Opinion ID: 8870
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Brooks's Property Right

Text: 19 Since the United States Constitution does not create property rights, Brooks must be able to rely on Mississippi law to prove that he has a cognizable property right in wages for work performed as a pretrial detainee. Garcia v. Reeves County, Texas, 32 F.3d 200, 203 (5th Cir.1994). Where there is a legitimate expectation of entitlement, there is a property right. Board of Regents v. Roth, 408 U.S. 564, 577, 92 S.Ct. 2701, 2709, 33 L.Ed.2d 548 (1972). 20 Brooks contended below that Miss.Code Ann. §§ 47-1-13 and 47-1-21 (1972) created a property right in wages for work on public and private property as a pretrial detainee. Miss.Code Ann. § 47-1-13 states in relevant part that 21 Any person being held in the county jail in default of bail to await trial ... may on application to the sheriff of the county, be allowed to work on ... county public works as other convicts are worked and at the same wage. The board of supervisors shall settle with prisoners so working at their regular meetings monthly. 22 (emphasis added). Miss.Code Ann. § 47-1-21 requires that 23 [t]he sheriff of each county shall keep a well bound alphabetical jail docket. In it he shall promptly enter under the proper initial the name, age, color and sex of each convict, the date of his or her commitment, each day worked on the county farm.... 24 The sheriff shall submit his docket to the board of supervisors at each of their regular meetings, and the same shall be examined carefully by the president of the board, and by any other members who desire to examine the same, in the presence of the board while in session. 25 The statutes cited by Brooks do not create a legitimate expectation of entitlement to compensation for work on private property by pretrial detainees. These statutes do not provide for payments for work on private property. In fact, under Mississippi law, prisoners may only do work of an exclusively public character. See Miss.Code Ann. §§ 47-1-19, 47-1-3. We therefore find that Brooks's failure to receive compensation for his work on private property over and above the compensation he actually received does not constitute a deprivation of a cognizable property right. 26 The two provisions quoted above, in our estimation, do create a legitimate expectation of entitlement to compensation for work on public property by pretrial detainees. These two statutes provide that a pretrial detainee who is permitted to work on public property must be paid the same wages as other prisoners. They place on the sheriff the duty to keep a record of days worked and to submit that information to the county board of supervisors so that the board can settle with the pretrial detainees at its regular meetings. Our conclusion that these statutes create a cognizable property right in wages is buttressed by the fact that the state has provided a mechanism whereby claims against the county can be presented directly to the board of supervisors or in state court. 6 Because Mississippi law creates a cognizable property right in wages for a pretrial detainee's work on public property, Brooks cannot be deprived of that right without due process of law. See Piatt v. MacDougall, 773 F.2d 1032, 1036 (9th Cir.1985) (en banc) (Because Arizona has established, by statute, a right of inmates to compensation for work performed for private parties, it cannot deny [the inmate] that right after he has earned the wages, without affording him due process of the law.) 27 Sheriff Howell did not keep a record of the days Brooks worked on public property and failed to present such a record to the board of supervisors at its meetings, precluding the board of supervisors from paying wages to Brooks. Brooks was thus deprived of wages for the work he performed on public property as a direct consequence of Sheriff Howell's failure to act in the face of a clear duty to act under state law. The statutes cited by Brooks, however, do not impose on Deputy Miller a similar duty. Because the record provides no evidence that Deputy Miller's actions or failure to act deprived Brooks of wages for the work he performed on public property, we reverse the judgment holding Deputy Miller liable in his individual or official capacities on this claim. 28