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Spooner v. East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff Dep't11/8/2002
ceipt of the decision, seek judicial review of the decision only in the Nineteenth Judicial District Court or, if the offender is in the physical custody of the sheriff, in the district court having jurisdiction in the parish in which the sheriff is located, in the manner hereinafter provided.
The defendants aver that there is no provision for judicial review of a decision under a sheriff's administrative remedy procedure because the statute provides only for review of "an adverse decision by the Department of Public Safety and Corrections or a contractor operating a private prison facility." LSA-R.S. 15:1177(A). The defendants argue that while ยง 1177 does mention inmates in the custody of the sheriff, it does not provide for judicial review of sheriffs' procedures; it only provides the venue for judicial review of the Department of Correction's decisions regarding inmates housed in a parish prison. The defendants provide no support for this interpretation, which if carried to its logical conclusion seems to imply that some inmates housed in parish prisons are governed by the Department of Corrections' administrative remedy procedure and others in the salve facility are governed by the Parish Prison's procedure. We believe that the statute, while clumsily phrased, does provide for judicial review of an adverse decision "rendered pursuant to any administrative remedy procedure under [the CARP]," including procedures adopted by sheriffs. LSA-R.S. 15:1177(A) (emphasis added).
CONCLUSION
Since we find that the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison's administrative remedy procedure is not distinguishable from the procedure at issue in Pope, the procedure is unconstitutional as applied to tort suits, and it was error for the district court to dismiss plaintiff's suit for failure to follow the unconstitutional procedure. Accordingly, the July 10, 2001 judgment is reversed and the case is remanded to the district court in its original jurisdiction. Assessment of costs of this appeal shall await final determination of the merits.
REVERSED AND REMANDED.
Kuhn, Judge, concurring with additional reasons.
Pope v. State of Louisiana, 99-2559 (La. 6/29/01), 792 So.2d 713, should not be interpreted to provide a basis for a tort suit each time a prisoner complains about being lawfully restrained by a deputy. Upon remand of this matter, the trial court should determine whether Spooner's allegations regarding the attack by Deputy Pennington are frivolous. Effective use of the judicial screening process set forth in La. R.S. 15:1188 can ensure that our trial courts will not be unnecessarily burdened with claims that should still be resolved under the Corrections Administrative Remedy Procedure, La. R. S. 1171 et seq.
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