Opinion ID: 406187
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Lockdown.

Text: 108 The district court found that prison officials at the penitentiary imposed a lockdown on June 15, 1979, following the killing of an inmate and a guard. The lockdown was imposed to restore order and security in light of the high level of tension and violence following the two killings. The district court found that the conditions imposed during the lockdown were in excess of what was required to restore order and security, were unrelated to a legitimate penological purpose, and were kept in effect for a longer period than necessary. The court found that the lockdown lasted over four months. 109 Among the conditions found by the district court to exist during the lockdown were: 110 1. Inmates were not allowed out of their cells for a three week period during the hottest part of the summer. Many of these cells were overcrowded. There were no showers, no laundry, no fresh linen, no cleaning supplies, no recreation, no incoming reading materials, no access to counsel or legal materials, no access to commissary, and no access to telephones. 111 2. During the lockdown, several shakedowns were made, during which cells and prisoners were searched thoroughly and personal property confiscated. Much of this personal property was taken, lost, or destroyed. 112 3. One day during the lockdown, many inmates in 8-wing tore apart the plumbing in their cells. The district court found that this was caused by the inmates' frustration over the lockdown. These prisoners were removed from 8-wing and placed in the prison yard. In removing the inmates, the guards inflicted unnecessary physical force. While confined to the prison yard, the 8-wing prisoners were subjected to intolerable, inhumane, and unconstitutional conditions. 113 4. The day after the problems in 8-wing, six prisoners in the segregation unit were handcuffed to their cell bars and later removed from their cells by the prison riot team. In so doing, the riot team used unnecessary physical force, which resulted in injury to each of the prisoners. These injuries were confirmed by subsequent medical examinations. One prisoner had to be taken to the hospital for examination of injuries caused by a guard's insertion of a nightstick into his rectum. The court found that the riot team was aware they had used unnecessary physical force and consciously attempted to cover-up their wrongdoing. Each of the members of the riot team was subsequently suspended, and five were fired. 114 The district court made the following conclusion of law concerning the lockdown: 115 The lockdown at issue in the present case violated Plaintiffs' rights in two ways. First, the lockdown was imposed and arbitrarily continued, in large part, to regain control of the Penitentiary. The loss of control is itself a violation of plaintiffs' rights, as was the long duration of this lockdown for the purpose of regaining control. Second, the long periods of deprivation of basic amenities, with prisoners locked in their cells (four to a cell in many cases) without showers, visitation, recreation, work, counselors, laundry facilities, cleaning materials, mail, and phone, render the lockdown unconstitutional. 116 Our Eighth Amendment analysis of the conclusions of law in the lockdown situation is much like our analysis of Eighth Amendment standards in isolation, segregation, and protective custody. That is, prison officials must meet Eighth Amendment standards in providing basic human needs to prisoners. However, when a genuine emergency exists, prison officials may be more restrictive than they otherwise may be, and certain services may be suspended temporarily. The more basic the particular need, the shorter the time it can be withheld. It is doubtful, for example, that any circumstance would permit a denial of access to emergency medical care. Less critical needs may be denied, however, for reasonable periods of time when disciplinary needs warrant. See Spain v. Procunier, supra, 600 F.2d at 199. In determining the existence of such needs, we must give reasonable leeway to prison officials. Hayward v. Procunier, supra, 629 F.2d at 603. 117 Again, in this area, the district judge appeared to apply a totality of conditions test. The court failed to analyze which conditions violated the prisoners' rights. The court further failed to analyze when the services that were deprived were restored. The district judge's finding that the lockdown lasted four months is clearly erroneous. As the findings of fact themselves indicate, certain restrictions were terminated after three weeks. On remand, the district judge should consider whether each specific restriction amounted to an infliction of pain without penological purpose. In making this evaluation, the district judge should consider the length of time each restriction was in effect, and whether the restriction and its duration bore a relationship to legitimate attempts to ease the emergency. The district court's conclusion that the loss of control of the prison is a violation of the inmates' rights is erroneous. Whether the state of affairs at the prison leading up to the lockdown was the fault of the prison officials is irrelevant for the purpose of our analysis of conditions during the lockdown. The prison officials have a right and a duty to take the necessary steps to reestablish order in a prison when such order is lost. This is for the benefit of the prisoners as much as for the benefit of the prison officials. 118 J. Access to Court and Retaliation.