Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 34 views

    Kenneth Graham v. J. T. Willingham, Warden, United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth, Kansas, 384 F.2d 367, 10th Cir. (1967)

    Uploaded by

    Scribd Government Docs
    Kenneth Graham, serving a sentence for second degree murder, filed a petition alleging cruel and unusual punishment due to prolonged segregated confinement. After an evidentiary hearing where Graham and the Chief Correctional Officer testified, the district court denied relief. The appellate court affirmed, finding that prison administration is subject to judicial review only if exercised in an arbitrary manner. While Graham had been in segregation for over two years, his involvement in three separate incidents of extreme violence while previously in the general population justified the decision to keep him isolated for security reasons, according to the considered judgment of prison authorities. The court determined this was a matter of administrative discretion rather than a constitutional violation.

    Copyright:

    Public Domain
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd

    Kenneth Graham v. J. T. Willingham, Warden, United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth, Kansas, 384 F.2d 367, 10th Cir. (1967)

    Uploaded by

    Scribd Government Docs
    34 views2 pages
    Kenneth Graham, serving a sentence for second degree murder, filed a petition alleging cruel and unusual punishment due to prolonged segregated confinement. After an evidentiary hearing where Graham and the Chief Correctional Officer testified, the district court denied relief. The appellate court affirmed, finding that prison administration is subject to judicial review only if exercised in an arbitrary manner. While Graham had been in segregation for over two years, his involvement in three separate incidents of extreme violence while previously in the general population justified the decision to keep him isolated for security reasons, according to the considered judgment of prison authorities. The court determined this was a matter of administrative discretion rather than a constitutional violation.

    Original Description:

    Filed: 1967-10-30 Precedential Status: Precedential Citations: 384 F.2d 367 Docket: 9470

    Copyright

    © Public Domain

    Available Formats

    PDF or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    Kenneth Graham, serving a sentence for second degree murder, filed a petition alleging cruel and unusual punishment due to prolonged segregated confinement. After an evidentiary hearing where Graham and the Chief Correctional Officer testified, the district court denied relief. The appellate court affirmed, finding that prison administration is subject to judicial review only if exercised in an arbitrary manner. While Graham had been in segregation for over two years, his involvement in three separate incidents of extreme violence while previously in the general population justified the decision to keep him isolated for security reasons, according to the considered judgment of prison authorities. The court determined this was a matter of administrative discretion rather than a constitutional violation.

    Copyright:

    Public Domain
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf
    34 views2 pages

    Kenneth Graham v. J. T. Willingham, Warden, United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth, Kansas, 384 F.2d 367, 10th Cir. (1967)

    Uploaded by

    Scribd Government Docs
    Kenneth Graham, serving a sentence for second degree murder, filed a petition alleging cruel and unusual punishment due to prolonged segregated confinement. After an evidentiary hearing where Graham and the Chief Correctional Officer testified, the district court denied relief. The appellate court affirmed, finding that prison administration is subject to judicial review only if exercised in an arbitrary manner. While Graham had been in segregation for over two years, his involvement in three separate incidents of extreme violence while previously in the general population justified the decision to keep him isolated for security reasons, according to the considered judgment of prison authorities. The court determined this was a matter of administrative discretion rather than a constitutional violation.

    Copyright:

    Public Domain
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf
    of 2

    384 F.

    2d 367

    Kenneth GRAHAM, Appellant,


    v.
    J. T. WILLINGHAM, Warden, United States Penitentiary,
    Leavenworth, Kansas, Appellee.
    No. 9470.

    United States Court of Appeals Tenth Circuit.


    Oct. 30, 1967.

    Jack S. Ramirez, Wichita, Kan., for appellant.


    James R. Ward, Asst. U.S. Atty. (Newell A. George, U.S. Atty., was with
    him on the brief), for appellee.
    Before LEWIS, BREITENSTEIN and HILL, Circuit Judges.
    PER CURIAM.

    Appellant is presently confined in the United States Penitentiary of


    Leavenworth, Kansas, serving a sentence lawfully imposed after conviction for
    the offense of murder in the second degree. By petition presented to the District
    Court for the District of Kansas he alleged that he was being subjected to cruel
    and unusual punishment in violation of his constitutional rights under the
    Eighth Amendment because of prolonged and unreasonable segregated
    confinement in the maximum security facilities at Leavenworth. After a full
    evidentiary hearing at which both the appellant and the Chief Correctional
    Officer testified, the trial court denied relief. We affirm.

    The basic responsibility for the control and management of penal institutions,
    including the discipline, treatment and care of those confined, lies with the
    Attorney General and is not subject to judicial review unless exercised in such a
    manner as to constitute clear arbitrariness or caprice upon the part of prison
    officials. Cannon v. Willingham, 10 Cir., 358 F.2d 719 and cases cited.
    Segregation, as such, is not a cruel nor unusual treatment, punishment or
    practice. Kostal v. Tinsley, 10 Cir., 337 F.2d 845.

    Appellant is not presently in segregation as a disciplinary control for specific


    misconduct but as an administrative control relating to inmates considered to be
    a 'threat to themselves, to others, or to the safety and security of the institution.'
    Bureau of Prisons Policy Statement, #7400.4, issued 9-9-66. Such a policy is
    perfectly proper and lawful and its administration requires the highest degree of
    expertise in the discretionary function of balancing the security of the prison
    with fairness to the individuals confined. In the case at bar the record reveals
    that appellant's confinement in segregation is the result of the considered
    judgment of the prison authorities and is not arbitrary.

    Appellant has, indeed, been in segregation for a protracted period, continuously


    for more than two years prior to the present hearing. However, his record
    during three separate periods when he was allowed confinement 'within the
    population' of a prison reflects a history of participation, durectly or indirectly,
    in conduct of extreme violence. While confined in the United States
    Penitentiary at Atlanta, Georgia, he murdered an inmate in 1961. After transfer
    to Leavenworth for security purposes, he was present in 1962 when a selfstyled friend killed another inmate. Still later, in 1964, appellant was again
    present when this same 'friend' killed another inmate. Shortly after this third
    murder appellant was sent to Springfield and upon his return to Leavenworth
    has been isolated. Although his conduct in segregation has since been entirely
    satisfactory the trial court was manifestly correct in determining that appellant
    has been denied no constitutional right and that the determination of whether
    appellant presently should be considered a threat to others or the safety or
    security of the penitentiary is a matter for administrative decision and not the
    courts.

    Affirmed.

    You might also like