Opinion ID: 457730
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Yard Time

Text: 18 In all three prisons the district court found eighth amendment violations because of the reduction in yard time. 544 F.Supp. 345. We are first left unclear whether the district court considered the new normal to violate the eighth amendment, or whether the act of reduction itself was unconstitutional. If the latter, in and of itself, were deemed unconstitutional, it was an erroneous conclusion, because the question is not what yard time the inmates should receive in relation to their previous experience; instead, the question focuses on what minimal constitutional requirements exist in the particular prison setting. 19 Next, in ordering the various prisons to provide the inmates specific amounts of yard time, the district court chose different times for different prisons, and even for different classifications of prisoners within each prison. At Marquette, for example, the court found that general population prisoners were being given 45 minutes of yard time each day. This was a reduction from the pre-riot allotment of four to five hours per day. Those subject to administrative detention received 40 minutes per week yard time, effectively the same as they had received prior to the riot. To correct a perceived constitutional violation in this respect, the court ordered that general population prisoners be given two hours of yard time per day, those in administrative segregation thirty to forty minutes of yard time each day. 544 F.Supp. at 360. 20 Jackson was treated in a different fashion. There, prisoners in Cell Blocks 3, 4, 5, 7, and 8 of the Central Complex were found to receive one hour of yard time each day, a reduction from the pre-riot level of eight hours per day. Inmates in honor Cell Blocks 11 and 12, prior to the riot received seven hours of yard time per day, reduced thereafter to four hours of base 3 yard time each day. Jackson inmates in administrative segregation were granted only one hour of yard time every eight to eleven days, as opposed to their pre-riot allotment of one half hour per week. The district court ordered that the inmates in Cell Blocks 3, 4, 5, 7, and 8 be given two hours per day yard time. Likewise, of the four hours per day given to the inmates in Cell Blocks 11 and 12, two hours were ordered to be spent outside. Those inmates in administrative segregation were ordered to be given 30 minutes of yard time each week. 21 In the Jackson Northside Complex, the court found both assigned and unassigned inmates received approximately three and one-half hours of yard time per week. Prior to the riot, however, all general population inmates received four hours per day. The court directed unassigned inmates to be given two hours of yard time per day, and assigned inmates at least thirty minutes per day. 22 Finally, in regard to Ionia, the court found that unassigned inmates were granted 45 minutes of yard time two or three days a week, along with twenty minutes of additional yard time four times per week. Assigned inmates were found to be given yard time only as it became available, a reduction from the pre-riot level of two hours each day. The district court ordered that assigned inmates be given one hour of yard time each day, while the unassigned inmates be given twenty minutes each day. 4 23 What the district court concluded the inmates at the various institutions should receive as a constitutionally sufficient amount of yard time thus varied from prison to prison. General population inmates at Marquette and Jackson were ordered to be given a minimum of two hours per day yard time, those at Ionia only one hour each day. On the other hand, assigned inmates at Ionia were ordered to be given one hour per day yard time, more than that ordered for the unassigned inmates, while at the Jackson Northside Complex assigned prisoners were ordered to be given only thirty minutes each day, substantially less than that ordered for unassigned prisoners. 24 The explanation given for variances in yard time ordered for administratively segregated prisoners at the Jackson Central Complex and Marquette, was differences in circumstances. 544 F.Supp. at 345. Differing circumstances from prison to prison might explain minor differences in constitutionally required yard time, but further explanation is needed to justify differences in minimum yard time directed for inmates housed in the same facility, who may be classified as assigned or unassigned, general population or otherwise. At each prison it is apparent that the district court concluded that prisoners with more freedom are constitutionally entitled to additional yard time. Those in administrative segregation were ordered to be given the least, while those in the general population were ordered to be given the most. We need further explanation or rationale with respect to the bases for these differences at a matter of constitutional need or imperative, taking into account, of course, prison security requirements and conditions. 25 We remind the district court that the function of a federal court in an action challenging prison conditions under the eighth amendment, is not how best to operate a detention facility, nor to decide what is most desirable for the inmates. Rhodes, 452 U.S. at 351, 352, 101 S.Ct. at 2401, 2402. Rather, a court's function under the eighth amendment standards is to determine the minimal civilized measure of life's necessities. Id. at 347, 101 S.Ct. at 2399 (emphasis added). In respect, then, to the yard time controversy, the trial court must seek the minimum amount of yard time necessary for the inmates' well-being under minimal civilized standards. See, e.g., Spain v. Procunier, 600 F.2d 189 (9th Cir.1979). 26 Finally, we invite the district court to consider whether yard time is constitutionally required in relation to the other types of restrictions placed on the inmates. In Hoptowit, 682 F.2d at 1247, the court noted that there might be an eighth amendment violation in a case where an inmate is isolated and is deprived of nearly all fresh air and light. In Spain v. Procunier, 600 F.2d at 199, the court refused to adopt a per se rule that deprivation of outdoor exercise is a ... violation of the eighth amendment. Instead, the court recognized only that some form of regular outdoor exercise is extremely important to the psychological and physical well being of the inmates, id., and held that where certain inmates were permanently confined virtually the entire day in one cell, received meager outside movement, and engaged in minimal prisoner contact, those inmates must receive one hour of outdoor exercise per day, five times a week. See also Toussaint v. Yockey, 722 F.2d 1490 (9th Cir.1984). 27 We find it necessary to REMAND the matter of constitutional yard time requirements for consideration and clarification in accordance herewith considering the inmates' constitutional need for time outdoors. The district court should, of course, be mindful of the limitations placed on each class of inmates that might restrict prisoner interaction, as well as prison security requirements, and whether restrictions are totally without penological justification. Rhodes, 452 U.S. at 346, 101 S.Ct. at 2399.