robert-newell-carey-sprouse-gale-ollis-george-mckee-fredrick-conway , 563 F.2d 123 ( 1977 )

563 F.2d 123

Robert NEWELL, Carey Sprouse, Gale Ollis, George McKee,
Fredrick Conway, Robert Alston, Everette Shrader, Cecil
Phelps, William Riddick, Joseph Riddick, Ernest Ferrell,
Urban Frankin, Robert Taylor, Peter Land, Garland Lewis,
Joseph Cephas, Richard Howe, Dewey Carpenter, Wallace Adams,
Charlie Withers, George Kier, Fredrick Winiger, James
Anderson, Alvin Honaker, John Heidinger, Wallace Maiden,
William Davis, Ivan Marshall, Ray Fender, Larry Boone,
Marvin McClain, Fayette Tillman, Bobby Price, Donald
Fitchett, Junior Thacker, Appellants,
v.
Jack F. DAVIS, personally and in his official capacity as
Director, Department of Corrections, and W. M. Riddle,
personally and in his official capacity as Superintendent of
the State Prison, and Robert M. DeLisle, personally and in
his official capacity as Administrative Assistant to the
Superintendent for the State Prison, and Byron C. Bowden,
personally and in his official capacity as Director of the
Wage Incentive Program for the Department of Corrections,
and George Holmes, personally and in his official capacity
as Director of Enterprises for the Department of
Corrections, and Chuck Wolfe, personally and in his official
capacity as Deputy Director for the Department of
Corrections, and the Board of Directors for the Department
of Corrections for the Commonwealth of Virginia, personally
and in their official capacities; Walter Fiddler, William
Dudley, Mrs. John J. DeHart, Reverend John A. Baden, William
S. Leach, William P. Kantl, Reverend Grady W. Powell,
Bernard Leven, Mrs. Claudette Black McDaniel, and
Commonwealth of Virginia, Appellees.

No. 76-1442.

United States Court of Appeals,
Fourth Circuit.

Argued May 3, 1977.
Decided Oct. 13, 1977.

Gregory L. Murphy, Alexandria, Va. (Murphy, McGettigan, McNally & West, Alexandria, Va., on brief), for appellants.

Patrick A. O'Hare, Asst. Atty. Gen., Richmond, Va. (Anthony F. Troy, Atty. Gen. of Virginia, Richmond, Va., on brief), for appellees.

Before LEONARD P. MOORE, Senior Circuit Judge, Second Circuit, sitting by designation, and RUSSELL and WIDENER, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM:

1

By this § 1983, 42 U.S.C. action, the appellants, inmates of the Virginia State Penitentiary detailed to work in the hospital facility at the Penitentiary, seek both injunctive relief and money damages for alleged violation of their constitutional right to equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment and the constitutional inhibition against involuntary servitude under the Thirteenth Amendment, because of the denial of participation by them in an incentive pay program adopted by the State Department of Corrections. As formulated by the Department of Corrections, the incentive pay program was intended to apply only to those work activities of the inmates which produced some measurable saving or production from which monies for the program could be realized. The activity in which the plaintiffs were engaged was found by the prison administration not to meet the criteria for participation in the program. The District Court, on a stipulation of facts, found, in a well-reasoned opinion, that such classification of the plaintiffs' activity was not arbitrary or capricious.1 We affirm on the opinion of the District Court.

2

The District Court did not address the claim under the Thirteenth Amendment, perhaps because it was so obviously without merit. See, Borror v. White (W.D.Va.1974) 377 F. Supp. 181, 183; McLaughlin v. Royster (E.D.Va.1972) 346 F. Supp. 297, 311.

3

AFFIRMED.

1

Newell v. Davis (E.D.Va.1976) 437 F. Supp. 1059