Opinion ID: 359796
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: relief on remand

Text: 29 Because the transfer violated the rights of other inmates, plaintiff is entitled to declaratory and injunctive relief that his transfer was improper. Also, Bounds requires granting plaintiff's request that the State Farm be required to establish a law library unless a reasonable alternative means of access to the courts is developed. 30 Whether Buise is entitled to damages depends on whether he was transferred in retaliation for the exercise of his constitutional rights. Thus the district court first should determine with greater specificity why Buise was transferred. Mount Healthy City Board of Education v. Doyle, 429 U.S. 274, 287, 97 S.Ct. 568, 50 L.Ed.2d 471, outlines the standards for evaluating whether retaliation for protected conduct played a role sufficient enough in the decision to transfer to make that decision impermissible. It asks first whether the protected conduct was a substantial or motivating factor in the decision and then whether the same decision would have been reached in the absence of the protected conduct. See Ayers v. Western Life Consolidated School District, 555 F.2d 1309, 1314 (5th Cir. 1977). 31 If the reason under the Mount Healthy standards for Buise's transfer was his requests for a law library, writ department and inmate council, damages should be awarded. If, on the other hand, these requests were not the reason for Buise's transfer, it follows that Buise was transferred for his writ-writing activity. Under this latter possibility, it will be necessary to evaluate the state's justification for prohibiting writ writing in order to determine whether Buise had a right to be a writ writer and therefore is entitled to damages. 32 On the assumption that plaintiff was transferred in retaliation for the exercise of a constitutional right, in order to guide the district court on remand, we must consider two of defendants' objections to the allocation of damages. First, defendants assert that they are protected by good faith immunity. Under Procunier v. Navarette, 434 U.S. 555, 98 S.Ct. 855, 55 L.Ed.2d 24, state prison officials are entitled to such immunity unless they knew or reasonably should have known that the action they took with respect to a prisoner would violate his federal constitutional rights. If the constitutionally violative action was punishment in response to requests for improved conditions of plaintiff's own confinement, then the good faith defense is clearly unavailable. As the cases cited in Part IB indicate, the right of prisoners to request improved conditions was as clear when these events took place in 1974 as it is now. 33 If plaintiff's transfer was in retaliation for his writ-writing activity, the law is not so clear. On the one hand, the right of other inmates to Buise's services, in the absence of an available alternative, was clear in 1974. See Johnson v. Avery, 393 U.S. 483, 89 S.Ct. 747, 21 L.Ed.2d 718; Procunier v. Navarette, 434 U.S. 568, 98 S.Ct. 855 (Stevens, J., dissenting); Knell v. Bensinger, 522 F.2d 720 (7th Cir. 1975). 12 On the other hand, Buise's own First Amendment associational rights may not have been clearly established in 1974 before Pell v. Procunier, 417 U.S. 817, 94 S.Ct. 2800, 41 L.Ed.2d 495, made certain that prisoners had those First Amendment rights not inconsistent with their status. See generally Procunier v. Navarette, 434 U.S. 555, 98 S.Ct. 855, 55 L.Ed.2d 24. 34 Thus this case presents the question of whether conduct that clearly was violative of someone's rights can be immunized as having been taken in good faith if that conduct was not clearly violative of the rights of the person who later sues. While a literal application of the standard as stated in some Supreme Court cases (see, E. g., Procunier v. Navarette, 434 U.S. 555, 98 S.Ct. 855, 55 L.Ed.2d 24 13 would mean that the prison officials' acts under such circumstances were in good faith, that standard is too narrow to apply here. Each of the Supreme Court cases whose language might imply this result has involved actions that clearly violated the rights of the inmate who sued, so that the question presented here was not raised. Almost by definition, a prison official who acts in violation of clearly established rights of all the inmates in his institution (possibly save one) can hardly be said to have acted in good faith. The purposes of granting good faith immunity are not served by immunizing such conduct. Therefore, the state officials cannot escape damages by claiming immunity. 35 Finally, defendants contend, and the district court agreed, that plaintiff did not prove any damages. We disagree. Plaintiff testified regarding the less desirable circumstances at the State Prison. His room at the State Farm would be almost like having an apartment in free society compared to what (he) had at the Prison, and meals at the Prison of course were also inferior. At the Farm, plaintiff could move about freely, and the atmosphere had considerably less tension. Admittedly, it is difficult to move from these comparisons to a compensatory dollar amount, but such difficulty cannot preclude an award of more than nominal damages. See Mack v. Johnson, 430 F.Supp. 1139, 1150-1151 (E.D.Pa.1977). Other courts have translated a series of conditions into a realistic dollar figure, and the district court should do so on remand. See, E. g., United States ex rel. Larkins v. Oswald, 510 F.2d 583 (2d Cir. 1975); Wright v. McMann, 321 F.Supp. 127 (N.D.N.Y.1970), affirmed in pertinent part, 460 F.2d 126 (2d Cir. 1972), certiorari denied,409 U.S. 885, 93 S.Ct. 115, 34 L.Ed.2d 141; see generally Little v. Walker,552 F.2d 193 (7th Cir. 1977). 36 In addition to a declaratory judgment, plaintiff may still wish to secure reinstatement as librarian at the State Farm unless his motion to withdraw his request for a preliminary injunction, granted in September 1975 (see R. 97-99), was intended to apply to a permanent injunction as well. If so, his request for establishment of a law library at the State Farm would also be moot. See Kerrigan v. Boucher, 450 F.2d 487, 488-489 (2d Cir. 1971). If on remand the district court holds that petitioner's transfer was mainly for writ writing and that the prohibition on his writ writing was warranted, he should receive no damages. 37 Reversed and remanded for further proceedings consistent herewith. 38