# White v. Reyes

> Court of Appeals of Oregon · September 18, 2024 · 335 Or. App. 124

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/10587344

## Case

- **Court:** Court of Appeals of Oregon
- **Decided:** September 18, 2024
- **Citations:** 335 Or. App. 124; 558 P.3d 43
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Opinion
- **Cited by:** 5 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

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## Opinion text

124 September 18, 2024 No. 662

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE
STATE OF OREGON

ANTHONY SAM WHITE,
Plaintiff-Respondent,
v.
Erin REYES,
Superintendent,
Two Rivers Correctional Institution,
Defendant-Appellant.
Umatilla County Circuit Court
18CV38683; A175360

Robert W. Collins, Jr. Judge.
Argued and submitted September 1, 2022.
Joanna Hershey, Assistant Attorney General, argued
the cause for appellant. Also on the briefs were Ellen F.
Rosenblum, Attorney General, and Benjamin Gutman,
Solicitor General. On the reply brief was Robert M. Wilsey,
Assistant Attorney General.
Margaret V. Huntington argued the cause for respon-
dent. Also on the brief was O’Connor Weber LLC.
Before Ortega, Presiding Judge, and Powers, Judge, and
Hellman, Judge.
HELLMAN, J.
Affirmed.
Powers, J., dissenting.
Cite as 335 Or App 124 (2024) 125

HELLMAN, J.
Defendant, the superintendent of the institution
where plaintiff was incarcerated, appeals a supplemen-
tal judgment that held defendant in contempt of court and
ordered plaintiff’s release. On appeal, defendant raises
two assignments of error.1 Specifically, he argues that the
habeas court erred by finding him in contempt and by order-
ing plaintiff’s release.2 Although defendant contends that
the court should have terminated jurisdiction after he com-
plied with the general judgment and its subsequent orders,
the evidence supports the court’s determinations that defen-
dant willfully violated the general judgment and that his
deliberate indifference continued through the pendency of
the case. Therefore, we conclude that the court did not err
and affirm the supplemental judgment.
I. FACTS
We state the facts in the light most favorable to plain-
tiff, the party who moved for the contempt finding. Elizabeth
Lofts Condo Owners’ v. Victaulic Co., 293 Or App 572, 574,
428 P3d 952 (2018). In 2014, plaintiff entered Department of
Corrections (DOC) custody after committing a robbery and
sustaining a gunshot wound that rendered him paraplegic.
In 2018, plaintiff filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus
and alleged that defendant was deliberately indifferent to
his medical condition and refused to provide him medically
necessary care. Plaintiff sought injunctive relief, including
“a higher pain medication management plan” and evalua-
tions by a physiatrist and pain management specialist.3

1
Defendant raised a third assignment of error contending that the court
erred by requiring him to provide plaintiff with post-release services. We agree
with defendant that his argument has been rendered moot because he provided
plaintiff those services upon release.
2
Because defendant notes that “the superintendent at the time of the proceed-
ings was Tyler Blewett” and refers to defendant as “he” in the briefs, we do so here.
3
In June 2019, following the trial, plaintiff sought a temporary order con-
cerning his medication. Plaintiff asked the court to “order his transfer to a prison
in Marion County as part of any relief received” and stated that he “[had] no
other alternative remedy available than the pending habeas action.” In its Post
Trial Rebuttal memorandum, defendant did not address plaintiff’s request for
a transfer and maintained that he was “providing constitutionally appropri-
ate medical care for all of Plaintiff’s medical needs alleged in his Replication,”
including plaintiff’s chronic pain.
126 White v. Reyes

In his trial memorandum, plaintiff requested “immediate
release and/or injunctive release.”
In July 2019, the habeas court entered a gen-
eral judgment and concluded that defendant had violated
the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution
because he had “failed to provide [plaintiff] adequate med-
ical treatment.” The court made extensive findings of fact.
Specifically, the court found that defendant had approved
plaintiff to see a physiatrist in 2014 but failed to provide
the appointment. Even though plaintiff’s medical records
referenced “ongoing physical therapy,” defendant had pro-
vided plaintiff only one physical therapy session in 2015;
subsequent sessions were “exercise sessions supervised
by an untrained individual[.]” As a result, the court found
that “approved and recommended medical interventions
have been denied to [plaintiff]” and caused plaintiff “to suf-
fer extreme pain and discomfort and lose the opportunity
for possible relief over a period of four-and-a-half years,
thus impairing the quality of his life and opportunities for
improvement.”
The court also made findings about defendant’s
management of plaintiff’s medications. For example, the
court found that defendant had discontinued one of plain-
tiff’s pain medications “in favor of * * * a pain medication
that is typically weaker and less effective” and discontinued
another medication that had known withdrawal symptoms
without consulting plaintiff. Thus, the court concluded that
defendant was “deliberately indifferent in diagnosing and
treating plaintiff’s medical needs.”
In the section titled “judgment,” the habeas court
issued the following orders.
“1. ODOC is to provide consultation and evaluation
with a board certified Physiatrist (spinal cord injury med-
ical specialist) in a reasonable amount of time for diagnos-
tic analysis and full medical review of Plaintiff’s condition
and possible medical interventions to improve pain, muscle
spasm, and overall levels of Plaintiff’s physical and mental
functional abilities.
“2. ODOC is directed to provide Physical Therapy
with a licensed Physical Therapist to commence within a
Cite as 335 Or App 124 (2024) 127

reasonable period of time and to continue until no longer
indicated in the opinion of the treating Physical Therapist.
“3. ODOC is directed to restore the drugs [G]abapen-
tin and Zanaflex as previously prescribed and utilized by
Petitioner and to make no further changes to Petitioner’s
medications until examination and review of drug regimen
by a qualified Physiatrist and as recommended and pre-
scribed by a board certified Physiatrist.”
The court retained jurisdiction to ensure that defendant
complied with the judgment, and defendant did not appeal
that judgment.
About three weeks after the habeas court entered
the judgment, plaintiff filed a motion for an emergency hear-
ing because defendant had failed to provide one of plaintiff’s
medications. After the hearing, the court declined to hold
defendant in contempt, but ordered the parties to submit
an update within 14 days “as to whether or not there is cur-
rently compliance with the terms of the General Judgment.”
In response, defendant filed a memorandum asserting that
he had complied with the general judgment and requesting
that the court terminate jurisdiction. Defendant stated that
plaintiff had a physiatry appointment in September 2019,
received two physical therapy sessions, and was scheduled
for two more sessions. Defendant acknowledged that the
physiatrist recommended continuing plaintiff’s Gabapentin
and Zanaflex, discontinuing Baclofen, and obtaining a
wheelchair evaluation from a physical therapist to improve
plaintiff’s back pain.
In a January 2020 hearing, the habeas court found
that the physiatrist had said that it was appropriate and
could be beneficial for plaintiff to see a pain specialist.
Although defendant argued that the general judgment did
not require him to comply with all of the physiatrist’s rec-
ommendations or to send plaintiff to additional specialists
and to follow those specialists’ recommendations, the court
ordered defendant to provide a pain specialist appoint-
ment within 30 days. The court retained jurisdiction and
explained that it wanted DOC to be “more proactive about
finding solutions and ways to assist [plaintiff] with his pain
issues[.]”
128 White v. Reyes

In February 2020, a physical therapist evaluated
plaintiff’s wheelchair and observed numerous problems.
Specifically, the physical therapist noted that the chair
aggravated plaintiff’s chronic back pain and that it was “old,
worn out, and does not have the seating required to help pro-
vide posture support that [plaintiff] needs.” Moreover, the
wheelchair had worn brakes, broken arm rests “covered in
tape,” and the bearings needed replacing because they pre-
vented the chair from rolling easily. Thus, the physical ther-
apist recommended a custom wheelchair that cost $4,698.
That month, a pain specialist evaluated plaintiff
and recommended increasing plaintiff’s Gabapentin dos-
age and a follow-up appointment. Soon afterward, plaintiff
filed motions requesting an emergency hearing, discharge
under ORS 34.610(2), and that the court find defendant in
contempt. Although plaintiff acknowledged that the origi-
nal imprisonment was lawful, he argued that “defendant’s
willingness to continue to exercise deliberate indifference
to plaintiff’s serious medical needs is unlawful, and cannot
apparently be ameliorated while plaintiff is in defendant’s
custody.” As a consequence, plaintiff “ask[ed] for discharge,
with all appropriate supervision in the community so he
may seek and receive the adequate medical care he needs.
There is no other apparent remedy available in this circum-
stance.” Defendant responded that,
“Neither defendant’s deliberate decision to not increase the
Gabapentin nor the inadvertent issue with the Zanaflex
medication violated the judgment in this case or this
Court’s subsequent orders. As Defendants have complied
with the plain language of this Court’s order, there is no
basis for such a finding, or such a drastic remedy such as
release.”
At the emergency hearing, defendant contended
that DOC had discretion to determine medically appropri-
ate treatment “in the light of a corrections context” and that
the court did not order him to comply with all of the pain
specialist’s recommendations. The habeas court disagreed
and explained that it had wanted a pain specialist to eval-
uate plaintiff to provide “the most recent recommendations
and trends and modalities that are available to a patient
with his unique condition.” Although the court did not order
Cite as 335 Or App 124 (2024) 129

defendant to comply with the pain specialist’s recommen-
dations, the court ordered defendant to provide a follow-up
appointment with the pain specialist within 14 days. Before
the 14 days had elapsed, defendant represented that he can-
celled “all non-essential outside medical appointments” due
to the COVID-19 virus, and that plaintiff would receive a
follow-up appointment “at the earliest possible date.”
In April 2020, the court ordered defendant to sched-
ule the follow-up appointment and to implement the pain
specialist’s recommendations within seven days. Defendant
filed a motion for reconsideration and ultimately provided
the appointment. Defendant represented that the pain
specialist modified the initial recommendations, including
continuing plaintiff’s current Gabapentin dose and begin-
ning Baclofen and morphine. Defendant stated that plain-
tiff’s “medications currently mirror[ed]” the pain specialist’s
recommendations.
In June 2020, plaintiff again requested discharge.
Plaintiff contended that defendant misconstrued the court’s
orders “to such a narrow degree as to render them meaning-
less.” Specifically, plaintiff contended that defendant refused
to comply with the pain specialist’s initial recommendation
to increase plaintiff’s Gabapentin and to provide plaintiff
with the recommended wheelchair. Plaintiff also asked the
court to hold defendant in contempt and argued for monetary
sanctions. Defendant maintained that he had complied with
the general judgment’s “plain language” and all subsequent
orders. Defendant reiterated that the court did not direct
him to follow all of the pain specialist’s recommendations
but instead “simply required Defendant to send Plaintiff to
a consultation.” After stating that it was “very unhappy with
what has from the beginning appeared to be a cavalier indif-
ference,” the court ordered defendant to provide plaintiff a
follow-up appointment with the pain specialist and to “follow
and implement all of [the pain specialist’s] recommendations
with all immediate speed.” The court also prohibited defen-
dant from changing plaintiff’s medications “other than to
implement [the pain specialist’s] recommendations.”
In July 2020, the habeas court heard testimony
concerning defendant’s refusal to purchase the wheelchair
130 White v. Reyes

that the physical therapist had recommended. Although
defendant had represented in March 2020 that plaintiff
“was approved to undertake debt to obtain the wheelchair,”
DOC ultimately denied plaintiff’s request and told him that
he would need to save funds to buy the chair. Defendant
explained that DOC policy requires adults in custody to
purchase their own wheelchairs when they refuse DOC
wheelchairs. After the court found defendant’s conduct
“unconscionable” and ordered defendant to provide plaintiff
a wheelchair that met the physical therapist’s specifications,
defendant ordered the wheelchair and provided plaintiff a
temporary wheelchair.
During the same hearing, plaintiff’s primary care
physician testified that even though plaintiff was receiving
the maximum allowable Gabapentin dose under DOC policy,
it would be “reasonable” to increase the dosage to the pain
specialist’s recommendation. After reiterating that it had
retained jurisdiction to ensure compliance with its orders,
the habeas court declined to order defendant’s physicians
“to administer medications that they think are harmful or
potentially risky within the prison environment.” However,
the court stated that it would order plaintiff’s release in 60
days if defendant did not comply with its orders.
Plaintiff had another appointment with the pain
specialist in August 2020. Although the pain specialist
repeated his initial recommendation to increase plaintiff’s
Gabapentin dosage, “recommend[ed] continuing Baclofen,”
and suggested that DOC “[c]onsider continuing [morphine],”
defendant again refused to increase the Gabapentin due
to DOC physicians’ “medical judgment” and potential
“over-sedation” concerns. Consequently, DOC “made sev-
eral decisions” and created its own treatment plan, which
included decreasing plaintiff’s Baclofen and discontinuing
his morphine.
In a November 2020 emergency hearing, the habeas
court announced that it would order plaintiff’s release
“because it’s unconscionable and inhumane for him to live
with the kind of continuing pain that he is experiencing.”
The court also held DOC’s Medical Division in contempt.
Cite as 335 Or App 124 (2024) 131

In January 2021, the habeas court entered a sup-
plemental judgment and found that defendant was in con-
tempt because he willfully refused to comply with the court’s
orders to follow the physiatrist and pain specialist’s rec-
ommendations “and in some cases carelessly had failed to
provide medications as directed, causing Plaintiff to suffer
excruciating and preventable physical pain and emotional
suffering in a manner that the court has found to be both
avoidable and inhumane.” Moreover, the court found that
defendant’s “infliction of pain and suffering extends past
the initial grant of habeas relief to November 18, 2020” and
that plaintiff “suffers from defendant’s deliberate indiffer-
ence in the conditions of his confinement.” Thus, the court
ordered plaintiff’s release because it had “exhausted any
hope” that defendant would comply with the pain special-
ist’s recommendations. Defendant appeals the supplemental
judgment.
II. ANALYSIS
A. January 2021 Contempt Finding
Defendant contends that the habeas court erred
when it found him in contempt and argues that plaintiff’s
release was an improper remedy for that contempt. “We
review a contempt judgment for any evidence to support
the trial court’s findings and, if such evidence exists, we
determine whether the court’s findings support the conclu-
sion that a party is in contempt[.]” OEA v. Oregon Taxpayers
United, 253 Or App 288, 303, 291 P3d 202 (2012). We con-
clude that the court did not err.
Contempt of court is the willful “[d]isobedience of,
resistance to or obstruction of the court’s authority, process,
orders or judgments.” ORS 33.015(2)(b). In other words, a
party is in contempt when it has knowledge of a valid order
and willfully disobeys that order. State v. Beleke, 287 Or App
417, 421, 403 P3d 481, rev den, 362 Or 208 (2017). Defendant
argues that he did not willfully violate the general judgment
and that he complied with the court’s subsequent orders
even though those orders were invalid. We disagree.
We begin with whether the habeas court erred by
concluding that defendant willfully violated the general
132 White v. Reyes

judgment. Defendant does not dispute the judgment’s valid-
ity or his knowledge of the judgment. Rather, defendant
argues that the evidence does not support the finding that
he willfully violated the judgment.
A violation is willful when it is made “intentionally
and with knowledge that the act or omission was forbidden
conduct.” State v. Mohammed, 301 Or App 367, 370, 456
P3d 661 (2019), rev den, 366 Or 493 (2020) (quoting State
v. Nicholson, 282 Or App 51, 62, 383 P3d 977 (2016)). “One
way to prove that the violation of a court order is willful is
by showing that a defendant, knowing that particular con-
duct was prohibited by the order, engaged in the prohibited
conduct.” State v. Guzman-Vera, 305 Or App 161, 166, 469
P3d 842, rev den, 367 Or 115 (2020). A party also willfully
violates an order when the party “knew about the order but
chose to ignore it, and then failed to comply with the order’s
requirements in that state of elective ignorance.” Id.
Defendant represents that the general judgment
ordered “three discrete terms” and that he complied with
those terms. Defendant contends that he satisfied the first
requirement by providing plaintiff a physiatry appointment
and that the physiatrist’s statement about referring plaintiff
to a pain specialist was “merely a suggestion.” We disagree.
Defendant’s narrow interpretation of the general
judgment disregards the context in which the habeas court
entered the judgment. We have explained that a judicial
opinion “must be read as a whole and must be read with the
understanding that the court intended it to make sense.”
Union Oil Co. v. Board of Co. Comm. of Clack. Co., 81 Or App
1, 6, 724 P2d 341 (1986) (rejecting petitioner’s attempt to
treat tests and factors from the same opinion as “wholly
independent” of each other). Thus, a party may not construe
an opinion’s specific terms in isolation. Id. Even when a
court issues an ambiguous judgment, “[w]e have the author-
ity and, perhaps, the obligation” to construe the judgment in
“light of the record to give effect to the trial court’s intent.”
Gourley v. Towery, 82 Or App 32, 35, 727 P2d 144 (1986). If
a court makes inconsistent findings, “we favor those that
support the relief that the post-conviction court granted, as
Cite as 335 Or App 124 (2024) 133

long as there is evidence to support them.” Kincek v. Hall,
217 Or App 227, 236, 175 P3d 496 (2007).
The general judgment determined that defendant
had violated the Eighth Amendment because defendant
“failed to provide adequate medical treatment” and that
defendant was “deliberately indifferent in diagnosing and
treating plaintiff’s medical needs.” In that context, the
general judgment cannot be reasonably understood in the
manner in which defendant asserts—as merely requiring
defendant to provide one physiatry appointment and up to
four physical therapy appointments. The judgment was put
in place to ensure that defendant provided adequate medi-
cal treatment and diagnosed and treated plaintiff’s medical
needs. And the judgment specifically ordered defendant to
provide plaintiff with a physiatry appointment for analysis
of “possible medical interventions to improve pain, muscle
spasm, and overall levels of Plaintiff’s physical and mental
functional abilities.” In that context, a medical appointment
by itself would not cure the Eighth Amendment violation.
Taken as a whole, the judgment clearly contemplated that
defendant would implement the physiatrist’s recommen-
dations to manage and treat plaintiff’s pain, thereby pro-
viding constitutionally required medical care. Contrary to
defendant’s argument, by sending plaintiff to a physiatrist
for “consultation and evaluation” but then refusing to fol-
low or implement the physiatrist’s recommendations, defen-
dant did not provide plaintiff adequate medical treatment
or treat his medical needs, especially in light of the court’s
prior finding of Eighth Amendment deliberate indifference.
Moreover, defendant’s conduct in response to the
general judgment demonstrates that he did not interpret
the general judgment as narrowly as he advances on appeal.
In his memorandum seeking to terminate the habeas
court’s jurisdiction, defendant explicitly stated that he had
complied with the general judgment and that “[the phys-
iatrist] made several findings and recommendations about
Plaintiff’s condition and treatment going forward, which
ODOC will follow as outlined above.” (Emphasis added.)
Defendant thus understood that compliance with the judg-
ment included implementing and following the physiatrist’s
134 White v. Reyes

recommendations. Therefore, defendant’s failure to “follow”
the physiatrist’s recommendations, despite relying on that
promised compliance as a basis to terminate jurisdiction,
is sufficient evidence to support the habeas court’s finding
that defendant willfully violated the general judgment.
But that is not the only evidence of defendant’s will-
ful disobedience of the court’s order. As a stark example,
the record demonstrates that defendant obstructed plain-
tiff’s ability to obtain a recommended wheelchair. After the
physiatrist recommended that a physical therapist evalu-
ate plaintiff’s wheelchair to improve plaintiff’s back pain,
defendant provided plaintiff that appointment. The physi-
cal therapist found that plaintiff’s current chair aggravated
plaintiff’s back pain and did not adequately support his
posture. The wheelchair also was in serious disrepair—the
armrests were broken and “covered in tape,” the brakes
were worn, the bearings needed replacing, and it did not
roll easily. Citing DOC policy, defendant refused to pay for
the recommended chair because DOC did not offer it and
because plaintiff “should be able to be accommodated by
DOC wheelchairs.” Defendant further barred plaintiff from
undertaking personal debt to purchase it.
Again, defendant’s actions must be viewed in con-
text of the habeas court’s determination that defendant’s
mistreatment of plaintiff over the course of four years
amounted to an Eighth Amendment violation. Compliance
with the general judgment to remedy that constitutional vio-
lation required defendant to provide needed medical care to
plaintiff. Instead, he raised administrative roadblocks and
repeatedly reinterpreted expert recommendations. Because
the general judgment explicitly directed defendant to pro-
vide plaintiff with medical care in a way that would remedy
the constitutional violations, defendant’s decision to ignore
those directions and to continue to rely on his own constitu-
tionally deficient practices to treat plaintiff’s pain demon-
strates that he willfully violated the general judgment.
In sum, we are not persuaded by defendant’s inter-
pretation of the general judgment. See Union Oil Co., 81
Or App at 6. The general judgment ordered defendant to
provide plaintiff with a physiatry appointment to address
Cite as 335 Or App 124 (2024) 135

plaintiff’s “extreme pain” and functional abilities. Thus,
when understood in context, the judgment required defen-
dant to implement the physiatrist’s recommendations to
cure the Eighth Amendment violation. Despite the court’s
extensive findings that defendant’s omissions had impaired
plaintiff’s opportunity for improvement over several years—
findings that defendant does not dispute—defendant con-
tended that he was not required to comply with the phys-
iatrist’s recommendations, then unilaterally selected which
recommendations to follow and which to ignore. Therefore,
ample evidence supports the habeas court’s conclusion that
defendant willfully violated the general judgment. Because
the habeas court did not err when it determined that defen-
dant willfully violated the general judgment, we do not reach
defendant’s argument that he complied with the habeas
court’s subsequent orders.
B. Plaintiff’s Release from Custody
We now turn to defendant’s two arguments con-
cerning plaintiff’s release.4
First, defendant argues that the habeas court erred by
releasing plaintiff because release is not an available rem-
edy for a finding of contempt. Second, defendant argues that
the habeas court erred when it released plaintiff because
plaintiff was required to file new habeas petitions under
ORS chapter 34 concerning any constitutional violations
that occurred after the habeas court entered the general
judgment.5 We need not decide whether plaintiff’s release
is an improper remedy for defendant’s contempt because, as
4
We understand the parties and the habeas court to have used the terms
“release” and “discharge” interchangeably. Accordingly, we describe the parties’
arguments as they presented them to the habeas court, and we use those terms
interchangeably as well for the purposes of this opinion.
5
Plaintiff contends that defendant did not preserve his argument that the
habeas court erred in ordering plaintiff’s release as a remedy for contempt even
though the court discussed plaintiff’s release in November 2020 and December
2020. We observe that following the December 2020, hearing defendant objected
to plaintiff’s proposed supplemental judgment and contended that he was not
in contempt and that the court could not direct defendant to provide different
medical care or release plaintiff without a new finding of deliberate indifference.
Because defendant’s objections identified the relevant issue, plaintiff’s release,
we conclude that defendant’s argument is adequately preserved. See State v.
Kamph, 297 Or App 687, 694, 442 P3d 1129 (2019) (explaining that “the descend-
ing hierarchy of importance in evaluating whether an issue is preserved is first
136 White v. Reyes

explained below, ORS 34.610 and the record demonstrate
that plaintiff’s release was a lawful remedy for the Eighth
Amendment violation raised in his writ of habeas corpus.
We review a court’s judgment granting habeas cor-
pus relief for errors of law. Alexander v. Gower, 200 Or App
22, 24, 113 P3d 917 (2005), rev den, 340 Or 34 (2006). “To
the extent that the trial court’s factual findings are sup-
ported by evidence in the record, those findings will not be
disturbed.” Id.
Although defendant never disputed below that
release is a lawful remedy in a habeas corpus proceeding,
and does not do so on appeal,6 we have an independent duty
to correctly interpret the statute at issue. Stull v. Hoke, 326
Or 72, 77, 948 P2d 722 (1997) (“In construing a statute, this
court is responsible for identifying the correct interpreta-
tion, whether or not asserted by the parties.”). Using our
familiar framework, State v. Gaines, 346 Or 160, 206 P3d
1042 (2009), we determine that a habeas court may order
an adult in custody’s discharge under ORS 34.610(2) when
the court has found that prison officials were deliberately
indifferent under Article I, section 16, and the Eighth
Amendment and that the officials’ failure to cure the consti-
tutional violation is so significant that the adult in custody’s
sentence is no longer lawful and instead constitutes cruel
and unusual punishment.
We begin with the statute’s text and context. Gaines,
346 Or at 166. Under ORS 34.610(2), a “prisoner shall be
discharged” if “[t]he original imprisonment was lawful, yet
by some act, omission or event which has taken place after-
wards, the party has become entitled to be discharged.” We
have explained that,
and most important, identifying the issue; second, and less important, identify-
ing the source of law; and third, and least important, the particular argument”).
6
We observe that defendant advanced only fact-based arguments concerning
plaintiff’s release to the habeas court and did not challenge the court’s authority
to order release as a remedy in a habeas case alleging deliberate indifference to
serious medical needs. Specifically, he contended that release was not appropri-
ate because he had complied with the general judgment. Similarly, on appeal,
defendant acknowledges that, “ordering an inmate’s release and discharge from
sentence is a proper remedy in a habeas corpus action” and stated at oral argu-
ment that “with habeas corpus, the trial court has some options. The primary
option is to order a plaintiff to be released from custody.”
Cite as 335 Or App 124 (2024) 137

“[ORS 34.610] confirms that an inmate can challenge
the authority for his or her continued confinement—even
though the inmate initially was incarcerated under a law-
ful judgment—if some later act, omission, or event has
made continued confinement unlawful. By referring with-
out restriction to ‘some act, omission or event,’ the statute
places no limit on the permissible legal sources for claims
that an inmate is entitled to discharge.”
Colby v. Thompson, 183 Or App 311, 317, 52 P3d 1058 (2002),
rev den, 335 Or 180 (2003) (emphasis added).
We also consider the “surrounding statutory frame-
work.” Morsman v. City of Madras, 203 Or App 546, 561, 126
P3d 6, rev den, 340 Or 483 (2006). ORS chapter 34 governs
habeas corpus proceedings. Bedell v. Schiedler, 307 Or 562,
565, 770 P2d 909 (1989). In particular, it codifies the writ
of habeas corpus and provides certain processes and pro-
cedures when litigating those cases. ORS 34.310 - 34.370.
As relevant here, the Supreme Court adopted the Eight
Amendment deliberate indifference standard for habeas
corpus relief and has held that plaintiffs can bring habeas
corpus cases to challenge their medical care:
“We hold that the Eighth Amendment’s ‘deliberate indif-
ference to serious medical needs’ standard is the appropri-
ate standard under Article I, section 16. To state a cogniza-
ble claim for habeas corpus relief under Article I, section
16, a prisoner must allege that the prisoner has a serious
medical need that has not been treated in a timely and
proper manner and that prison officials have been deliber-
ately indifferent to the prisoner’s serious medical needs.” 7
Billings v. Gates, 323 Or 167, 180-81, 916 P2d 291 (1996)
(quoting Estelle v. Gamble, 429 US 97, 106, 97 S Ct 285, 50
L Ed 2d 251 (1976)); see also Estelle, 429 US at 102 (“Thus,
we have held repugnant to the Eighth Amendment punish-
ments which are incompatible with the evolving standards
of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society.”
(Internal quotation marks omitted.)).
ORS 34.310 provides that “[e]very person impris-
oned or otherwise restrained of liberty, within this state,
7
Article I, section 16, provides, in relevant part, that “[c]ruel and unusual
punishments shall not be inflicted, but all penalties shall be proportioned to the
offense.”
138 White v. Reyes

except in the cases specified in ORS 34.330, may prosecute
a writ of habeas corpus to inquire into the cause of such
imprisonment or restraint, and if illegal, to be delivered
therefrom.” By its terms, ORS 34.310 differentiates between
people who are “imprisoned” and those who are “otherwise
restrained of liberty,” and allows both groups to seek writs
of habeas corpus. We have previously recognized that even
adults in custody who are incarcerated pursuant to valid
judgments may nonetheless suffer from additional restraints
on their liberty, such as solitary confinement or other phys-
ical restraints, or mistreatment resulting in a deprivation
of constitutional rights. Penrod/Brown v. Cupp, 283 Or 21,
581 P2d 934 (1978). In Penrod/Brown, we explained that
the additional restraints created a “prison within a prison”
from which the adult in custody could seek release. Id. at 25.
Finally, under ORS 34.720, “A person who has been finally
discharged upon a proceeding by habeas corpus may not
again be imprisoned, restrained or kept in custody for the
same cause.”8
In sum, ORS 34.610(2) allows an adult in custody to
seek habeas relief—including discharge—when the circum-
stances of an originally lawful imprisonment change such
that the adult in custody becomes entitled to discharge.
Even though plaintiff argued that defendant’s conduct vio-
lated Article I, section 16, and the Eighth Amendment, ORS
34.610 “places no limit on the permissible legal sources for
claims that an inmate is entitled to discharge.” Colby, 183
Or App at 317.

8
We do not consider the statute’s inconclusive legislative history helpful in
our statutory construction analysis. To be sure, as the dissent points out, some of
the remarks could be interpreted to support an understanding that discharge is
not available if a plaintiff seeks habeas relief challenging the conditions of con-
finement. But the legislators did not specifically discuss how the statute would
apply if a superintendent refused to comply with court orders designed to cure an
Eighth Amendment violation and the plaintiff was required to endure a sentence
that amounted to cruel and unusual punishment. In any event, inconclusive
and ambiguous legislative history does not alter the statute’s plain text, which
expressly authorizes discharge in plaintiff’s case. See Gaines, 346 Or at 172-73
(“[A] party seeking to overcome seemingly plain and unambiguous text with leg-
islative history has a difficult task before it. * * * ORS 174.020 obligates the court
to consider proffered legislative history for whatever it is worth—and what it is
worth is for the court to decide.”).
Cite as 335 Or App 124 (2024) 139

The text and context of ORS 34.610(2) demonstrate
that when a plaintiff alleges deliberate indifference to a
serious medical need and a court finds that prison officials
have been deliberately indifferent to that need, the habeas
court properly orders the plaintiff’s discharge from the ille-
gal “restraint” and requires the officials to give the plain-
tiff necessary medical care. By providing that necessary
medical care, prison officials “release” the plaintiff from the
“prison within a prison” and maintain a lawful basis to hold
the adult in custody. However, if prison officials refuse to
follow the court’s order and continue to provide constitution-
ally inadequate medical care, then the illegal “restraint”
remains. In that situation, by virtue of the prison officials’
actions, the plaintiff is forced to serve a sentence that
amounts to cruel and unusual punishment, which is prohib-
ited by the Article I, section 16, and the Eighth Amendment.
Just as a court is prohibited from sentencing a person to a
term of imprisonment that violates those constitutional pro-
visions, prison officials’ actions and omissions cannot create
conditions of imprisonment that violate Article I, section 16,
and the Eighth Amendment. If they do so, the officials are
no longer holding the plaintiff lawfully, but in violation of
the plaintiff’s constitutional rights. Thus, even though the
“original imprisonment was lawful,” a lawful sentence that
becomes unconstitutional entitles an adult in custody to dis-
charge under ORS 34.610(2).
Although this is the first time that we have explic-
itly held that a court can order a discharge in a habeas case
under Article I, section 16, and the Eighth Amendment,
we anticipate that our decision will have limited practical
effect. That is because “[t]he deliberate indifference stan-
dard is high[.]” Easley v. Bowser, 306 Or App 460, 462, 474
P3d 915 (2020) (internal quotation marks omitted); see also
Billings, 323 Or at 181 (“Deliberate indifference to serious
medical needs of prisoners constitutes the unnecessary and
wanton infliction of pain[.]”). Our review of the case law
indicates that the allegations of adults in custody regarding
their medical treatment rarely meet the high standard to
allege or prove deliberate indifference. See, e.g., Woodroffe
v. Nooth, 257 Or App 704, 712, 308 P3d 225, rev den, 354 Or
491 (2013) (concluding “that plaintiff failed to establish a
140 White v. Reyes

genuine issue of material fact with respect to his assertion
that defendant has been deliberately indifferent in treating
his ADHD”); Shelton v. Armenakis, 146 Or App 521, 524,
934 P2d 512 (1997) (“[P]laintiff has failed to controvert the
evidence submitted by defendant that his condition has been
treated in a timely and proper manner and that defendant
has not been deliberately indifferent to his medical needs.”).
When courts do find deliberate indifference, prison
officials should swiftly cure constitutional violations by pro-
viding the needed medical care, thus ensuring that adults in
custody are no longer subject to cruel and unusual punish-
ment. In those cases, the officials’ compliance with a court
order to provide medical treatment should suffice to release
the adult in custody from the unconstitutional restraint.
Indeed, under Article I, section 16, the Eighth Amendment,
and ORS chapter 34, discharge from custody will only be
available in the rare cases when, after a court finds that
prison officials violate an adult in custody’s constitutional
rights through deliberate indifference, the prison officials
fail to cure the deliberate indifference and continue to sub-
ject the adult in custody to cruel and unusual punishment.
Because that was the case for plaintiff here, release was an
available remedy under ORS 34.610(2).
The dissent faults us for not providing more specific
guidance on when a plaintiff would be entitled to discharge
if “alternative remedies,” such as transfer to a different insti-
tution under ORS 34.320, could address a constitutional vio-
lation. 335 Or App at 148-49 (Powers, J., dissenting). We
decline to opine on factual situations not before us or to cre-
ate a different rule for habeas cases that involve an Eighth
Amendment claim. Instead, we hold that, as is true in all
habeas cases, a plaintiff pursuing an Eighth Amendment
claim is “entitled to be discharged” when, at the time of the
request, discharge is necessary to cure the constitutional
violation. In this case, the superintendent persistently
refused to follow the court’s orders and maintained that he
had complied with the general judgment. As a consequence,
at the time of the November 2020 emergency hearing, dis-
charge was necessary to cure the Eighth Amendment viola-
tion. Although a habeas court presented with different facts
Cite as 335 Or App 124 (2024) 141

could conceivably determine that other remedies short of
discharge—such as transfer—would be sufficient to cure an
Eighth Amendment violation, that is not the case before us.
Therefore, we decline to further address the issue.
Having determined that the statute allows for the
relief the habeas court granted, we turn to the arguments
that defendant did raise below and to us. Defendant argues
that plaintiff advanced new complaints “under the guise of
noncompliance hearings” and that the habeas court improp-
erly “granted plaintiff habeas relief based on plaintiff’s
post-judgment complaints about his medical treatment.”
According to defendant, plaintiff was instead required to
allege any new constitutional violations in separate habeas
petitions and the court was required to “employ the appro-
priate statutory procedures for litigating a habeas claim”
provided in ORS chapter 34 to “ensure that the court is look-
ing at the issue through the lens of a constitutional violation
and not in terms of whether a party has complied with or
violated a court order.”9 In response, plaintiff argues that
the court “did not grant new or additional habeas relief to
plaintiff. Rather, the orders provided more specific direction
on how to achieve the original intent of the general judg-
ment.” We agree with plaintiff.
Defendant’s arguments against release rely on
the premise that the habeas court erred when it deter-
mined that defendant did not comply with the general judg-
ment. We have concluded otherwise, and our answer above
resolves that issue here. Although defendant argues that he
complied with the general judgment by September 2019, we
reject defendant’s view of the record. As discussed above,
sufficient evidence supports the court’s determination that
defendant willfully disobeyed the general judgment and
that the constitutional violation—defendant’s deliberate
indifference—continued through the pendency of the case.
Therefore, plaintiff was not required to file new petitions
alleging deprivation of his rights.
The dissent focuses on the fact that plaintiff did not
seek release in his initial petition or his replication. That
9
Defendant relies on ORS 34.362, ORS 34.340, ORS 34.421, ORS 34.680,
ORS 34.670, and ORS 34.695.
142 White v. Reyes

omission is not dispositive to the habeas court’s authority to
discharge plaintiff for at least three reasons.
First, ORS chapter 34 does not require that a plain-
tiff plead a particular remedy in the replication. Under ORS
34.670, the plaintiff in the replication may controvert facts
in the defendant’s return and also “may allege therein any
fact to show, either that imprisonment or restraint of the
plaintiff is unlawful, or that the plaintiff is entitled to dis-
charge.” That is, the plaintiff is required to allege facts suf-
ficient to state a claim but is not required to plead a particu-
lar remedy. Cf. Bedell, 307 Or at 567 (“The replication must
allege with particularity facts which, if true, would entitle
the plaintiff to habeas corpus relief.”). That statute then
states that it is the court’s role to fashion the appropriate
remedy after hearing the evidence, providing: “Thereupon
the court or judge shall proceed in a summary way to hear
such evidence as may be produced in support of or against
the imprisonment or restraint, and to dispose of the party
as the law and justice of the case may require.” ORS 34.670
(emphasis added). Thus, the statute permitted the court to
order plaintiff’s release “as the law and justice of the case”
required.
Second, under ORCP 23 B, an issue can be tried by
express or implied consent, even if it is not included in the
original pleading.10 And when an issue is tried by express
or implied consent, “a pleading for all practical and legal
purposes is automatically amended.” Ogle v. Nooth, 365 Or
771, 789, 453 P3d 1274 (2019) (quoting Whinston v. Kaiser
Foundation Hospital, 309 Or 350, 788 P2d 428 (1990), over-
ruled in part on other grounds by Shoup v. Wal-Mart Stores,
Inc., 335 Or 164, 61 P3d 928 (2003) (emphasis omitted)). In
Ogle, the Supreme Court held that an undisputed issue is
tried by implied consent when the adverse party fails “to
object to evidence that is clearly directed to a new issue” or
responds on the merits to the issue. 365 Or at 798, 791.
In this case, plaintiff requested release in his
trial memorandum and in his post-judgment filings and
10
“Unless the habeas corpus statutes provide otherwise, the Oregon Rules
of Civil Procedure govern habeas corpus actions.” Villarreal v. Thompson, 142
Or App 29, 31, 920 P2d 1108 (1996).
Cite as 335 Or App 124 (2024) 143

hearings. Although defendant objected to release as a rem-
edy for contempt, defendant never argued that discharge was
unavailable as a remedy for the habeas violations. Instead,
defendant insisted that he had complied with the general
judgment. Defendant’s fact-based arguments amounted to a
response on the merits of the issue and lead to a conclusion
that the issue was tried by implied consent.
Finally, discharge is not a legal claim. It is a type of
relief that can be requested. And ORCP 67 C allows a trial
court to grant relief “different in kind from or exceeding
the amount prayed for in the pleadings” after “reasonable
notice and opportunity to be heard are given to any party
against whom the judgment is to be entered.” Here, plain-
tiff’s repeated requests provided defendant that notice and
opportunity to be heard.11
Although our opinion has engaged with numerous
complex legal doctrines, this case is ultimately about prison
officials’ mistreatment of a human being who was in their
custody. On that note, we observe that when it ultimately
ordered plaintiff’s discharge, the habeas court explained
that discharge was appropriate because defendant’s con-
duct caused “[p]laintiff to suffer excruciating and prevent-
able physical pain and emotional suffering in a manner that
the court has found to be both avoidable and inhumane.”
Defendant points to no case law that limits a habeas court’s
authority to order discharge when a person becomes entitled
to it after a prison official fails to comply with the court-
ordered remedy to cure a constitutional violation. Because
sufficient evidence supports the court’s determination that
defendant did not cure the deliberate indifference, the court
did not err when it ordered discharge.
Affirmed.
POWERS, J., dissenting.
The majority opinion affirms a supplemental judg-
ment in a habeas corpus case that grants relief not sought
by plaintiff in the replication. The relief that the trial court
granted and that is affirmed by the majority opinion is
11
In Ogle, the Supreme Court also considered the issue of lack of prejudice in
determining that the issue was tried by implied consent. 365 Or at 791.
144 White v. Reyes

plaintiff’s release—not just from the prison where officials
were adjudged to be deliberately indifferent to plaintiff’s
medical care, but release from incarceration altogether—
thereby shortening a lawfully imposed sentence. In my view,
the arrogation of judicial power is both unprecedented and
inadequately explained. First, we should not affirm a habeas
judgment that grants relief beyond what plaintiff requested
in his principal pleading in the case. Second, even assum-
ing release from custody was a proper remedy, we have not
adequately explained or given guidance on when a plaintiff
would be entitled to discharge from a lawfully imposed sen-
tence based on a conditions of confinement habeas claim.
Accordingly, I respectfully dissent.
In Oregon, every adult in custody (AIC) has the
right to be incarcerated under conditions that comply with
state and federal constitutional standards. Barrett v. Peters
(A155789), 274 Or App 237, 240, 360 P3d 638 (2015), aff’d,
360 Or 445, 383 P3d 813 (2016). When those conditions are
the type that require “immediate judicial attention” and if
“no other timely remedy is practicably available” to an AIC,
a petition for a writ of habeas corpus may be filed. ORS
34.362(2). Secured by Article I, section 23, of the Oregon
Constitution, habeas corpus proceedings are governed by
statute. See Bedell v. Schiedler, 307 Or 562, 565-568, 770 P2d
909 (1989) (examining the statutory framework for habeas
corpus actions); see also ORS 34.310 (providing that “[e]very
person imprisoned or otherwise restrained of liberty, within
this state, except in the cases specified in ORS 34.330, may
prosecute a writ of habeas corpus to inquire into the cause
of such imprisonment or restraint, and if illegal, to be deliv-
ered therefrom”).
Under the statutory framework, after a petition for
writ of habeas corpus is filed, the circuit court must allow
the writ without delay unless a narrow set of circumstances
exist (which are not present in this case), and the clerk shall
issue the writ immediately. Bedell, 307 Or at 566; ORS
34.370. If the writ issues, the petition “ordinarily ceases to
have any function and is not considered part of the plead-
ings, unless it is incorporated into or treated as plaintiff’s
replication.” Bedell, 307 Or at 566-67. The replication is the
Cite as 335 Or App 124 (2024) 145

plaintiff’s principal pleading. Id. at 567. Here, plaintiff’s
replication and petition contain the same content, none of
which requested release or discharge as a remedy.
To advance a medical habeas claim under the state
and federal constitutions, a plaintiff must allege that the
plaintiff “has a serious medical need that has not been
treated in a timely and proper manner and that prison offi-
cials have been deliberately indifferent to the [plaintiff’s]
serious medical needs.” Billings v. Gates, 323 Or 167, 181,
916 P2d 291 (1996) (adopting the federal standard set forth
in Estelle v. Gamble, 429 US 97, 106, 97 S Ct 285, 50 L Ed 2d
251 (1976)). Deliberate indifference “constitutes the unneces-
sary and wanton infliction of pain” by prison officials in their
response to an AIC’s serious medical needs or by corrections
officers intentionally denying or delaying access to medical
care or intentionally interfering with prescribed treatment.
Billings, 323 Or at 181. A plaintiff must show “more than
an honest difference of medical opinion about [the] correct
diagnosis and necessary treatment.” Id. Here, plaintiff’s
replication sought specific relief for defendant’s deliberate
indifference to his medical needs ranging from injunctive
relief “to be evaluated by a [physiatrist] in the Willamette
Valley” and “to see a pain specialist in the [Willamette]
Valley & a higher pain medication management plan” to
more specific requests such as “to have a contrast MRI,” “a
Tens [transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation] Unit,”
and a “knee pillow.” In all, plaintiff’s replication included
12 specific requests for habeas relief. None of those claims
asked for release or discharge from plaintiff’s sentence.
The parties litigated the claims, and the trial court
ultimately granted plaintiff habeas relief on some of his
claims. As the majority opinion accurately recounts, 335
Or App at 126-27, the general judgment granted plaintiff
relief in three specific ways, which can be summarized as
(1) “provide consultation and evaluation with a board cer-
tified [p]hysiatrist”; (2) “provide [p]hysical [t]herapy with a
licensed [p]hysical [t]herapist to commence within a reason-
able period of time and to continue until no longer indicated
in the opinion of the treating [p]hysical [t]herapist”; and
(3) “restore the drugs gabapentin and Zanaflex as previously
146 White v. Reyes

prescribed” and “to make no further changes to Petitioner’s
medications until [an] examination and review of [the] drug
regimen by a qualified [p]hysiatrist.” The judgment also pro-
vided that the court retained jurisdiction “for the purpose
of ensuring compliance with the terms of the judgment in
Plaintiff’s favor.” Again, nothing in that judgment spoke to
plaintiff’s release or discharge from his sentence.
In the months following the general judgment, which
issued in July 2019, the trial court began ordering defen-
dant to comply with terms outside of the original judgment.
As the majority opinion explains, plaintiff filed numerous
motions to hold defendant in contempt, and the trial court
issued several post-judgment orders expanding the nature
of habeas relief. This shifting of the litigation culminated in
January 2021, when the court issued the supplemental judg-
ment ordering plaintiff’s immediate release, cutting short
plaintiff’s lawfully imposed sentence. In my view, we should
not affirm that supplemental judgment ordering immediate
release because plaintiff did not request that specific type
of relief in his replication. See, e.g., Hurlbutt v. Hurlbutt, 36
Or App 721, 725, 585 P2d 724 (1978), rev den, 285 Or 73
(1979) (explaining that a “judgment must be responsive to
the issues framed by the pleadings and a trial court has no
authority to render a decision on issues not presented for
determination”).
To compound the problem, the trial court justified its
order of immediate release based on defendant’s inadequate
response to relief that was ordered post-judgment. That is,
despite plaintiff requesting specific relief in his replication
about a pain specialist, the general judgment did not grant
him that relief. Indeed, the trial court did not attempt to
justify the supplemental judgment back to the terms of the
general judgment; rather, it pointed to post-judgment orders
and circumstances that occurred after the general judg-
ment issued in July 2019. That procedure does not appear
to follow the statutory framework for how habeas claims are
litigated. See, e.g., ORS 34.650 (providing for notice to any
person that has “an interest in continuing imprisonment or
restraint of the party” and that no order shall be made for
discharge “until it shall appear that the party so interested”
Cite as 335 Or App 124 (2024) 147

or the party’s attorney has notice); ORS 34.660 (providing
that the court or judge shall make no order for discharge
of the party until notice of the return is given to the dis-
trict attorney of the county where the party is imprisoned or
restrained).
Rather than acknowledge that problem, the major-
ity opinion takes a broad view of that general judgment con-
cluding that it “clearly contemplated that defendant would
implement the physiatrist’s recommendations to manage
and treat plaintiff’s pain[.]” 335 Or App at 133. That broad
view of the judgment, however, does not address how the
trial court could empower itself to grant relief not requested
by plaintiff in his replication.1
Further, in my view, it is no answer for the majority
opinion to cite to ORCP 67 C.2 First, there are limits to the
scope of relief a trial court may grant, even under ORCP 67
C. See, e.g., Cheryl Wilcox Property Management v. Appel, 110
Or App 90, 94, 821 P2d 428 (1991) (concluding that ORCP
67 C could not sustain the trial court’s damages award for
a theory of recovery that was not sought); City of Portland v.
Hespe, 69 Or App 663, 665, 687 P2d 804 (1984) (noting that,
“[a]lthough under ORCP 67 C a court is empowered under
certain circumstances to grant relief not demanded in the
pleadings, the rule does not extend the court’s authority
to grant relief on a cross-claim which was never pleaded”).
Second, as noted, the trial court did not even attempt to tie
its relief to the original habeas judgment; rather, the sup-
plemental judgment articulates that it is enforcing post-
judgment orders. Habeas proceedings are not designed to
1
Part of the confusion may lie in the majority opinion’s conflating the
relief requested in plaintiff’s emergency motions for contempt with the relief
requested—and ultimately, granted by the trial court—in plaintiff’s principal
habeas pleading, viz., the replication. See, e.g., 335 Or App 142 (noting that plain-
tiff requested release in his “post-judgment filings and hearings”). I do not under-
stand the majority opinion to take a position on release or discharge as a remedy
for contempt; rather, the majority opinion grounds its reasoning in the statutory
framework for habeas relief.
2
ORCP 67 C provides:
“Every judgment shall grant the relief to which the party in whose favor
it is rendered is entitled. A judgment for relief different in kind from or
exceeding the amount prayed for in the pleadings may not be rendered unless
reasonable notice and opportunity to be heard are given to any party against
whom the judgment is to be entered.”
148 White v. Reyes

have rolling requests for relief. Here, the relief granted was
not only not requested by plaintiff in his replication, but the
basis for the relief was not part of the terms of the original
general judgment.
For example, although plaintiff’s replication sought
injunctive relief to see a pain specialist in the Willamette
Valley, the general judgment granting habeas relief did not
include any mention of a pain specialist. Nonetheless, the
trial court issued a post-judgment order for plaintiff “to be
seen by a pain specialist” and later found that defendant’s
failure to follow that specialist’s recommendations provided
a basis for plaintiff’s immediate release. Thus, in my view,
ORCP 67 C provides little support to affirm the trial court’s
supplemental judgment that grants relief beyond what is
requested by plaintiff in his replication.
Finally, even assuming that release from custody
is a proper remedy for a conditions of confinement claim, we
have not adequately explained or given guidance on when
a plaintiff would be entitled to discharge from a lawfully
imposed sentence.3
In my view, it is an extraordinary remedy to dis-
charge an AIC entirely from a lawfully imposed sentence
without considering alternative remedies that address
the constitutional violation. For instance, ORS 34.320

3
It is far from clear, in my view, whether, when amending the habeas
framework in response to the Supreme Court’s decision in Bedell, the legislature
intended discharge from a lawfully imposed sentence to be an option for relief
for a claim challenging the conditions of confinement. The legislative history is
inconclusive; however, there appears to be an underlying assumption shared by
more than one person who testified on the bill that conditions of confinement
claims do not lead to release. See Tape Recording, Senate Committee on Judiciary,
HB 2391, May 29, 1991, Tape 194, Side B (statement of Roy Pulvers) (explaining
that the bulk of habeas cases are conditions of confinement cases where “even if
successful, the individual would still be within the authority of the defendant to
keep them in confinement or restraint”); id. (statement of Attorney General Dave
Frohnmayer) (describing cases where the AIC has “no hope of getting out of the
institution at all but where it’s a challenge to the treatment within the institu-
tion that’s at stake”). I agree with the majority opinion that, if we were to affirm
the judgment, we have an independent duty to construe ORS 34.610(2) correctly,
despite the parties not engaging in the analysis. See Stull v. Hoke, 326 Or 72,
77, 948 P2d 722 (1997). However, because I would not affirm the supplemental
judgment given the circumstances that the relief granted was not requested by
plaintiff in his replication, it is unnecessary to delve into whether discharge from
a sentence is a lawful remedy for a conditions of confinement claim.
Cite as 335 Or App 124 (2024) 149

contemplates that a plaintiff may be transferred while a
habeas claim is pending and that the transfer could ade-
quately address the claims such that the court shall dismiss
the petition. See Garges v. Premo, 362 Or 797, 805-06, 421
P3d 345 (2018) (recognizing that a transfer to a different cor-
rectional institution may alter the conditions of confinement
such that a plaintiff’s claim that those conditions are uncon-
stitutional may become moot depending on the facts regard-
ing the requested relief). Simply declaring that discharge
from custody will be available only “in the rare cases”—
without more of an explanation of what triggers that relief
instead of other relief such as a transfer to another institu-
tion or the specific relief requested in the replication—does
not explain what it means for an AIC to become “entitled to
be discharged” as that phrase is used in ORS 34.610(2).
Today, for the first time, we affirm in a habeas cor-
pus case a grant of relief—release from prison—that plain-
tiff did not ask for in his replication. Moreover, in so doing,
we hold without adequate explanation that the terms of a
lawful sentence may be cut short based on a violation of
plaintiff’s constitutional rights. In my view, although I share
the deep frustration with plaintiff’s medical care expressed
by the majority opinion, we should reverse the judgment
that goes beyond plaintiff’s prayer for relief in his habeas
pleading and, at the very least, we should better explain
how an AIC can be considered entitled to discharge from
the incarceration portion of a lawfully imposed sentence.
Accordingly, I respectfully dissent.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/10587344. Public record. Not legal advice.
