Penny v. Shansky
| Decision Date | 13 September 1989 |
| Docket Number | No. 88-1424,88-1424 |
| Citation | 884 F.2d 329 |
| Parties | Haywood Emmanuel PENNY, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Ronald SHANSKY, et al., Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit |
Haywood E. Penny, Menard, Ill., pro se.
Diane Curry Grapsas, Asst. Atty. Gen., Office of the Atty. Gen., Chicago, Ill., for defendants-appellees.
Before CUMMINGS, CUDAHY and POSNER, Circuit Judges.
Haywood Penny, an inmate of an Illinois state prison, brought this suit against prison officials under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 charging that they had withheld essential medical care from him and by doing so had violated his constitutional right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment. By agreement of the parties the case was referred to a federal magistrate for final decision under 28 U.S.C. Sec. 636(c). Penny moved for appointment of counsel to assist him in the prosecution of this suit, and also for a preliminary injunction directing that he receive the medical attention that he claims to need. The magistrate ordered the prison officials to produce Penny for a hearing before him on a specified date. Penny did not show up for the hearing. The explanation is as follows. A prison policy that Penny does not question required that he be strip-searched before leaving the prison for the hearing. When he arrived for the search, he was taken to a room adjoining the guard hall in which the roll call of the prison guards was being taken. Contrary to an Illinois prison regulation requiring that strip searches be conducted "in an area where the search cannot be observed by persons not conducting the search, except in cases of an emergency," 20 Ill.Adm.Code ch. I, subpt. C, Sec. 501.220(b)(2), the door to the search room was open, and as a result all the guards could watch the search. Penny asked the guards conducting the search to close the door, but they refused, and Penny refused to be searched and was returned to his cell.
After Penny failed to show up at the hearing, the magistrate issued the order from which Penny appeals. Before the magistrate for decision were the two motions Penny had filed. The magistrate denied the motion for appointment of (properly request for, see Mallard v. United States District Court, --- U.S. ----, 109 S.Ct. 1814, 104 L.Ed.2d 318 (1989)) counsel on the ground that the case did not meet the criteria this court has set for appointment of counsel in prisoner cases, and denied the motion for a preliminary injunction because of Penny's failure to appear for the hearing. The magistrate thought Penny's reason for not appearing inadequate because the Supreme Court has upheld the constitutionality of strip searches of prisoners. On his own initiative the magistrate then dismissed the entire suit, with prejudice, for want of prosecution based on Penny's failure to appear. Penny's pro se appeal is from the dismissal of his suit; he does not appear to be seeking appellate review of the denial of his two motions.
The magistrate acted precipitately in dismissing the suit because of Penny's failure to...
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Ball v. City of Chicago
...to a number of cases in this circuit, illustrated by Del Carmen v. Emerson Electric Co., 908 F.2d 158 (7th Cir.1990), and Penny v. Shansky, 884 F.2d 329 (7th Cir.1989), in which district judges have been reversed because they precipitately dismissed a case for want of prosecution. He points......
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Dunphy v. McKee
...stamp, and we have not hesitated to find such an abuse where the facts warranted. See Bluestein, 68 F.3d at 1025-26; Penny v. Shansky, 884 F.2d 329, 330 (7th Cir.1989) (pro se plaintiff); Sisk v. United States, 756 F.2d 497, 499-500 (7th Cir.1985) (same); Heidelberg v. Hammer, 577 F.2d 429 ......
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May v. Sheahan, 99-3140
...on access to attorney), overruled in part on other grounds by Thornburgh v. Abbott, 490 U.S. 401, 413-14 (1989); Penny v. Shansky, 884 F.2d 329, 330 (7th Cir. 1989) (limit on ability to appear in court); Johnson ex rel. Johnson v. Brelje, 701 F.2d 1201, 1207-08 (7th Cir. 1983) (limit on acc......
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Bluestein & Co., Matter of, 92-4100
...held that a district court must give explicit warning prior to dismissing the case for want of prosecution. See, e.g., Penny v. Shansky, 884 F.2d 329, 330 (7th Cir.1989); Palmer v. City of Decatur, 814 F.2d 426, 428 (7th Cir.1987); Schilling v. Walworth County Park & Planning Comm'n, 805 F.......