is an elementary canon of construction that a statute should be interpreted so as not to render one part inoperative) (quoting Colautti v. Franklin, 439 U.S. 379, 392, 99 S.Ct. 675, 58 L.Ed.2d 596 (1979)); Duncan, 533 U.S. at 174, 121 S.Ct. 2120 (It is our duty to give effect, if possible, to every clause and word of a statute.) (quoting United States v. Menasche, 348 U.S. 528, 538-539, 75 S.Ct. 513, 99 L.Ed. 615 (1955)) (internal quotation marks omitted). The County's further argument that pretrial detention necessarily lasts for a material and indefinite period of time is not borne out in either case law or the real world. Pretrial detention is by nature temporary, Gerstein v. Pugh, 420 U.S. 103, 110 n. 11, 95 S.Ct. 854, 43 L.Ed.2d 54 (1975), and in practice it often lasts for short periods of time, see, e.g., Way v. County of Ventura, 445 F.3d 1157, 1158-59 (9th Cir.2006) (defendant was arrested and held at the Ventura County pretrial detention facility for several hours before she was released on bail). In sum, we are unpersuaded by the County's efforts to redefine the nature of the Santa Ana facility and to insert a temporal element into the statute. Based on the plain meaning of the term pretrial detention facility and the Grand Jury Report, the Santa Ana facility is an institution under RLUIPA.