Williams v. Ozmint

• Citation: 716 F.3d 801
• Decision Date: 15 May 2013
• Docket Number: No. 11–6940.,11–6940.
• Parties: Jerome A. WILLIAMS, Plaintiff–Appellant, v. Jon OZMINT, Director SCDC et al. Agency; Officer Johnson, contraband et al.; Warden Willie L. Eagleton, Warden; L.T. Graham, Defendants–Appellees.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (4th Circuit)

716 F.3d 801

Jerome A. WILLIAMS, Plaintiff–Appellant,

v.Jon OZMINT, Director SCDC et al. Agency; Officer Johnson, contraband et al.; Warden Willie L. Eagleton, Warden; L.T. Graham, Defendants–Appellees.

No. 11–6940.

United States Court of Appeals,

Fourth Circuit.

Argued: March 19, 2013.

Decided: May 15, 2013.

ARGUED:Kirsten Elena Small, Nexsen Pruet, Greenville, SC, for Appellant. Andrew Lindemann, Davidson & Lindemann, PA, Columbia, SC, for Appellees. ON BRIEF:G. Murrell Smith, Jr., Steven B. Johnson, Lee, Erter, Wilson, Holler & Smith, LLC, Sumter, SC, for Appellees.

Before SHEDD, DAVIS, and KEENAN, Circuit Judges.

Affirmed in part and dismissed in part by published opinion. Judge KEENAN wrote the opinion, in which Judge SHEDD concurred. Judge DAVIS wrote a separate opinion concurring in the judgment.

OPINION

BARBARA MILANO KEENAN, Circuit Judge:

These claims brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 raise the issue whether certain actions taken by South Carolina prison officials after an inmate's suspected receipt of contraband, including suspension of the inmate's visitation privileges for two years, violated his constitutional rights. We conclude that the prison warden who imposed the challenged actions is shielded by qualified immunity from the inmate's claim for monetary damages because, under the facts presented here, the inmate did not have a clearly established constitutional right to visitation. We also hold that because the inmate's visitation privileges already have been restored, his request for injunctive relief must be dismissed as moot. Accordingly, we dismiss the appeal in part as moot, and we affirm the judgment of the district court in all other respects.

I.

Jerome Williams is an inmate serving a life sentence at Evans Correctional Institution in South Carolina. The facts underlying Williams' claims occurred on March 31, 2007, when Williams met with a visitor, Marilyn Massey, in the prison visitation room.¹

Officer Johnson, who was assigned to the Contraband Unit at the prison, monitored the visitation room on that date, including the interaction between Williams and Massey. During Williams' visit with Massey, Officer Johnson observed Massey pass suspected marijuana to Williams. Johnson also thought that he saw Williams place the suspected contraband material in his pants before proceeding to walk toward the restroom.

Several officers, including Johnson, intercepted Williams. The officers informed Williams that he was suspected of having received contraband from Massey, and they escorted Williams to a separate area to be “strip searched.” Massey was escorted from the premises.

The officers did not find any contraband material on Williams' person during the strip search. However, before the strip search was conducted, Johnson saw Williams place something in his mouth and swallow immediately. As a result, the officers placed Williams in a “dry cell,” a cell without running water, for a period of 72 hours. The officers searched Williams' excrement for evidence of the suspected marijuana, but found none.

Williams later was transferred to the “Special Management Unit” where he was held in disciplinary confinement a little over two months. Williams was not charged with a disciplinary offense, and he alleges that “no finding was ever made that [he] possessed contraband (or violated any other prison rule).”

On April 4, 2007, Warden Willie Eagleton of Evans Correctional Institution (the warden) informed Williams that his privileges to see visitors were suspended for two years.² The notice stated that Williams' visitation was suspended “effective March 31, 2007, through March 20, 2009,” because he “was observed receiving contraband from [his] visitor and placing it in [his] pants.” The notice also stated that, while Williams was not found guilty of a crime or a disciplinary offense as a result of his conduct, “agency policy provides that action may be taken by the warden regarding rules violations in the visitation room.”

In December 2008, Williams filed a pro se complaint in a South Carolina state court against Jon Ozmint, Director of the South Carolina Department of Corrections, the warden, and two prison guards, Johnson and Lieutenant Graham (collectively, the defendants). Williams alleged several constitutional violations relating to the conditions of his confinement, claimed excessive force by prison officials, and, as relevant here, challenged the suspension of his visitation privileges in the absence of being found with contraband or being charged with a disciplinary offense. On the basis of these alleged violations, Williams sought: (1) monetary relief; (2) restoration of “visitation” and “all privileges;” and (3) “any other relief that seems just, and proper.” ³ The defendants timely removed the action to federal district court.⁴

After discovery, the defendants filed a motion for summary judgment. Adopting the magistrate judge's recommendation, the district court denied the defendants' request for summary judgment on Williams' claim of excessive force, but awarded summary judgment to the defendants on all the remaining claims. On the visitation privileges claim, the district court awarded summary judgment on the ground that prisoners do not have a constitutional right to visitation.

The district court appointed counsel for Williams on the excessive force claim brought against Johnson. That claim was tried before a jury, which returned a verdict in favor of Johnson. The district court entered final judgment in favor of all the defendants. Williams filed a timely notice of appeal.⁵

II.

We review a district court's award of summary judgment de novo. Henry v. Purnell, 652 F.3d 524, 531 (4th Cir.2011) (en banc). Summary judgment is appropriate when the record does not disclose a genuine issue of material fact, and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Couch v. Jabe, 679 F.3d 197, 200 (4th Cir.2012); Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(a).

We liberally construe Williams' pro se complaint, which raises certain civil rights issues. See Erickson v. Pardus, 551 U.S. 89, 94, 127 S.Ct. 2197, 167 L.Ed.2d 1081 (2007); Smith v. Smith, 589 F.3d 736, 738 (4th Cir.2009). However, liberal construction does not require us to attempt to “discern the unexpressed intent of the plaintiff,” but only to determine the actual meaning of the words used in the complaint. Laber v. Harvey, 438 F.3d 404, 413 n. 3 (4th Cir.2006) (en banc).

A.

Williams argues that the two-year suspension of visitation privileges, which was imposed without a hearing or a finding that he actually possessed contraband, violated his First Amendment right to association, his Fourteenth Amendment right to procedural due process, and his Eighth Amendment right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment.⁶ Although he concedes that the rights of prison inmates are subject to substantial restrictions, Williams nevertheless argues that incarceration does not extinguish a prisoner's “qualified right to visitation.”

Williams initially contends that a remand to the district court is necessary for further discovery regarding the prison policy underlying the suspension of his visitation privileges. He asserts that until such facts are developed, adjudication of his constitutional claims will be impossible because this Court will be unable to determine whether the prison's policy advances legitimate penological objectives and is applied consistently.

We find no merit in this argument. Discovery and remand are not required for this purpose because Williams has not sought declaratory relief or otherwise shown that such information is material to the resolution of his claims.

We therefore turn to consider the district court's award of summary judgment on Williams' claim that the warden's action suspending Williams' visitation privileges for two years violated his constitutional rights. Under the doctrine of qualified immunity, government officials are provided certain protections from liability for civil damages. Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 818, 102 S.Ct. 2727, 73 L.Ed.2d 396 (1982); Meyers v. Baltimore Cnty., Md., 713 F.3d 723, 729–31, 2013 WL 388125, at *4 (4th Cir. Feb. 1, 2013). Qualified immunity extends to protect officials “who commit constitutional violations but who, in light of clearly established law, could reasonably believe that their actions were lawful.” Henry, 652 F.3d at 531.

A qualified immunity inquiry involves two steps. A court generally considers first, whether a constitutional violation occurred, and second, when the court finds such a violation, whether the right violated was “clearly established” at the time of the official's conduct. Saucier v. Katz, 533 U.S. 194, 201, 121 S.Ct. 2151, 150 L.Ed.2d 272 (2001), overruled in part by Pearson v. Callahan, 555 U.S. 223, 129 S.Ct. 808, 172 L.Ed.2d 565 (2009); Evans v. Chalmers, 703 F.3d 636, 646 (4th Cir.2012).

In performing this analysis, however, a court is not required to consider the above two steps in any particular order. A court may exercise its discretion to determine which of the two steps of the qualified immunity analysis “should be addressed first in light of the circumstances in the particular case at hand.” Pearson, 555 U.S. at 236, 129 S.Ct. 808. In the present case, we exercise our discretion to determine first whether Williams had a clearly established constitutional right to visitation at the time of the warden's decision.

Williams does not cite any case, or combination of cases, from this Court, the Supreme Court, or the highest court in South Carolina, that clearly establishes a constitutional right to visitation in prison grounded in the First, Eighth, or Fourteenth Amendments. See Anderson v. Creighton, 483 U.S. 635, 639–40, 107 S.Ct. 3034, 97 L.Ed.2d 523 (1987) (to overcome qualified immunity, the asserted right must be defined with particularity). Having failed to do so, Williams also necessarily has failed to identify any authority establishing a...