Stassi v. Hogan
Stassi v. Hogan
Opinion of the Court
ORDER
This action is before the court on the petitioner’s motion to have the respondents held in civil contempt and on the government’s motion to have certain exhibits filed under seal and other exhibits taken for an in camera inspection. The exhibits which are the subject of the government’s motion are the various documents, letters, memoranda, and judicial opinions which make up petitioner’s official parole commission file. Exhibits 1, 4, 6, and 44 are highly confidential, and the government asks that those exhibits be reviewed only by the court. The other exhibits are also confidential but the government has no objection to Mr. Stassi examining them. As petitioner has not filed any response to the government’s motion, the motion is deemed unopposed and is GRANTED. Exhibits 2, 3, and 7-43 shall be filed under seal. Exhibits 1, 4, 6, and 44 shall be reviewed in camera by the court and returned to the government.
Petitioner’s petition to have the respondents held in civil contempt is based upon respondents’ alleged failure to comply with a series of orders entered in this case in 1975 by the late Judge Edenfield. Judge Edenfield concluded that petitioner’s procedural due process rights had been violated because he had been classified as a “Special Offender” without notice or a fair opportunity to challenge the designation. Judge Edenfield concluded that this designation impacted upon petitioner’s ability to get a fair parole hearing. Stassi v. Hogan, 395 F.Supp. 141 (N.D.Ga. 1975). Judge Edenfield subsequently ordered the government to expunge from petitioner’s prison records the “Special Offender” designation and the materials on which it was based. Judge Edenfield further ordered the government to grant petitioner a new parole hearing with the files properly purged. Order of August 12, 1975. Finally, Judge Edenfield ordered that the new parole hearing be conducted by hearing examiners who “to the maximum extent possible have no prior knowledge whatsoever of petitioner’s prior ‘special offender’ classification or of materials or information contained in his file on which such a designation was made.” Order of October 15, 1975.
The government appealed Judge Eden-field’s order, and the Fifth Circuit entered a stay pending appeal of a portion of the order not relevant to the present petition. Stassi v. Hogan, No. 75-3176 (5th Cir. Sept. 5, 1975). After the court of appeals denied the stay as to the remaining parts of Judge Edenfield’s order, a parole hearing was held in accordance with Judge Eden-field’s directives. On October 23, 1975 petitioner was granted parole effective December 9, 1975, to an approved plan.
Petitioner’s expectation of freedom was short-lived, however. Prior to the effective parole date petitioner was convicted in the Southern District of New York of importing heroin. On November 25, 1975 the parole board reopened and retarded peti
Petitioner’s motion to have the respondents held in civil contempt is based upon the fact that certain documents presently in his parole file still bear the “Special Offender” designation, and other documents provide the information upon which such designation was based. Petitioner contends that the existence of such documents in his parole file is in direct violation of Judge Edenfield’s order of August 12, 1975. Petitioner further complains about the fact that J. Robert Cooper, the Assistant U.S. Attorney who represented the government on petitioner’s habeas corpus petition, sat as an en banc Parole Commissioner when the commission reviewed petitioner’s case in 1977. Petitioner claims that this violated Judge Edenfield’s order of October 15, 1975, which required that the members of the Board hearing petitioner’s case for parole have “to the maximum extent possible” no prior knowledge of petitioner’s prior “Special Offender” status.
After reviewing Judge Edenfield’s orders, all of the documents in the file, and the pleadings of the parties, the court cannot say that there is clear and convincing evidence that respondents have violated Judge Edenfield’s orders. Judge Edenfield ordered respondents to expunge from petitioner’s file any documents bearing the special offender label and any documents which provided the basis for that designation. This the respondents did. Judge Edenfield ordered respondents to give petitioner a new parole hearing in the absence of such documents before commissioners who, to the greatest extent possible, had no knowledge of his prior designation as a special offender. Respondents also did this. Petitioner got his second parole hearing free from any evidence of his special offender status and in fact was granted parole.
Judge Edenfield’s order to expunge the special offender designation and supporting documents from petitioner’s file was based upon his conclusion that designating petitioner as a special offender without notice and a fair opportunity to be heard violated his procedural due process rights and adversely affected his chances for parole. However, as Judge Edenfield subsequently decided in Mayo v. Sigler, 428 F.Supp. 1343 (N.D.Ga. 1977) parole decisions are not influenced in any significant way by the special offender designation. The special offender designation “is primarily an administrative device whereby the Bureau [of Prisons] insures that certain prisoners are not transferred to other prisons or allowed to participate in community programs without prior approval from the Bureau’s central office.” Id. at 1349. The requirements of procedural due process do not apply to such administrative designations. Makris v. United States Bureau of Prisons, 606 F.2d 575 (5th Cir. 1979); Solomon v. Benson, 563 F.2d 339 (7th Cir. 1977); Mayo v. Sigler, 428 F.Supp. 1343 (N.D.Ga. 1977); see Moody v. Daggett, 429
One final reason for denying petitioner’s petition is that petitioner has known at least since 1980 that he has been designated as a Central Monitoring Case.
In sum, the court finds a lack of clear and convincing evidence that respondents violated a valid court order. Further, the court holds that even if respondents had violated the order petitioner would not be entitled to the remedy of civil contempt because the reasoning on which the underlying order was based has been subsequently overruled and because petitioner cannot show any harm flowing from his continued designation as a special offender. The petition to have respondents held in civil contempt is DENIED. This action is hereby DISMISSED.
. The hearing at .which Cooper sat occurred after the parole was rescinded. Cooper has submitted an affidavit that he did not let his knowledge of petitioner’s prior designation as a special offender influence his deliberations during that hearing. The court sees no evidence that the order of October 15, 1975 was violated.
. The Central Inmate Monitoring System replaced the special offender designation system in 1976. Although there are differences in the manner in which the designation is made and the prisoner is notified of the designation, being designated a Central Monitoring Case has virtually the same effect as the prior special offender designation. It is an administrative designation which insures that certain classes of prisoners not be transferred to other institutions or be allowed to participate in community programs without the approval of the Bureau of Prisons. Mayo v. Sigler, supra at 1345.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Joseph STASSI, Sr. v. Marvin S. HOGAN, Warden, United States Penitentiary, Atlanta Norman Carlson, Director of the United States Bureau of Prisons Maurice Sigler, Chairman of the United States Board of Parole
- Status
- Published