Court Opinion

ID: 9558130
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 17:03:16.126555+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:08:21.012566
License: Public Domain

BIRD, C. J.
I concur in the result reached in the opinion by my colleague, Justice Richardson. However, I cannot join his reasoning.
*875A prisoner in California can be deprived of only those rights that are necessary to protect the safety of the prison or the public. (Pen. Code, § 2600.) In keeping with this statutory guarantee, the California Administrative Code commands that each institution extend overnight visitation “to as many inmates as is possible commensurate with institution security.” (Cal. Admin. Code, tit. 15, § 3174.)
The definition of a “family” in our society has undergone some change in recent years. It has come to mean something far broader than only those individuals who are united by formal marriage. Many individuals are united by ties as strong as those that unite traditional blood, marriage and adoptive families.
However, the very diversity of the groups of people now commonly referred to as “families” highlights the difficulty that would be created if the prison authorities were required to grant family visits to prisoners who were not married. The prison authorities do have a security interest in prohibiting visits by transients, whose ties to the prisoners may be fleeting or tenuous at best. In the absence of a marriage certificate or a valid out-of-state common law marriage, it would be extremely difficult for prison officials to distinguish between the valid long-term commitments that constitute a “family” and transient relationships. Further, the evidentiary hearings that such determinations would require would pose a significant administrative burden on prison officials.
In my view, the regulation here challenged is necessary to avoid long and numerous administrative hearings into the question of whether the prisoner has an ongoing family relationship outside the confines of an easily ascertainable marriage relationship. Even more troubling are the moral judgments that prison administrators (representatives of the state) would be required to make in these hearings.
In the absence of any reasonable alternative to distinguish between families and nonfamilies, the limitation of family visits to those who are married under the laws of this or another state is a valid restriction.
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Broussard, J., concurred.