Court Opinion

ID: 9788743
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 01:17:07.553057+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:37:16.390858
License: Public Domain

Wahl, J.:
I respectfully dissent from the decision rendered by my colleagues. In the first instance, there has been a disregard for the very basic premise stated in Turner v. Safley, 482 U.S. 78, 96 L. Ed. 2d 64, 107 S. Ct. 2254 (1987), when considering a prison regulation:
“ ‘[C]ourts are ill equipped to deal with the increasingly urgent problems of prison administration and reform/[Citation omitted.] . . . ‘[T]he problems of prison in America are complex and intractable, and more to tire point, they are not readily susceptible of resolution by decree.’ [Citation omitted.] Running a prison is an inordinately difficult undertaking that requires expertise, planning, and the commitment of resources, all of which are peculiarly within the province of the legislature and executive branches of government. Prison administration is, moreover, a task that has been committed to tire responsibility of those branches, and separation of powers concerns counsel a policy of judicial restraint.” 482 U.S. at 84-85.
The Turner court rejected a strict analysis of the regulation, holding:
“[W]hen a prison regulation impinges on inmates’ constitutional rights, the regulation is valid if it is reasonably related to legitimate penological interest. In our view, such a standard is necessary if ‘prison administrators . . ., and not tire courts, [are] to make the difficult judgments concerning institutional operations.’ [Citation omitted.] Subjecting the day-to-day judgments of prison officials to an inflexible strict scrutiny analysis would seriously hamper their ability to anticipate *975security problems and to adopt innovative solutions to the intractable problems of prison administration. The rule would also distort the decision making process, for every administrative judgment would be subject to the possibility that some court somewhere would conclude that it had a less restrictive way of solving the problem at hand.” 482 U.S. at 89.
The Turner court went on to establish factors to be taken into account when considering whether a regulation is reasonable. These factors were succinctly stated in Pool v. McKune, 267 Kan. 797, 804, 987 P.2d 1073 (1999), when quoting Turner, 482 U.S. at 89-90. I shall briefly address each factor in relation to this case.

Is there a valid, rational connection between the prison regulation or practice and a legitimate governmental interest?

Petitioners argue the regulation restricts their First Amendment rights while failing to advance the correctional goals of internal order or discipline. They contend it is not related to a legitimate penological interest and cannot be constitutionally upheld. IMPP 11-101 is an internal management policy and procedure in which inmates can earn certain privileges and incentives. According to the policy, the Kansas Department of Corrections (DOC) “shall implement a comprehensive system of earnable offender privileges which will provide an effective means of managing the offender population and reinforcing constructive behavioral changes in offenders." Vinson v. McKune, 265 Kan. 422, 423, 960 P.2d 222 (1998). Under this policy, inmates can earn various privileges.
The DOC “has the right as well as the statutory obligation to maintain good government within the Kansas corrections system. To this end, the department may, as it has done in this case, provide for security, privileges, and incentives to accomplish such an end . . . .” 265 Kan. at 426. A key component of Kansas’ system is requiring inmates to earn prison privileges which, in turn, contributes to the security, rehabilitation, and efficient prison administration.
The majority draws extensively from Crofton v. Roe, 170 F.3d 957 (9th Cir. 1999), wherein the court did not uphold a blanket ban on gift subscriptions in an incentive program context. In Vinson, the Kansas Supreme Court affirmed the use of IMPP 11-101 *976to maintain good government in the prison. 265 Kan. at 426, 430. As gift subscriptions would circumvent the incentive program, the regulation against them is rationally related to the penological purposes of rehabilitation, security, and order in the prison.

Do inmates have an alternative means of exercising their First Amendment right to the free flow of information?

When other avenues are available for the exercise of the asserted right, courts should be particularly conscious of the “ ‘measure of judicial deference owed to corrections officials . . . in gauging the validity of the regulation.’ ” Turner, 482 U.S. at 90 (quoting Pell v. Procunier, 417 U.S. 817, 827, 41 L. Ed. 2d 495, 94 S. Ct. 2800 [1974]).
Petitioners argue they have no alternative means of exercising their First Amendment right to the free flow of information. They say they are denied access to magazines if their subscriptions cost more than $30 per month and the only way they can obtain these magazines is through gift subscriptions. They also contend access to the prison library and the supply of magazines is limited, making it an unsatisfactory alternative to gift subscriptions.
Financial limitations do exist when inmates attempt to purchase magazine subscriptions; however, inmates do have the opportunity to petition the warden for an exemption to their spending limit. Also, substantial evidence was presented to refute the complaints as an alternative means of accessing this information. about the prison library
Library visitation times were adjusted to “the most user friendly time,” a mobile library was created, and inmates were encouraged to request specific publications be added to the library. An in-house review of the actual use of the libraries revealed that often the sign-up sheets for library use were not full. Substantial evidence supports the district court’s finding that the prison library was a legitimate alternative method consistent with die goal of rehabilitation. It is not our function to reweigh evidence. See McCain Foods USA, Inc. v. Central Processors, Inc., 275 Kan. 1, 12, 61 P.3d 68 (2002).

What is the impact of the accommodation on guards, other inmates, and prison resources?

It would be a rare change that would have no ramifications on the liberty of others or on die use of the prison’s limited resources *977for preserving institutional order. Courts should be particularly deferential to the informed discretion of correction officials when accommodation of an asserted right will have a significant “ripple effect” on fellow inmates or on prison staff. Turner, 482 U.S. at 90.
Petitioners argue the increase in the volume of incoming mail would be minimal as the prison already receives gift subscriptions but simply fails to deliver them. It appears self-evident that the volume of periodicals would greatly increase along with the demands on prison staff to screen and deliver them if gift subscriptions are permitted.
Furthermore, petitioners’ argument ignores the primary purpose of this regulation which is to encourage inmates to follow prison rules in order to receive certain benefits and furthers the penological objectives of rehabilitation and security. A change in this program certainly could have a negative ripple effect on the behavior of the inmates and the demands on prison officials.

Do ready alternatives exist to the regulations?

Prison officials do not have to eliminate every conceivable alternative method of accommodating the petitioners’ constitutional complaint, but if an inmate can suggest an alternative that accommodates the prisoners’ right at minimal cost to valid penological interests, the officials should consider it. Petitioners contend an easy alternative is to incorporate gift subscriptions into the existing prison mail policy. They suggest having the inmates fill out a special purchase order (SPO) for the gift subscriptions or doing away with the SPO system and simply monitoring incoming publications or allowing inmates access to gift subscriptions as a component of the privilege and incentive policy.
The first two suggestions clearly impede the goals of rehabilitation and security because they circumvent the prison’s incentive-based program. The last suggestion to incorporate gift subscriptions into the incentive-based system would appear to be a viable option for consideration.
However, an evaluation of the constitutional claims under Turner must accord great deference to prison administrators in *978their formulation and execution of policies and practices relating to prison administration. Such deference is necessary if prison administrators and not the courts are to make the difficult judgments concerning institutional operations. See Pool, 267 Kan. at 805.
An analysis under the Turner factors supports the district court’s decision. A possible alternative may exist, but this possibility, standing alone, is not determinative of the issue. I submit that by giving due deference to the prison officials, the regulation and policy as part of the incentive-based program is reasonably related to the valid penological objectives of security and rehabilitation.
I would affirm the district court.