Court Opinion

ID: 9492872
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 14:52:28.569806+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:55:32.156664
License: Public Domain

NOONAN, Circuit Judge,
concurring and dissenting:
The crux of the case is what Congress meant by the statutory term “prison conditions.” Of the two words, “conditions” is the key. The noun is plural. It is equivalent to “circumstances.” It does not identify a single or momentary matter. Webster’s provides us with six definitions. Five are not germane. The relevant definition is “existing state of affairs,” as in the common phrases “living conditions,” *301“playing conditions,” “adverse weather conditions.” A slight variant of this definition is “something needing remedy,” as in the sentence, “Trains were late to Philadelphia because of conditions on the Main Line.” As these instances suggest, “conditions” are circumstances affecting everyone in the area affected by them. “Conditions” affect populations, large or small.
The statute thus gives us a noun of established meaning and frequent use. This noun i§ modified by a second noun, “prison.” No ambiguity exists as to its meaning. It identifies the affected population. We have, then, a statutory term “prison conditions” that can only mean “a state of affairs in a prison” or “something needing remedy in a prison.” The slight variation does not alter the sense conveyed by “conditions” of more than a momentary event; “conditions” means something that has continued in effect for a period.
A punch on the jaw is not “conditions.” A punch in the jaw in prison is not “prison conditions.” A punch on the jaw is an act. Churner’s alleged busting of Booth’s mouth is not a state of affairs. Circumstances in the plural are not at issue. No population is affected. An individual alone is involved. That Churner’s alleged blow took place in a prison does not make it “prison conditions.” Reading the statute as it is written it is next to impossible to characterize Booth’s complaint of a specific battery as a suit “with respect to prison conditions.”
The court rightly notes that we may aid our reading by consulting another section of the statute where Congress has defined “prison conditions” for another purpose. It makes good sense to assume that the definition applies throughout the statute and to use the definition whenever “prison conditions” are mentioned.
In § 3626(g)(2) Congress defined “prison conditions” as “conditions of confinement or the effects of actions by government officials on the lives of persons confined in prison.” The definition is good evidence that when Congress wanted to extend the meaning of “prison conditions” beyond the ordinary sense of the phrase it knew how to do so. In this definition, Congress did not extend the meaning of “prison conditions” to include acts of battery carried out by officers of a prison. The statutory phrase “conditions of confinement” does not encompass specific batteries. “Conditions of confinement” is no more apt than “prison conditions” to designate an act of battery. The use of “conditions” constrains the sense so that what is meant is a continuing state of affairs. The court concedes that this part of the statutory definition has no application here.
The court invokes McCarthy v. Bronson, 500 U.S. 136, 111 S.Ct. 1737, 114 L.Ed.2d 194 (1991), but then does not rely on the statutory language there construed but on the alternative definition afforded by the statute. This definition defines prison conditions as “the effects of actions by government officials on the lives of persons confined in prison.” What are actions by government officials that impact the lives of prisoners and appropriately fit within the framework of conditions? Illustrations are afforded by a proponent of the PLRA, Senator Abraham: “how warm the food is, how bright the lights are, whether there are electrical outlets in each cell, whether the prisoners’ hair cut is by licensed barbers,” these are “the conditions” regarding which prisoner litigation has occurred and courts have intervened because of the effect of these conditions on prisoners’ lives. 142 Cong. Rec. S10576-02, S10576 (Sept. 16, 1996). To take another illustration, “even worse” according to Senator Abraham, is a judge releasing prisoners “to keep the prison population down to what the judge considered an appropriate level.” Id. In each of these instances an action by a government official — to provide a kitchen or delivery service leading to lukewarm food; or to save on electricity; or to employ unlicensed barbers; or to admit more prisoners than the prison was designed for' — has an impact on prisoners’ lives and *302creates conditions that, but for the PLRA, might become the subject of a suit. Other actions having an effect on prisoners’ lives and referenced by Senator Reid, are these: a prison official decides to provide creamy peanut butter instead of chunky or provides chunky peanut butter instead of creamy; a prison official decides not to offer salad bars or weekend brunches; a prison official decides to play classical music on the prison stereo system. 141 Cong. Rec. S14611-01, S14627 (Sept. 29, 1995). These actions indubitably had an effect on prisoners’ lives by creating conditions that, prior to passage of the PLRA, gave rise to prison litigation. In no way are any of these actions comparable to specific acts of intentional violence. Brutal batteries are far removed from what the sponsors said was on their minds. The senators chose language for the statute mirroring their concerns.
Snippets of legislative history such as these are not necessary to explain the statutory phrase. They are, however, to the point in a way that interpretations of the legislation offered in by its opponents in debate are not. They are, moreover, illuminating as to why Congress had to use fifteen words in a seemingly elephantine way to define the suits Congress wanted to restrain. The multitude of trivial occasions that might affect prisoners’ lives could only be captured by a calculated comprehensiveness that excludes individual acts of rape or beating.
A guard hits you on the mouth. Would you report the blow by saying, “A government official has taken an action having an effect on my life?” No speaker of English would use such a circumlocution. Why should we attribute such circuitousness to Congress? When bones are broken or mouths are mauled, no one on earth, educated or uneducated, would use such roundabout phraseology to express the blow.
The supposition that Congress spoke so ineptly may be sustained by the suspicion that Congress wanted to get rid of all prisoner litigation, therefore Congress must have intended to embrace allegations of specific acts of battery. As a guess at unarticulated policy, such speculation has its attraction. The suspicion is dispelled by leading sponsors of the PLRA such as the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Hatch. As he put it when offering the bill for the first time in 1995: “Our legislation will also help restore balance to prison conditions litigation and will ensure that Federal court orders are limited to remedying actual violations of prisoners’ rights.” 141 Cong. Rec. S14408-01, S14418 (Sept. 27, 1995). As he summarized the sponsors’ intent: “I do not want to prevent inmates from raising legitimate claims. This legislation will not prevent those claims from being raised.” 141 Cong. Rec. S14611-01, S14662 (Sept. 29, 1995). The sponsors of the bill were neither inhumane nor insensitive nor determined to foreclose federal fora to claims of unconstitutional acts of cruelty.
The legislative history serves to refute a suspicion unsupported by the statutory text. As a guide to a fair reading of the English language in the statute before us, the suspicion is mischievous. It leads to a construction of language that cannot be sustained. The canons of construction of our native tongue should not be contorted to deny a remedy that a conscientious Congress continues to provide.
There are, to be sure, issues raised as to prison conditions in Booth’s amended complaint — the state of the prison library, for example, Booth’s need for a paralegal, or the failure of prison authorities to prevent alleged beatings. No cause of action against Superintendent Morgan, Captain Gardner or Sergeant Workensher can be discerned that does not fall within the meaning of prison conditions. These complaints Booth should have processed through the prison grievance system. Failing to do so, Booth cannot pursue them now. As to these claims, I concur with the court. But that he put these matters into his complaint does not mean *303that he forfeits the claims whose treatment was not required to begin administratively. As to Lieutenant Rikus, no specific injury is alleged for which compensation is asked. The complaint here, too, is properly dismissed. The allegations against Churner, Robinson and Thomas survive. As to them I respectfully dissent.