Reyes v. Fischer
Opinion of the Court
*100Plaintiff-appellee Ciara Reyes brought this action under
This appeal requires us to consider whether the defendants are entitled to qualified immunity for administratively imposing PRS prior to a judicial imposition of such supervision. More specifically, the appeal addresses whether the defendants are entitled to qualified immunity for two periods: the period of PRS before the conclusion of a determinate sentence when a plaintiff would otherwise be on conditional release, and the period following the end of a determinate sentence before a judicially imposed period of PRS when a plaintiff would not otherwise have been under supervision.
BACKGROUND
A.
In 1998, the New York State legislature enacted Penal Law § 70.45, which eliminated the parole system and provided that "[e]ach determinate sentence also includes, as a part therefor, an additional period of post-release supervision." Penal Law § 70.45(1) (McKinney 2005), amended by 2008 N.Y. Laws Ch. 141, § 3 (codified at
This Court first addressed the constitutionality of administratively imposed PRS terms in Earley v. Murray,
The defendants have appeared before this Court many times regarding their imposition of PRS, and their deliberate refusal to follow Earley I's holding is well documented. See, e.g., Hassell v. Fischer,
In June 2008, the New York State Legislature passed Correction Law § 601-d to address the problem of DOCS's imposition of PRS terms that had not been pronounced by the sentencing judge. Section 601-d requires DOCS to notify the sentencing court of cases where the commitment order does not contain a term of PRS -- a signal to DOCS that PRS likely had not been judicially pronounced.
B.
In 2001, Reyes was convicted of a violent assault and robbery, for which she received two concurrent eight-year determinate prison sentences. The sentencing judge pronounced Reyes's determinate sentences orally. The sentencing judge did not pronounce a term of PRS, nor was a term of PRS included in Reyes's Sentence and Order of Commitment.
In September 2007, DOCS calculated a five-year term of PRS and unilaterally imposed that term on Reyes. Reyes signed a DOP form entitled "Certificate of Release to Parole Supervision, Determinate - Post Release Supervision" which stated that Reyes was subject to a PRS term to commence on October 5, 2007, and to end on October 5, 2012.
Reyes's determinate prison sentences expired on November 27, 2008. However, New York law provides that an offender who serves six-sevenths of a determinate sentence and has earned sufficient good-time credit shall be released from prison early on conditional release, "if he or she so requests."
On October 14, 2008, defendant Tracy referred the plaintiff to a state court judge as a "designated person" who may require resentencing pursuant to Correction Law § 601-d. On November 6, 2008, the plaintiff was taken into custody and incarcerated for a violation of the conditions of the five-year PRS term. While in custody for the *102PRS violation, the maximum expiration date of Reyes's determinate sentences expired on November 27, 2008. On December 5, 2008 -- one week after her determinate sentences expired -- a state court judge resentenced Reyes under Correction Law § 601-d to two concurrent two-and-one-half year terms of PRS.
Reyes brought this action under
The defendants moved for summary judgment, arguing that (1) Reyes's constitutional rights were not violated, (2) the defendants are entitled to qualified immunity, and (3) Reyes had not established that the defendants were personally involved in the alleged constitutional deprivation. Reyes v. Fischer, No. 13cv1239,
DISCUSSION
A.
The rule that "[a]n order denying a motion for summary judgment is generally not a final decision within the meaning of [ 28 U.S.C.] § 1291 and is thus generally not immediately appealable" is inapplicable to denials of summary judgment based on a claim of qualified immunity. Plumhoff v. Rickard,
*103Mitchell v. Forsyth,
This Court reviews an order on a motion for summary judgment "de novo, construing all evidence in the light most favorable to the non-moving party." Betances,
Government officials performing discretionary functions generally are afforded qualified immunity, and are therefore "shielded from liability for civil damages" when "their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known." Harlow v. Fitzgerald,
Therefore, the questions on this appeal are twofold. First, we must decide whether the district court correctly found that the defendants violated Reyes's constitutional due process rights. Second, we must decide whether those rights were clearly established at the time of the defendants' conduct. We may consider these questions in any order. See Pearson v. Callahan,
B.
In their reply brief, the defendants concede that they are not entitled to qualified immunity for the period between the end of Reyes's determinate sentences on November 27, 2008, and December 5, 2008 -- the date on which Reyes was resentenced to PRS by a judge. The concession is plainly correct.
" Earley I ruled that the federal-law principle that punishment for a crime could not properly be imposed administratively but could only be imposed by the court had been clearly established by the United States Supreme Court ...." Vincent,
The defendants initially argued in this case that they took reasonable steps to *104comply with Earley I and therefore are entitled to qualified immunity. However, this Court's recent holding in Hassell v. Fischer forecloses the argument that the defendants' response to Earley I was reasonable.
Indeed, the defendants did not seek resentencing of Reyes under Correction Law § 601-d until October 14, 2008 -- more than two years after this Court decided Earley I and more than one year after October 5, 2007, when Reyes was released from prison and began serving her administratively imposed term of PRS. Because the right to be free from administratively imposed PRS was clearly established by Earley I and its progeny, and because the defendants did not take reasonable steps to comply with Earley I, the defendants are not entitled to qualified immunity for the week between the end of Reyes's determinate sentences on November 27, 2008, and the beginning of her PRS term that was pronounced by a judge on December 5, 2008. The parties originally disputed this point, but in light of this Court's decision in Hassell, the defendants now concede that they are not entitled to qualified immunity for that period.
C.
The defendants contend that because Reyes would have been subjected to conditional release if she had not been subjected to a term of PRS, Reyes cannot show that her due process rights were violated from her initial release on October 5, 2007, until her determinate sentences expired on November 27, 2008.
Reyes's right to be free from administratively imposed PRS following the expiration of her determinate sentences on November 27, 2008, until her resentencing on December 5, 2008, was clearly established at the time of the defendants' conduct. However, whether Reyes's constitutional rights were violated during the period of administratively imposed PRS that she served after her release from imprisonment on October 5, 2007, and before her determinate sentences ended on November 27, 2008, was an issue of first impression in this Circuit until this Court decided Hassell -- a decision that had not yet issued when the district court issued its order on the motions for summary judgment.
While this Court has confronted the question of administratively imposed PRS a number of times, Hassell was the first of these appeals in which a judgment had been entered awarding damages to a prisoner.
The facts of Hassell closely correspond to the facts in this case. Hassell involved the same defendants as this case, and presented a situation where the plaintiff, Hassell, was released from prison after serving six-sevenths of his determinate sentence because he had earned sufficient good-time credit to be released early.
Under New York law, when an offender earns sufficient good-time credit, that offender may be released on what is called "conditional release" and serve the remainder of his or her determinate sentence in the community. See
On appeal, this Court vacated the portion of the nominal damages that pertained to the period of PRS that elapsed before Hassell's determinate sentence ended -- that is, when he would have otherwise been supervised under conditional release. This Court explained that for the period after Hassell was released from custody because of good-time credits, until the date on which his sentence terminated six months later, Hassell
would have been subject to conditional release during this time period had a PRS term not been imposed. Hassell has made no showing that the conditions of his PRS term were in any respect more onerous than those of conditional release would have been. Without any showing of an adverse consequence during [this period], Hassell has not suffered a denial of his due process rights during that period.
Hassell teaches that, to prevail in her suit for a due process violation, a plaintiff subjected to administratively imposed PRS must show that, for the period of time that the plaintiff would otherwise have been subjected to conditional release, the conditions of administratively imposed PRS were "more onerous."
*106See Swarthout v. Cooke,
Because Hassell had failed to show that the conditions of administratively imposed PRS were any more onerous than the deprivations Hassell would have encountered under conditional release, he failed to show any deprivation of liberty. Therefore, Hassell had not shown a constitutional violation and was not entitled to an award of even nominal damages for that period. Cf. Memphis Cmty. Sch. Dist. v. Stachura,
In this case, there are unresolved factual questions as to whether the conditions of administratively imposed PRS are more onerous than those of conditional release. In Hassell, this Court found that the plaintiff had not presented any evidence that the conditions of administratively imposed PRS were in fact more onerous than the conditions of conditional release. And in this case, the defendants contend that the conditions are no more onerous.
Unlike in Hassell, the parties have not yet conducted discovery with respect to the question of whether Reyes's PRS conditions were in fact more onerous than the conditions of conditional release would have been. Reyes,
Factual questions that are crucial to the disposition of the defendants' qualified immunity defense remain -- specifically how the conditions of Reyes's PRS compare to those that would have been imposed under conditional release. We therefore must dismiss, for lack of jurisdiction, that part of the appeal that concerns the period of time during which Reyes would have been subject to conditional release.
CONCLUSION
We have considered all of the arguments of the parties. To the extent not discussed above, the arguments are either moot or *107without merit. For the reasons explained above, we AFFIRM the district court's order denying qualified immunity to the defendants for the week of administratively imposed PRS after the plaintiff's determinate sentences had expired. We DISMISS the appeal for lack of jurisdiction over the district court's denial of qualified immunity for the period between October 5, 2007, and November 27, 2008, when the plaintiff would otherwise have been subject to conditional release. We REMAND to the district court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
For a detailed history of DOCS's practice of administratively imposing PRS terms, see Betances v. Fischer,
The sentencing judge imposed these two-and-one-half year terms of PRS to follow the eight-year prison terms, and the judge made these sentences retroactive to May 22, 2001, the date that Reyes's determinate sentences began. The court-imposed release date was therefore April 5, 2010, rather than the original administratively imposed release date of October 5, 2012. The parties have made no arguments with respect to the retroactive nature of the judicially imposed PRS term. That the judicially pronounced term of PRS was imposed nunc pro tunc has no effect on this Court's consideration of the period of PRS that elapsed from Reyes's initial prison release on October 5, 2007, until her resentencing on December 5, 2008, because that time period elapsed before a judge imposed PRS.
Reyes's double jeopardy claim pertained to the period of PRS imposed by a judge on December 5, 2008, and was dismissed on a previous motion because Reyes did not "adequately allege the personal involvement of the[ ] defendants in the asserted double jeopardy violation." Rivera v. Annucci, No. 13cv1239,
Concurring in Part
This case will proceed in the district court on remand: a result with which I concur for the reasons articulated below. I respectfully dissent, however, from the analysis by which the majority arrived at its decision to remand. Unlike the majority, I would hold that we have appellate jurisdiction to decide the defendants' interlocutory appeal from the district court's determination that they are not entitled to qualified immunity. I would then affirm that determination in toto and thus return the case to the district court for further proceedings. I part company with the majority when it concludes that factual issues concerning whether the conditions of Reyes's post-release supervision ("PRS") were more onerous than the conditions to which she would have otherwise been subjected on conditional release preclude interlocutory appellate jurisdiction.
* * *
At issue here are two periods during which Reyes was subjected to PRS: (1) the period between her October 5, 2007 release from prison and the November 27, 2008 expiration of her determinate sentences and (2) the period between that expiration and her judicial resentencing on December 5, 2008. As to the latter period, the majority concludes that the defendants were "plainly" not entitled to qualified immunity. See Op. at 103-04. I fully agree. I disagree, however, that we are without jurisdiction to review whether the defendants were entitled to qualified immunity for the former period, and to that extent, I dissent.
We have previously "held that [ (1) ] the New York State Department of Correctional Services's ('DOCS') practice of administratively adding a term of [PRS] to sentences in which PRS had not been imposed by the sentencing judge and [ (2) ] the New York State Division of Parole's ('DOP') practice of enforcing the administratively added PRS terms violated the Constitution." Betances v. Fischer ,
The wrinkle here, which causes the divergence between the majority and me, is that absent the unlawfully imposed PRS term, Reyes would still have been subjected to a term of conditional release until the November 27, 2008 expiration of her determinate sentences. The majority reads this to raise issues of material fact concerning *108whether the conditions of Reyes's PRS were more onerous than those of conditional release would have been. See Op. at 105. Relying on our decision in Hassell v. Fischer ,
I do not disagree that factual issues here persist. In my view, however, those issues go to whether Reyes can demonstrate damages as a result of the due process violation already inflicted, not to whether she has suffered a deprivation of due process in the first instance. "Because the right to procedural due process is 'absolute' in the sense that it does not depend upon the merits of a claimant's substantive assertions, and because of the importance to organized society that procedural due process be observed, ... the denial of due process should be actionable for nominal damages without proof of actual injury." See Carey v. Piphus ,
The majority sidesteps these principles by relying on language from our recent decision in Hassell , in which we addressed, among other things, these same defendants' qualified immunity for the period between Hassell's release and the expiration of his determinate sentence. To be sure, there we said that "Hassell has made no showing that the conditions of his PRS term were in any respect more onerous than those of conditional release would have been. Without any showing of an adverse consequence during [the relevant period], Hassell has not suffered a denial of his due process rights during that period." Hassell ,
On the one hand, the language quoted above does indeed lead one to believe that an element of a PRS due process claim is that the conditions imposed by PRS must be more onerous than those to which a prisoner would have otherwise been subjected.
*109There is also the fact that Hassell vacated even the district court's grant of nominal damages awarded for imposition of PRS during the relevant period, further suggesting that Hassell had not suffered a cognizable deprivation of due process. See Carey ,
On the other hand, the quoted language from the text of Hassell comes after the opinion's conclusion that the defendants were not entitled to qualified immunity during the relevant period, see Hassell ,
What is more, Hassell can be read to present its supposed "more onerous" requirement as an afterthought; it presents no rationale as to why an individual's liberty interest in being free from the administrative (non-judicial) imposition of PRS in the first instance, see Betances ,
These conflicting signals do create some uncertainty as to the contours of a due process claim arising from administratively imposed PRS, uncertainty that the majority does not directly acknowledge. While the majority's holding is certainly a reasonable resolution of this uncertainty, I would not resolve the issue in this manner without facing it head on. And facing it head on, I see no support in our precedent for imposing this new requirement: Hassell does not purport to add anything new, and without a much clearer indication than it presents, I would not assume it did so. Further, because the reading the majority gives Hassell is fundamentally at odds with Hassell 's reasoning and structure, I must conclude that Hassell in fact did not intend to impose any "more onerous" requirement on PSR claims like the one at issue here.
Functionally, the result reached by the majority is the same here: this case will proceed. But I would ensure that a future case does not stumble needlessly, and perhaps with a more deleterious result, over this issue. I concur in part and dissent in part.
As the majority correctly notes, our jurisdiction over this interlocutory appeal is circumscribed in that we cannot resolve issues of fact. See, e.g. , Bolmer v. Oliveira ,
Accord Kerman v. City of New York ,
By contrast, in the context of due process required for prison discipline, this Court and the Supreme Court have made clear that "[a] prisoner's liberty interest is implicated by prison discipline, such as SHU confinement, only if the discipline 'imposes [an] atypical and significant hardship on the inmate in relation to the ordinary incidents of prison life.' " See Palmer v. Richards ,
To the extent my reading of Hassell is arguably inconsistent with some of the opinion's language, were I writing for the majority, I would invoke this Court's "mini en banc" process to issue an opinion clarifying that, one, Hassell did not impose an additional "more onerous" requirement for claims in circumstances such as these and, two, that Hassell 's vacatur of nominal damages was error. See, e.g. , Shipping Corp. of India Ltd. v. Jaldhi Overseas Pte Ltd. ,
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Ciara REYES, AKA Sheila Rivera, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Brian FISCHER, Former Commissioner of New York State Department of Correctional Services, in His Individual Capacity, Anthony J. Annucci, Acting Commissioner of the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, Former Executive Deputy Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner, and Counsel of New York State Department of Correctional Services, in His Individual Capacity, Terrence X. Tracy, Chief Counsel for New York State Division of Parole, in His Individual Capacity, Defendants-Appellants, United States Marshals Service, New York State Division of Parole, Oni Penzarvis, Commissioner of the New York State Department of Correctional Services, Mrs. Williams, Superintendent, of Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women, John and Jane Does 1-20, New York State Department of Correctional Services Supervisory, Training, and Policy Personnel; New York State Division of Parole Supervisory, Training, and Policy Personnel; New York State Board of Parole Supervisory, Training, and Policy Personnel, in Their Individual Capacity, Defendants.
- Cited By
- 14 cases
- Status
- Published