Court Opinion

ID: 9460229
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 21:45:16.413455+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:36:32.213107
License: Public Domain

KILKENNY, Circuit Judge
(dissenting).
The atmosphere in the Rhode Island Adult Correction Institution in the fall of 1971, following the bloody uprising in September in the prison at Attica, New York, was one of acute tension and confrontation between militant black inmates and members of the prison staff. Shortly before the transfers, blueprints and materials for making a bomb were found in the prison. Then, the Warden received what he considered reliable information that a plot was afoot. The plot involved two plans of action; one plan calling for the presentation of impossible demands to the Warden by the Afro-American Society, the other involving a contemplated seizure of hostages. In the surrounding confusion of this disruption, several inmates would then attempt to escape. This information was obtained from informants and prison personnel. Although there were several versions of the plot and some of them inconsistent, there was little question in the mind of the Warden that there was something behind the rumors. Four of the transferred inmates were white, the rest were black. The black inmates were active in the Afro-American Society. The white inmates who were transferred were suspected of planning to escape. As it turned out, there was a clear mistake as to two of the white inmates. The trial judge found that the transfers were motivated by the stories of a forthcoming prison riot, that the prison officials were of the honest belief that there was a plot, and that their action in transferring the inmates was not arbitrary or capricious. The judge expressed the opinion, however, that the Warden’s fear of an imminent prison uprising was not based on reliable evidence.
I am unable to agree with the majority view “. . . that some due process is mandated in all transfer cases.”, or with the conclusion that “. . . notice of charges or reasons for the action and of the intent to transfer with an opportunity for the inmate to challenge the facts . . .” is a constitutional requirement in all cases where transfer is contemplated. In the circumstances, here presented, a notice of the charges, served on the suspected inmates, might well have triggered the riot which the authorities feared.
It seems to me that the majority has failed to recognize that the consequences of conviction of a crime involve not merely the loss of liberty enjoyable in a free society, but additionally the subsequent impairments which are inevitably associated with membership in a closely supervised prison community. A good faith determination that swift action is *1218necessary to forestall a riot should substantially outweigh an immediate determination of individual culpability. For that matter, the inherent characteristics of a prison society are such that prison officers must make prompt decisions as problems confront them, and this governmental interest in maintaining disciplined order far outweighs the individual interest in perfect justice. On this record, the alleged autocratic action taken by the concerned officials was an inevitable incident of effective management of the suspected inmates.
At best, due process is flexible and calls for only those procedural protections that the situation demands. Consideration of what procedures due process may require under any given set of circumstances must begin with the determination of the precise nature of the governmental function involved, as well as the private interest that may have been affected by the governmental action. Consequently, even conceding, which I do not, that the action of the authorities, on the record before us, rises to constitutional dimensions, we still must weigh the predictable tragic consequences of an imminent prison riot against the highly restricted personal rights of prison inmates. I find nothing in the guidelines enunciated in Morris-sey v. Brewer, 408 U.S. 471, 92 S.Ct. 2593, 33 L.Ed.2d 484 (1972); Board of Regents v. Roth, 408 U.S. 564, 92 S.Ct. 2701, 33 L.Ed.2d 548 (1972); Graham v. Richardson, 403 U.S. 365, 91 S.Ct. 1848, 29 L.Ed.2d 534 (1971); Goldberg v. Kelly, 397 U.S. 254, 90 S.Ct. 1011, 25 L.Ed. 2d 287 (1970); Cafeteria Workers Union v. McElroy, 367 U.S. 886, 81 S.Ct. 1743, 6 L.Ed.2d 1230 (1961), or other Supreme Court cases which I have analyzed, to suggest that, on this type of record, the suspected inmates were entitled to a hearing before transfer.
Although the rules imposed in Morris v. Travisono, 310 F.Supp. 857 (D.R.I. 1970), outline what would appear to be reasonable procedures in every day disciplinary problems, they should not be employed to handcuff prison officials in their efforts to prevent what might well be a bloody prison mutiny. The trial judge concedes that his hindsight observations on the seriousness of the threat are of no consequence.
The transferred inmates do not challenge the validity of the New England Interstate Corrections Compact, under the provisions of which they were transferred. Despite what is said by the majority, transfers without hearings, under such compacts are not per se unconstitutional. Hillen v. Director of Dept. of Social Service & Housing, 455 F.2d 510 (CA9 1972), cert, denied 409 U.S. 989, 93 S.Ct. 331, 34 L.Ed.2d 256; Duncan v. Madigan, 278 F.2d 695 (CA9 1960), cert, denied 366 U.S. 919, 81 S.Ct. 1096, 6 L.Ed.2d 242 (1961); Duncan v. Ulmer, 159 Me. 266, 191 A.2d 617 (1963).
I would reverse the judgment of the lower court and dismiss the action.