Court Opinion

ID: 9470282
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 03:01:23.94285+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:41:49.170272
License: Public Domain

WINTER, Circuit Judge,
concurring in the result:
I concur in Part IV of Judge Cardamone’s decision. Because I disagree with a legal conclusion he draws in Part II and believe that much of the discussion in Parts II and III is unnecessary, I state my reasons for affirmance separately.
First, I do not agree that the complaint is sufficient to survive a 12(b)(6) motion. The complaint states:
Defendant is responsible for having petitioners illegally confined to their cells on May 21, 1981. He had no reason for action, did not charge plaintiff with any violations of NY State Law or afford them equal protection in procedural due process of the 14th Amendment US Constitution.
I believe this conclusory allegation is not adequate as a matter of law. Apart from the word “illegally” and references to the Constitution, the complaint simply states that appellant was placed in his cell “for no reason.” There are no factual allegations that he was singled out for special punishment, was subjected to inhumane or specifically unreasonable treatment, or was the victim of defective procedures. Compare Haines v. Kerner, 404 U.S. 519,92 S.Ct. 594, 30 L.Ed.2d 652 (1972) (pro se allegations of solitary confinement for disciplinary purposes in conditions which aggravated a preexisting foot injury and circulatory ailment).
The almost infinitely malleable nature of the complaint is demonstrated by the widely contrasting descriptions offered by my colleagues. On the one hand, Judge Cardamone hypothesizes that it may allege that “the Commissioner had personally singled plaintiffs out and for no reason whatever locked them in their cells.... ” On the other hand, Judge Kearse describes it as’ alleging a general “keeplock.” In the case of the former, the hypothesis arrived at is at variance with the actual issue, while in the case of the latter, the conclusion that a “keeplock” was alleged is drawn, not from the four corners of the complaint, but from the action of the district court and papers filed with us.
In truth, there is almost no limit to the sets of facts which might be proven under Anderson’s complaint if we are simply to let our imaginations run free. Indeed, claims of singling out for purposes of racial discrimination or punishment for the exercise of first amendment rights fit more comfortably within its language than the actual fact of a general “keeplock.”
The complaint thus does not give notice of Anderson’s claim. Judge Kearse is mistaken in viewing my position as requiring the plaintiff to anticipate and refute reasons which the defendant may offer to justify his actions. A federal constitutional claim relating to correctional decisions must allege a procedural defect, a “cruel and unusual” impact, or an impermissible motive. Anderson gives no notice as to which of these claims, if any, he is pursuing. In this situation, a defendant is not informed of what actions he or she must justify. The *46defendant was able here to flesh out the complaint by affidavit attached to his 12(b)(6) motion, only because the events of May 21, 1981, had achieved statewide notoriety and had been previously litigated.
My colleagues’ opinions cite only very general authority to support their view of the sufficiency of the notice given by the complaint. I conclude, therefore, that on the facts the holding goes beyond any prior decision, a result at odds with Judge Cardamone’s critical description of the problems arising from the extensive use — and misuse — of the privileges accorded by 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a) (1976). Those problems are not lessened by issuing an invitation to prisoners to file in forma pauperis complaints alleging that their cell doors were locked “illegally” and “for no reason.” The liberality accorded pro se pleadings does riot relieve them wholly of the obligation to inform the court and their adversaries of the nature of their claim. The solicitude traditionally afforded pro se litigants can be preserved by liberality in allowing, amendment. In my view, this complaint should have been dismissed su a sponte by the district court without service but with leave to amend.
At this stage, however, I see no such prejudice arising out of the failure to give appellant notice in the district court that the 12(b)(6) motion would be treated as a motion for summary judgment as to call for a sua sponte reversal on those grounds. Appellant asks only that we rule on the underlying issue of law. He has stated the facts in his brief before us and his version poses the very issue of law decided by the district court. His brief states:
On the 21st day of May, 1981, appellant was confined to his cell, as were the approximate one thousand prisoners in Great Meadow Correctional Facility, hereafter ‘G.M.C.F.’, Comstock, New York. This confinement was pre-planned by appellee to facilitate and promote an obsequy for a recently slain guard, see p. 14 as Indexed. This pre-planned ‘General Lockdown’ was formulated at least 72 hours in advance, see appellants Exhibit A.
Exhibit A is a newspaper account of the “keeplock.” With the parties in essential agreement as to the underlying facts,1 the failure to give notice under 12(b)(6) is totally harmless.
In my view, the “keeplock” does not amount to a violation of the Constitution. Appellant was not singled out for individualized disciplinary action and, therefore, notice and a hearing were not required. A one-day “keeplock” does not impose inhumane conditions such as to foreclose prison authorities from allowing guards to attend the funeral of a colleague who has been murdered by inmates. Attending the funeral may be a serious matter so far as the morale of the guards is concerned, and the decision taken was within the range of prison officials’ discretion. I see no serious federal constitutional issue. See Gilliard v. Oswald, 552 F.2d 456 (2d Cir.1977). Whether other circumstances may justify a “keep-lock” is not before us.
I concur in the affirmance of the judgment.

. If there is a factual issue in this case, it is whether the Commissioner instigated the “keep-lock” to encourage the guards to attend the funeral or had no choice in the face of a quasi “job action” by the guards. Since I regard this issue as legally irrelevant, I see no need for a trial.