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Access to Courts/Legal Info

     When a court is presented with evidence from a mental health professional that unrepresented prisoner litigants in a civil lawsuit seeking damages from prison officials may be incompetent, it is a violation of the court's duty under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 17(c)(2) to not at least consider whether an attorney should be appointed for the prisoner. That rule obligates the court to protect unrepresented people who are incompetent. In one case, a psychiatric report presented enough evidence of incompetence to make it an abuse of discretion not to appoint a representative. In another, a psychiatrist's letter at least required that the court consider the issue. Powell v. Symons, #10–2157, 2012 U.S. App. Lexis 6467 (3rd Cir.).

Attorneys' Fees

     Prisoners in Idaho who sued over the issue of prison overcrowding 25 years ago obtained injunctive relief. Their attorneys went back to court recently to argue that the defendants should be held in contempt for failing to comply with the relief granted, but the problem was corrected in the meantime, so no contempt order was issued. Attorneys' fees were still awarded to the lawyers, however, as their motion was the "catalyst" for the state to remedy the violations. The appeals court upheld the award of $76,185.60 in attorneys' fees, $12,249.20 in costs, and $6.94 in postage and supplies as reasonable, and stated that the lawyers had not "milked" the case just to run up fees. Balla v. State of Idaho, #10-35413, 2012 U.S. App. Lexis 7644 (9th Cir.).

False Imprisonment

     A man who completed a sentence for sexually abusing his minor daughter was kept incarcerated for an additional 375 days while the county sought to find an available place where he would be allowed to live as a registered sex offender. Rejecting a claim for false imprisonment under these circumstances, the court found that his claim was barred by the principles stated in Heck v. Humphrey, #93-6188, 512 U.S. 477 (1994), because his incarceration was not reversed, expunged, invalidated, or otherwise impugned by an earlier proceeding. A state appeals court decision remanding his habeas claim to the trial court did not satisfy the Heck requirements. Marlowe v. Fabian, #11–2748, 2012 U.S. App. Lexis 7888 (8th Cir.).

Inmate Property

     A man who completed his sentence for multiple sexual crimes against children was then civilly committed. The staff at the psychiatric facility to which he was sent seized CDs and DVDs numbering in the hundreds from him, and he claimed that they took too long before returning them after screening them for possible sexually explicit material, in violation of his First and Fourth Amendment rights. Staff members were entitled to qualified immunity from liability, since it was objectively reasonable to believe that their actions were legal. The interest of the state in security, order and treatment of the plaintiff outweighed any property interest the plaintiff had in quickly getting back his things or receiving a detailed explanation at the time of the seizure. The court also rejected the plaintiff's claim that some of his incoming non-legal mail was withheld. He had not shown that it was withheld without justification, and there was a strong interest in preventing him from obtaining inappropriate images which outweighed his weak interest in immediately receiving commercial mail seized for screening. Ahlers v. Rabinowitz, #10-1193, 2012 U.S. App. Lexis 7035 (2nd Cir.).

Parole

     A parole board voted to deny parole to a prisoner serving a sentence for the second-degree murder of a police officer. He sued the board members for violating his civil rights. The court found that the denial did not violate his procedural or substantive due process rights. There is no federal constitutionally protected liberty interest in receiving parole unless the language of a state statute creates an entitlement to parole once statutory conditions are satisfied. It was not arbitrary, shocking, or unreasonable for the board members to exercise their discretion to take into account the special interests of law enforcement. No violation of his right to equal protection of law was shown even if it were true, as he claimed, that his application for parole was given less favorable consideration because the victim of his crime was a police officer. He had not shown that the board had a policy of permanently barring parole to all prisoners whose victims were police officers. Jimenez v. Conrad, #11-1180, 2012 U.S. App. Lexis 9051 (1st Cir.).

Prisoner Assault: By Officers

****Editor's Case Alert****

     A guard bent the wrist of a prisoner who failed to comply with a command to "get against the wall." He slammed the prisoner against the wall when he still failed to cooperate. The prisoner sued, claiming that his wrist was swollen, skinned, and red. The appeals court ruled that the trial judge properly dismissed the lawsuit for failure to state a claim. Any injury occurred while the guard was engaged in a good-faith effort to maintain prison order. The appeals court disagreed with the trial court, however, that the alleged minimal degree of injury alone would have been enough to merit the dismissal, since a prisoner suing for the use of force need not show a significant injury if the force was used in a sadistic or malicious manner to cause pain. Custodians, the court commented, "must be able to handle, sometimes mishandle, their charges, if a building crammed with disgruntled people who disdain authority [] is to be manageable." Guitron v. Paul, #11-2718, 2012 U.S. App. Lexis 7132 (7th Cir.).

Private Prisons and Entities

     A firefighter sued a city and a private attorney hired by the city to conduct an internal investigation of his conduct for violation of his civil rights under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983. The firefighter was suspected of malingering while supposedly off work on account of illness. The firefighter argued that the attorney's order to him to produce building materials stored at his home violated his Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights. He had been seen buying the building supplies and the issue was whether he had been installing the building materials rather than being ill. The U.S. Supreme Court held that the private attorney was entitled to qualified immunity along with other individual defendants despite not being a city employee. A private individual temporarily retained by a city to carry out its work is able to seek qualified immunity from civil rights liability. In this case, the city needed the attorney's experience and expertise in employment law. Filarsky v. Delia, #10–1018,   132 S. Ct. 1657; 2012 U.S. Lexis 3105.   

Religion

     The transfer of a Jewish prisoner to a prison located at a distance from major cities did not violate his right to religious freedom, even though it was too far away for religious volunteers to travel to provide him with services. The law does not protect prisoners from transfers to facilities which they view as unfavorable. There was no evidence that the defendants precluded visits to the facilities by rabbis or other Jewish religious volunteers. Bader v. Wrenn, #11-1634, 675 F.3d 95 (1st Cir. 2012).

     A federal appeals court rejected a Jewish prisoner's claim that his right to practice his religion was violated by a denial of his request to eat his meals in a "succah" or tent-like booth that he wanted to erect during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot. Prison officials were entitled to qualified immunity from liability, as it was "not apparent" that his rights to reasonable religious dietary accommodations included the use of a succah. Sisney v. Reisch, #10-3003, 674 F.3d 839 (8th Cir. 2012).

Segregation: Administrative

     A prisoner held in administrative segregation claimed that officials gave only "perfunctory" review, if any at all, as to whether prisoner behavior had improved. Such improvement was supposed to be the basis for promotion to a less restrictive level in the six-level administrative segregation system. The appeals court stated that it believed that "if a prison system wishes to encourage better behavior by implementing a stratified incentive program that involves an atypical and significant hardship, it must provide meaningful individualized review to prisoners to help them progress through the program." The defendants were entitled to qualified immunity from liability, however, since, at the time of the controversy, it was not clearly established that the review process should apply through all the program's levels or that the perfunctory reviews given at the first three levels or lack of any review at all on levels 4-6 would not be considered meaningful. Toevs v. Reid, #10–1535, 2012 U.S. App. Lexis 7994 (10th Cir.).

Sex Offenders

     In three consolidated appeals by juveniles who had pled guilty to aggravated sexual abuse of children, a federal appeals court rejected their claims objecting to conditions of probation or supervision requiring them to register under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), 18 U.S.C. Chapter 109. Applying the registration requirements to juveniles does not violate equal protection of law, procedural or substantive due process, constitute cruel and unusual punishment, or violate the right against self-incrimination. Congress intentionally exempted the registration of juvenile sex offenders from the confidentiality provisions of the Federal Juvenile Delinquency Act (FJDA), 18 U.S.C. Sec 5031 et seq. U.S. v. Juvenile Male, #09-30330, 670 F.3d 999 (9th Cir. 2012).

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     Prison Rape and Sexual Misconduct: "Report on Sexual Victimization in Prisons and Jails," Review Panel on Prison Rape (April 2012).

     Prisoner Reentry:  EEOC "Enforcement Guidance on the Consideration of Arrest and Conviction Records in Employment Decisions."

     Statistics: "Jail Populations Declining More Rapidly Than Prisons," an analysis of federally released correctional statistics by The Sentencing Project (April 2012).

     Youthful Prisoners: "2011 Annual Report," Juvenile Justice Monitoring Unit, Office of the Attorney General, Maryland (January 2012). Indicates an increase in both youth violence and staff use of force at juvenile facilities last year. Includes a response by the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services.

     Youthful Prisoners: "Investigation of the Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility, Walnut Grove, Mississippi" U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division Findings Letter (March 20, 2012). The letter says investigators found reasonable cause to believe that conditions at the facility include deliberate indifference to staff sexual misconduct and inappropriate behavior with youth, use of excessive force by staff on youth, inadequate protection of youth from youth-on-youth violence, deliberate indifference to youth at risk of self-injurious and suicidal behaviors, and deliberate indifference to the medical needs of youth.

Reference:

     • Abbreviations of Law Reports, laws and agencies used in our publications.

     • AELE's list of recently-noted jail and prisoner law resources.