Opinion ID: 777473
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Did the procedures employed in denying treatment comport with due process?

Text: 37 III. Was the denial of treatment deliberately indifferent and so arbitrary as to shock the conscience for purposes of substantive due process? IV. Were the correctional authorities deliberately indifferent to Leamer's treatment needs for the purposes of the an Eighth Amendment analysis? 38 The record before us is such that we can and will answer the first question, but we will only discuss the nature of the inquiry as to the remaining questions, deferring an individualized analysis of the specific constitutional rights until the factual record has been further developed in the District Court on remand.
39 In Sandin v. Conner, 515 U.S. 472, 115 S.Ct. 2293, 132 L.Ed.2d 418 (1995), the Supreme Court, addressing a procedural due process claim, held that in defining which liberty interests created by state law warrant due process protection, we must assess the nature of the interest and whether its deprivation caused the inmate to suffer a `grievous loss' of liberty retained even after ... imprisonment. Id. at 480, 115 S.Ct. 2293 (quoting Morrissey v. Brewer, 408 U.S. 471, 481, 92 S.Ct. 2593, 33 L.Ed.2d 484 (1972)). Sandin further clarifies that the state-created interests would be generally limited to freedom from restraint which ... imposes atypical and significant hardship on the inmate in relation to the ordinary incidents of prison life. Id. at 484, 92 S.Ct. 2593. 40 Here, the state has created a scheme in which therapy is both mandated and promised, and the Department of Corrections is without discretion to decline the obligation. 41 The Commissioner has an affirmative duty to treat defendant. It is not conditioned on defendant's ability to fit into a particular modality. If the present operation at A.D.T.C. is unable to meet his needs, the Commissioner has a responsibility to formulate and implement a policy which will. 42 State v. Harvey, 162 N.J.Super. 386, 392 A.2d 1248, 1251 (N.J.Super. Ct.L.Div. 1978), aff'd. 170 N.J.Super. 391, 406 A.2d 724 (N.J.Super.Ct.App.Div. 1979). The state has further recognized that the treatment requirement is distinct from the traditional scheme of incarceration by requiring the state to resentence prisoners to whom it will not provide treatment. Gerald v. Comm., N.J. Dept. of Corr., 102 N.J. 435, 508 A.2d 1113 (N.J.1986); State v. Cruz, 125 N.J. 550, 593 A.2d 1169, 1171 (N.J. 1991). The court noted further that, since treatment rather than punishment was the goal of the Act, a lack of treatment could not be justified by distinguishing his condition because he has been sentenced for a criminal offense and not been adjudicated insane or mentally incompetent. 392 A.2d at 1252. We conclude that Leamer's liberty interest in treatment is fundamental and cognizable for purposes of both the procedural and substantive due process analyses.
43 The District Court expressly concluded that Leamer's right to procedural due process appears to be without merit. The Court based its conclusion on the numerous reviews that occurred while Leamer was on RAP status, several of which he attended. 8 In his first cause of action, Leamer alleges violations of procedural due process, primarily as to the denial of therapy, but also as to the nature of the reviews of his RAP status. However, the record before the District Court, and before us, is wholly inadequate to determine what, if any, process was used to determine that Leamer's therapy should be denied to him. 9 44 Leamer also asserts that he was denied effective and meaningful reviews of his assignment to RAP by not allowing him to know the contents of institutional reports (such as custody, Internal Affairs Unit, or therapist reports), even summarily to thereby enable Plaintiff to make a defense or conform thereto. To the extent that Leamer is alleging that the placement on RAP status was itself a violation of procedural due process rather than that his maintenance on RAP wrongfully and arbitrarily deprived him of therapy or that the reviews were faulty because they claimed to be therapeutic and clinical but were not, Leamer could face significant obstacles in establishing this claim. Under Sandin, the mere fact of placement in administrative segregation is not in itself enough to implicate a liberty interest; the liberty interest only exists if that placement is an atypical and significant hardship relative to others similarly sentenced. Thus, under Sandin a court must assess whether administrative segregation, or its concomitant conditions, constitute an atypical and significant hardship by comparing the circumstances of Leamer's placement with those of others within comparable confinement to determine if they are within the expected parameters of the sentence imposed by a court of law. 515 U.S. at 484, 115 S.Ct. 2293; see also Griffin v. Vaughn, 112 F.3d 703, 708 (3d Cir.1997) (applying Sandin ).
45 [T]he Due Process Clause contains a substantive component that bars certain arbitrary, wrongful government actions `regardless of the fairness of the procedures used to implement them.' Foucha v. Louisiana, 504 U.S. 71, 80, 112 S.Ct. 1780, 118 L.Ed.2d 437 (1992) (quoting Zinermon v. Burch, 494 U.S. 113, 125, 110 S.Ct. 975, 108 L.Ed.2d 100 (1990)). Leamer's allegations that his substantive due process rights were violated were not analyzed by the District Court, and the District Court will need to develop the record in order to assess these claims on remand. Analysis of the deprivation of substantive due process is never an easy task, and this fact pattern presents no exception. The first step in the analysis is to define the exact contours of the underlying right said to have been violated. County of Sacramento v. Lewis, 523 U.S. 833, 842 n. 5, 118 S.Ct. 1708, 140 L.Ed.2d 1043 (1998). We have attempted to assist the District Court in this process by clarifying the liberty interest that is at stake here. Typically, when what is at issue is executive action, we must ask whether the officials have been deliberately indifferent to a liberty interest and deprived the plaintiff of that interest in such a way that the behavior of the governmental officer is so egregious, so outrageous that it may fairly be said to shock the contemporary conscience. Id. at 847 n. 8, 118 S.Ct. 1708. As we have indicated, the due process right to treatment here was not a matter of Leamer's health or well-being. Rather, the indifference analysis must focus on the challenged abuse of power by officials in denying Leamer the treatment regimen that was statutorily mandated and was necessary in order for his condition to improve, and thus for him to advance toward release. 46 The assessment of what constitutes conscience-shocking behavior differs according to the factual setting. The Supreme Court has noted that, in the prison setting, the opportunity for deliberation may make the test more easily satisfied than in, for example, the setting of a police chase. In contrast, under rapidly evolving situations requiring immediate responses from personnel, such as the high-speed chase that was at issue in Lewis, there can be no liability without an intent to harm suspects physically or to worsen their legal plight. 523 U.S. at 854, 118 S.Ct. 1708. But deliberate indifference is sensibly employed only when actual deliberation is practical, and in the custodial situation of a prison, forethought about an inmate's welfare is not only feasible but obligatory under a regime that incapacitates a prisoner to exercise ordinary responsibility for his own welfare. Id. at 851, 118 S.Ct. 1708 (citations omitted). As discussed in Lewis, here the persons responsible for Leamer's treatment had time to make unhurried judgments, upon the chance for repeated reflection, largely uncomplicated by the pulls of competing obligations. When such extended opportunities to do better are teamed with protracted failure even to care, indifference is truly shocking. Id. at 853, 118 S.Ct. 1708. Here, the authorities were not merely supposed to reflect and care, but in addition were to carry out a prescribed course of treatment. Thus, on remand, the District Court will need to develop and examine the record to determine whether Leamer was deprived of treatment in a way that was deliberately indifferent and that shocks the conscience under Lewis. 47
48 Relying on [ Victor ] Torres v. Fauver, see supra n. 3, the District Court concluded that Leamer's Eighth Amendment claims were without merit because the conditions of the segregated detention were not severe or unwarranted deprivation sufficient to constitute cruel and unusual punishment. But we think that conclusory assessment essentially disregards Leamer's allegations. He claims that the prison authorities were deliberately indifferent to his physical and mental well-being by his strict confinement and denial of treatment. As with the other constitutional claims, this claim is fact-intensive and will require further development of the record. In Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97, 106, 97 S.Ct. 285, 50 L.Ed.2d 251 (1976), the Supreme Court stressed that pro se complaints are to be read liberally. The District Court should dismiss the complaint for failure to state a claim only if it appears beyond doubt that Leamer can prove no set of facts in support of the claim that would entitle him to relief. See id. In Estelle, the Supreme Court established the deliberate indifference standard as appropriate in Eighth Amendment prisoner cases, focusing on the treatment provided, and concluding there that the alleged indifference was a matter of medical judgment that did not implicate principles of cruel and unusual punishment. Id. at 107, 97 S.Ct. 285. In contrast, in Buckley v. Rogerson, 133 F.3d 1125 (8th Cir.1998), the Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit held the prisoner's allegations sufficient to state an Eighth Amendment claim where his segregation and treatment were dictated by correctional, non-medical staff, and a doctor opined that the actions taken would exacerbate a condition such as Buckley's. In Lair v. Fauver, 595 F.2d 911 (3d Cir.1979), we confronted similar claims by a prisoner sentenced under the same provisions as Leamer who was, in that instance, complaining of a deprivation of treatment arising from his transfer to another institution. There, we urged the district court to assess whether Lair can adduce facts that would establish that the prison authorities' conduct with respect to his alleged need for psychological treatment constituted' deliberate indifference' to a serious illness or injury and `wanton infliction of unnecessary pain,' `repugnant to the conscience of mankind,' so as to violate the eighth amendment under the standards laid down in Estelle v. Gamble.  10 (citations omitted). Id. at 914 n. 11. Because of the paucity of the record before us and the need for an assessment and understanding of the treatment required and prescribed, we cannot say that such a demonstration of deliberate indifference based on a failure to provide treatment is beyond doubt at this stage, and we likewise remand for further consideration.