United States of America v. Territory of The Virgin Islands

DISTRICT COURT OF THE VIRGIN ISLANDS
DIVISION OF ST. CROIX
5
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 5
5
Plaintiff, 5 1:86-cv-265
v. 5
5
TERRITORY OF THE VIRGIN ISLANDS 5
et al., 5
5
Defendants. 5
__________________________________________5
TO: Joycelyn Hewlett, Esq., AUSA
Tammie Gregg, Esq., DOJ
Laura L. Coon, Esq., DOJ
Andrew Barrick, Esq., DOJ
Vincent F. Frazer, Esq., AG
Aquannette Y. Chinnery-Montell, Esq., AAG
ORDER
Since March 23, 2006, Defendants have had the opportunity to remedy their
contempt of the Court’s orders regarding their duty to provide and maintain
constitutionally adequate conditions of confinement at the Golden Grove Adult
Correctional and Detention Facility (“Golden Grove”). See Order Granting United States'
Motion to Find Defendants in Contempt and for Appointment of a Special Master
(“Contempt Order”) (Docket No. 224, as amended by Docket No. 231). To facilitate
compliance, this Court subsequently authorized appointment of Susan McCampbell as the
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Special Master in this litigation. Susan McCampbell has diligently sought to facilitate and
encourage Defendants to comply with the primary orders entered in this case. These
orders include: (1) the 1986 Consent Decree; (2) the 1990 Plan of Compliance; (3) the 2003
Stipulated Agreement; and (4) the May 2007 Order. All of these orders concern
Defendants’ obligation to provide constitutionally adequate safety, security, health care,
mental health services, and appropriate environmental, fire, and life safety conditions.
The primary means by which the Special Master sought to motivate Defendants to
comply with various requirements was to set specific dates for taking action in discrete
areas referenced in the Orders, including the development of action plans for further
compliance. These dates were negotiated with Defendants, and Defendants proposed
compliance dates which the Special Master accepted. The Special Master also requested,
at a minimum, communication from the Defendants if they were unable to comply with a
deadline. The expected communications referenced throughout this Order that were not
received by the Special Master were expected to come from Julius Wilson, Director, Bureau
of Corrections (“BOC”).
Defendants have, at best, a mixed record of fulfilling obligations in a timely manner.
After initial delays, medical services plans and related medical staff security issues have
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been addressed appropriately. Although, for example, there had been some delay in
meeting a December 1, 2009, deadline for development of a written plan for enhanced
security in the medical unit, a plan was provided on January 20, 2010. Similarly, medical
policies and procedures were developed by Dr. Linda Callwood, Medical Director, BOC,
and are in the process of review by the Special Master’s expert, Dr. Robert Griefinger.
Notwithstanding the fact that Defendants have been in longstanding contempt of
this Court, the Defendants have failed to comply yet again with many of the most recent
dates for compliance actions to which they agreed. As an example, the Special Master has
without success attempted to encourage Defendants to produce an overall hiring plan. The
plan was originally due on July 15, 2007, and the due date was reset to December 1, 2009,
by the Special Master. This deadline was missed and Defendants failed to provide an
update to the Special Master explaining why they failed to comply. Director Wilson
provided what he considered to be a hiring plan on January 19, 2010; however the Special
Master determined the plan to be inadequate.
With respect to the required development and completion of plans (i.e., not actual
project completion) for an assessment of the physical plant at Golden Grove, Defendants
had agreed to provide a date for completion of the assessment. The agreed upon date was
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November 3, 2009, then extended to January 20, 2010. These dates came and went without
any communication to the Special Master or completion of the plans.
Security and operational policies were timely submitted by Defendants, but were
determined by the Special Master to be inadequate, a conclusion later acknowledged by
Director Wilson. A plan for the provision of inmate access to telephones has languished
since at least May 2007. Defendants promised but failed to provide a plan of action for
provision of telephone services by January 15, 2010. Other agreed upon plan deadline
dates have passed without communication to the Special Master, including a plan for
cleaning, painting, and chemical controls for all inmate living areas.
The failure of Defendants to abide by agreed upon dates established by the Special
Master for achieving planning compliance, let alone substantive compliance, may be
sufficient for this Court to consider imposing extraordinary remedies against the BOC and
its personnel. This Court will, however, out of an abundance of caution and deference to
additional promises of the BOC, impose as an Order of this Court one final set of extended
compliance deadlines as recently agreed to by the parties. These deadlines and
requirements are substantive orders of this Court and provide a clear foundation for
subsequent extraordinary relief, as appropriate, should Defendants fail to comply with
them. Other compliance deadlines not referenced in this Order remain in effect and their
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due dates remain extant, e.g., March 1, 2010, due date for security staffing and tool control
plan for the shop area.
Based on the foregoing and good cause appearing, it is now hereby ORDERED:
1. Hiring Plan: On or before March 1, 2010, the BOC will produce and submit
to the Special Master a hiring plan which includes, but is not limited to, the
elements noted in this Court’s order of May 15, 2007. See p. 5 of Order dated
May 15, 2007.
2. Physical Plant:
a. No later than March 1, 2010, the BOC will produce and provide to the
Special Master a cleaning and painting schedule for all inmate and
detainee living areas.
b. On or before April 21, 2010, the BOC will produce and submit to the
Special Master a comprehensive matrix/presentation that shows the
identification by the BOC engineer or other qualified professionals of
all physical plant issues found during the engineer’s assessment of the
physical plant at Golden Grove.
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c. The April 21, 2010, matrix/presentation shall include an action plan for
taking corrective action with respect to ventilation at the facility, with
dates of expected completion.
d. The April 21, 2010, matrix/presentation shall include a plan to provide
the resources to perform internal maintenance, either by hiring
qualified professionals to assist the Territorial Maintenance
Supervisor or contract for maintenance work.
e. Elements of the matrix/presentation: In preparing the
matrix/presentation, the BOC shall incorporate, at a minimum, the
following elements into its plan:
• The language of the relevant court order(s);
• The specific work objectives to comply with the order(s),
including the entity expected to perform the work;
• Whether funding is available in the current fiscal year to
complete the work;
• If funding is not available in the current fiscal year, a statement
indicating that funding will be sought in the following year’s
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proposed budgets submitted by BOC to the government of the
Virgin Islands’ Office of Management and Budget (OMB);
• Anticipated start date and completion date of each work
objective; and,
• The criteria BOC will use to determine that the work objective
is completed.
3. Security and Security Enhancement:
a. On or before March 1, 2010, BOC will produce a plan to the Special
Master to control all cleaning and other chemical agents inside the
facility.
b. On or before March 1, 2010, BOC will produce a plan to the Special
Master to address inmate idleness, thereby alleviating inmate tension
and hostility. The plan shall at a minimum include a master program
calendar with program dates, assignments and proposed measures.
4. Policies/Procedures/Training:
a. Final security policies and procedures shall be completed on or before
July 1, 2010. Defendants shall submit drafts of the policies and
procedures to the Special Master as soon as possible as each one is
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completed without waiting to complete the entire set in to enable her
to evaluate the adequacy of the proposed work product prior to the
July 1, 2010, completion date.
b. Staff training on the completed policies and procedures shall
commence promptly and continue thereafter until all staff is familiar
with the completed policies and procedures as they apply each job
classification. Defendants shall advise the Special Master and set forth
a date and schedule upon which training based on the policies and
procedures shall begin.
c. Medical policies and procedures shall be completed on or before May
1, 2010. Training of medical staff on the medical policies and
procedures shall be implemented no later than May 4, 2010. In the
event any of the medical policies submitted on or before May 1, 2010,
are deemed insufficient by the Special Master, training on the
remaining policies or nonobjectionable portions thereof shall
promptly continue. The BOC shall be given, in this instance, an
additional sixty (60) days to refine, modify, or create additional
medical policies without being in contempt of this sub-section.
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5. Inmate telephones:
a. Detainees: By March 1, 2010, the BOC will provide telephone services
to detainees to enable them, at a minimum, to contact their attorneys.
These services, for example, may be provided by use of supervised
cell phones or portable phone devices.
b. All Inmates/Detainees: On or before April 1, 2010, the BOC will
produce a plan to the Special Master to provide a functioning
telephone service to inmates and detainees. Implementation of
telephone services shall commence on or before June 1, 2010.
ENTER:
Dated: February 22, 2010 /s/ George W. Cannon, Jr.
GEORGE W. CANNON, JR.
U.S. MAGISTRATE JUDGE
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