Booth v. King

• Decision Date: 29 November 2004
• Docket Number: No. 03-CV-802.,03-CV-802.
• Citation: 346 F.Supp.2d 751
• Parties: Timothy BOOTH, Plaintiff, v. Leon KING, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Pennsylvania

346 F.Supp.2d 751

Timothy BOOTH, Plaintiff, v. Leon KING, et al., Defendants.

No. 03-CV-802.

United States District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania.

November 29, 2004.

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Timothy Booth, Philadelphia, PA, Pro Se.

Jean Y. Durbin, City of Philadelphia Law Dept., Philadelphia, PA, for Defendants.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

ANITA B. BRODY, District Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION

Pro se prisoner plaintiff Timothy Booth ("Booth") brings this action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against several employees or former employees of the Philadelphia Prison System ("PPS defendants").¹ Booth alleges that while he was at PPS's Curran Fromhold Correctional Facility ("CFCF") and House of Corrections ("HOC"), PPS defendants violated his First, Fourth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights under the United States Constitution. The court has subject matter jurisdiction over this case based on the existence of a federal question. Presently before me is PPS defendants' motion for summary judgment on all claims. For the reasons set forth below, PPS defendants' motion is granted in part and denied in part.

II. BACKGROUND

The following chronology sets forth the alleged events which are the subject of the instant lawsuit.²

A. Events at CFCF:

• On August 21, 2002, Booth filed an inmate grievance because his legal mail was opened outside of his presence. Booth states that his legal mail was again opened outside of his presence on August 24, 2002; September 19, 2002; December 21, 2002; and December 28, 2002. (Compl.; Booth Dep. at 7, 26, 44.)

• On or about September 19, 2002, C/O Brown threatened Booth, stating that C/O Jackson would "tamper with" Booth's legal mail. (Booth Dep. at 11.)

• On or about October 15, 2002, Sgt. Osbourne "verbally assaulted" Booth by cursing at him and defaming his character while he was doing an errand for a medical officer. (Booth Dep. at 40-41.)

• On or about October 15, 2002, Ms. Pinston, a social worker, threatened to file a false report against Booth regarding his eligibility for work release. (Booth Dep. at 60-62.)

• For one and a half months from September 2002 to November 2002, C/O Wheeler denied Booth access to the CFCF law library. (Booth Dep. at 27-31.)

• From roughly November 2002 to December 2002, C/O Carter restricted Booth's access to the CFCF law library and harassed Booth over his use of the library. (Booth Dep. at 63-64.)

• On an uncertain date while Booth was at CFCF, Sgt. McNally confiscated Booth's diabetic medicine after a cell shakedown and Booth was without medicine for eight and one-half hours. This occurred shortly after Booth already received an insulin shot. According to Booth, as McNally confiscated the medicine he said, "you don't need all of these, I know about such things."³ (Booth Dep. at 17-18.) At the same time, McNally also took Booth's cup and failed to return it or issue a confiscation slip. (Booth Dep. at 17-20.)

• In late December 2002, Booth wrote a letter to Commissioner King threatening to file a civil suit if all the grievances that he had filed since August 21, 2002 were not addressed by January 21, 2003. (Compl.; Booth Dep. at 22, 25-26.)

B. Events at HOC:

• On January 2, 2003, Booth was transferred from CFCF to HOC. (Def.'s Mot. for Summ. J. Ex. D.)

• On or about January 6, 2003, Booth filed a grievance with Major Brockenburgh at HOC, reiterating the deadline that he had given to Commissioner King and threatening to file a civil suit. (Compl.; Booth Dep. at 22.)

• On or about January 9, 2003, a few C/Os whose names are not known took kufis (Islamic prayer caps) away from certain prisoners. However, Booth's kufi was not taken at this time. (Booth Dep. at 46.)

• On January 13, 2003, C/Os Morrison and Worseley, under the supervision of Sgt. Harris, conducted a shakedown of Booth's cell. Booth and Sgt. Harris got into a verbal altercation, and Harris allegedly kicked Booth's pajama down the cell block. (Compl.; Booth Dep. at 48-51.) Lt. Stolle issued a misconduct report to Booth due to the cell shakedown. (Def.'s Mot. for Summ. J. Ex. E.) The misconduct report states that Booth told one of the shakedown officers to "watch your back" and the misconduct report was filed for "disrespecting any staff member" and "assaulting any staff member (no contact)." Booth was given 15 days of disciplinary segregation. (Def.'s Mot. for Summ. J. Ex. E.) Booth claims that this was a false misconduct report. (Booth Dep. at 23-24.)

• On January 14, 2003, while Booth was in disciplinary segregation, Booth saw C/O Terry read through some of Booth's legal papers before returning them. (Booth Dep. at 16.) According to Booth, Terry destroyed or confiscated some of Booth's other legal documents, including copies of briefs that an attorney had sent to Booth. (Id. at 51-52.) Terry also confiscated or destroyed Booth's prayer book and his kufi. (Compl.; Booth Dep. at 47-48, 51-52; Def.'s Mot. for Summ. J. Ex. G.) Terry also threatened to beat up Booth and to blow up Booth's mother's house if Booth filed suit against him. (Booth Dep. at 16; Def.'s Mot. for Summ. J. Ex. G.) The cell that Booth was placed in during disciplinary segregation had broken windows and was cold. (Booth Dep. at 56.)

• On January 17, 2003, Booth went to a hearing for the misconduct report. The hearing examiner, defendant Young, did not allow Booth to call witnesses when Booth requested it. Young stated that Booth could only have witnesses upon appeal. (Booth Dep. at 53.) Young found Booth guilty of the misconduct. (Def.'s Mot. for Summ. J. Ex. E.)⁴

C. Booth's claims

Booth claims that PPS defendants violated his First, Fourth, Eighth, and Fourteenth⁵ Amendment rights under the United States Constitution when they tampered with his legal mail, restricted his access to the law library, took his legal briefs, denied him medication, subjected him to unfit living conditions, verbally abused and threatened him, took his property, discriminated against him on the basis of religious belief, retaliated against him, and violated his right to due process. (Pl.'s Resp. to Def.'s Mot. for Summ. J. Attach. E.)

Booth's claims can be grouped and analyzed as (1) violations his right of access to courts under the First and Fourteenth Amendments, (2) cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments, (3) unreasonable seizure and deprivation of property without due process of law in violation of the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments, (4) violations of substantive and procedural due process rights under the Fourteenth Amendments, (5) discrimination on the basis of religion under the First Amendment, and (6) retaliation for filing complaints and grievances.

III. STANDARD OF REVIEW

Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56(c), "[s]ummary judgment should be granted if, after drawing all reasonable inferences from the underlying facts in the light most favorable to the non-moving party, the court concludes that there is no genuine issue of material fact to be resolved at trial and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Kornegay v. Cottingham, 120 F.3d 392, 395 (3d Cir.1997).

IV. DISCUSSION

A. Right of Access to Courts

Booth's claims of restricted access to the law library, that his legal mail was opened outside of his presence, and that his legal documents were destroyed should be analyzed as claims that his right of access to courts under the First and Fourteenth Amendments was violated. See Bounds v. Smith, 430 U.S. 817, 828, 97 S.Ct. 1491, 52 L.Ed.2d 72 (1977) (holding that the fundamental constitutional right of access to the courts requires prison authorities to assist inmates in the preparation and filing of meaningful legal papers by providing prisoners with adequate law libraries or legal assistance); Bieregu v. Reno, 59 F.3d 1445 (3d Cir.1995) (holding that a pattern of opening a prisoner's legal mail outside of his presence can be a violation of his constitutional right of access to the courts) (overruled on other grounds by Lewis v. Casey, 518 U.S. 343, 116 S.Ct. 2174, 135 L.Ed.2d 606 (1996)).

Under Lewis v. Casey, in order to prevail on an access to courts claim, the plaintiff must show that he suffered "actual injury" due to the interference with his right of access. See also, Oliver v. Fauver, 118 F.3d 175 (3d Cir.1997) (holding that interference with prisoner's mail did not violate his right of access to courts without a showing of actual injury). Examples of "actual injury" given in Lewis include a court dismissal of a complaint and an inability to even file a complaint. 518 U.S. at 351, 116 S.Ct. 2174.

In the instant case, even assuming the complete truth of Booth's deposition testimony, Booth has failed to allege or provide any evidence of any actual injury that he suffered due to his restricted access to the CFCF law library, the opening of his legal mail outside of his presence, and the destruction or confiscation of his legal papers. Therefore, PPS defendants' motion for summary judgment as to this claim is granted.

B. Eighth Amendment Cruel and Unusual Punishment Claims

Booth's claims that he was denied his medicine, that the windows in his cell during disciplinary segregation were broken, and that he was verbally threatened and abused are all claims of cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment. In Farmer v. Brennan, 511 U.S. 825, 114 S.Ct. 1970, 128 L.Ed.2d 811 (1994), the Court applied a two-prong test for determining whether a prison official violated the Eighth Amendment. The first prong is an objective determination of whether the deprivation is "sufficiently serious" such that the prison official's act or omission resulted "in the denial of the minimal civilized measure of life's necessities." 511 U.S. at 834, 114 S.Ct. 1970. The second prong is a subjective test of whether the prison official has a "sufficiently culpable state of mind," that of "deliberate...