Little v. Norris, 84-2535

• Decision Date: 02 April 1986
• Docket Number: No. 84-2535,84-2535
• Citation: 787 F.2d 1241
• Parties: Edward Eugene LITTLE, Appellant, v. Larry NORRIS, Warden, Tucker Maximum Security Unit; A.L. Lockhart, Director, Arkansas Department of Correction, Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

Page 1241

787 F.2d 1241

Edward Eugene LITTLE, Appellant, v. Larry NORRIS, Warden, Tucker Maximum Security Unit; A.L.

Lockhart, Director, Arkansas Department of

Correction, Appellees.

No. 84-2535.

United States Court of Appeals,

Eighth Circuit.

Submitted Oct. 16, 1985.

Decided April 2, 1986.

Rita Gruber, Little Rock, Ark., for appellant.

Sandra Johnson Buchanan, Little Rock, Ark., for appellees.

Before McMILLIAN, Circuit Judge, HENLEY, Senior Circuit Judge, and JOHN R. GIBSON, Circuit Judge.

HENLEY, Senior Circuit Judge.

Edward Eugene Little appeals from the district court's ¹ grant of summary judgment in favor of defendants, Arkansas prison officials. Little, an inmate of the Tucker Maximum Security Unit of the Arkansas Department of Correction, filed three complaints under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 challenging the constitutionality of prison policies which restricted his mail privileges, his right to attend group religious services, and his right to receive legal assistance from another inmate. The district court held, as on motion for summary judgment, that the complaints failed to state a cause of action and dismissed. We affirm.

Little was transferred to the Maximum Security Unit at Tucker after he participated in a potentially violent demonstration at the Cummins Unit. At Tucker he was immediately placed in administrative segregation on investigative status. Subsequent to his transfer and assignment to administrative segregation, he received a "disciplinary" and was sentenced to thirty days in punitive isolation. ² Defendants believed that Little was a serious security risk in the prison.

Little first argues that the district court erred in using summary judgment to decide his case. ³ We disagree. Defendants admitted that each of the alleged unconstitutional policies existed. Since there were no genuine disputes of material fact, and the only issue to be decided by the district court was whether the policies violated Little's constitutional rights, summary judgment was the appropriate procedure. ⁴ See Buford v. Tremayne, 747 F.2d 445, 447 (8th Cir.1984).

In his first complaint, Little states that his constitutional rights were violated because he was not allowed to possess loose postage stamps. This claim is without merit. The policy was enacted in order to eliminate the exchange of contraband among inmates. Inmates may instead purchase envelopes with the postage stamps embossed on them at the commissary. In Kaestel v. Lockhart, 746 F.2d 1323, 1325 (8th Cir.1984), we directly addressed this issue and held that "the prohibition against the receipt and use of postal stamps was constitutional."

Little also states in the first complaint that he was sentenced to thirty days in punitive isolation, and while on punitive status he was denied the right to receive or send personal correspondence. It is the prison policy that inmates in punitive isolation are not allowed to receive personal mail; however, they may receive legal and media mail (exactly what "media" mail includes is unclear). The mail restriction is temporary in duration and is used in part as a disciplinary sanction. When the inmate has served his punitive isolation term he is given all the mail which has been withheld.

The Supreme Court has reserved its opinion on the issue of withholding an inmate's mail as a temporary disciplinary sanction. Procunier v. Martinez, 416 U.S. 396, 412 n. 12, 94 S.Ct. 1800, 1811 n. 12, 40 L.Ed.2d 224 (1974). It has stated, however, that "the legitimate governmental interest in the order and security of penal institutions justifies the imposition of certain restraints on inmate correspondence." Id. at 412-13, 94 S.Ct. at 1811. In this circuit we have previously upheld the temporary suspension of an inmate's nonlegal mail as part of the disciplinary actions. In Grady v. Wilken, 735 F.2d 303, 306 (8th Cir.1984), we held that the complete withholding of an inmate's mail for twenty days as part of a disciplinary procedure did not violate the inmate's right of access to the courts. In Gregory v. Auger, 768 F.2d 287 (8th Cir.1985), the inmate was allowed to receive only first class mail which was personal, legal, or religious in nature during the sixty day period he was on disciplinary detention. We held that the restriction of mail privileges did not violate his first amendment rights and that the prison "could properly have established mail policies far more restrictive than this," so long as the restrictions were only temporary. Id. at 290.

The purpose of withholding personal mail is to make punitive isolation unpleasant, and thereby discourage improper behavior and promote security within the prison. Because the disciplinary sanction serves a valid purpose, and because thirty days is not an excessive length of time, see Hutto v. Finney, 437 U.S. 678, 688, 98 S.Ct. 2565, 2572, 57 L.Ed.2d 522 (1978) (limits punitive isolation to a thirty day term), we do not believe the sanction is unconstitutional. However, this does not mean that we fully approve of the mail policy. The prison authorities may wish to consider allowing an inmate to receive legal, religious, and at least some personal mail while he is serving punitive isolation time.

In his second complaint, Little states that his first amendment right to freedom of religion was violated because he was not allowed to attend group religious services while he was in "administrative segregation type confinement." All group religious services were temporarily suspended for those inmates who were transferred to the Maximum Security Unit after their participation in the potentially violent demonstration at the Cummins Unit. Defendants provided an alternative means for worship by having the prison chaplain regularly visit the inmates.

An inmate's exercise of freedom of religion may be restricted by the reasonable requirements of prison security. Otey v. Best, 680 F.2d 1231, 1234 (8th Cir.1982). Once the prison officials have produced evidence that the restriction placed on an inmate's religious freedom was in response to a security concern, the burden is on the inmate to show by substantial evidence that the prison officials' response was exaggerated. Id. at 1233. Prison officials are given a wide range of discretion in dealing with security matters in the prisons. Rogers v. Scurr, 676 F.2d 1211, 1216 (8th Cir.1982).

Here, the suspension of the right to attend group services was in response to a legitimate security concern, the prevention of any further demonstrations during the period of inmate unrest. Little never alleged in his complaint, or in his response to defendants' motion to dismiss, that the prison officials exaggerated their response to the security consideration, nor is there any indication in...