Rawls v. Sundquist

• Decision Date: 23 May 1996
• Docket Number: No. 3-96-0107.,3-96-0107.
• Citation: 929 F. Supp. 284
• Parties: Angela RAWLS, et al. v. Don SUNDQUIST, et al.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Middle District of Tennessee

929 F. Supp. 284

Angela RAWLS, et al. v. Don SUNDQUIST, et al.

No. 3-96-0107.

United States District Court, M.D. Tennessee, Nashville Division.

May 23, 1996.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Richard Marshall Brooks, Carthage, TN, for plaintiffs.

Arthur Crownover, II, Nashville, TN, for defendants.

MEMORANDUM

CAMPBELL, District Judge.

Pending before the Court are Defendants' Motion to Dismiss (Docket No. 6) and Plaintiffs' Response thereto (Docket No. 11). For the reasons more fully stated herein, Defendants' Motion to Dismiss (Docket No. 6) is GRANTED.

The issue in this case is whether a satellite dish donated to the State of Tennessee, Department of Correction, for the use of death row inmates has been unconstitutionally removed.

The Court holds that Plaintiffs' due process rights have not been violated because Plaintiffs do not have a constitutionally-protected right to the satellite dish or to watch satellite television.

The Court further holds that Plaintiffs' equal protection rights have not been violated because removal of the satellite dish is within the wide-ranging discretion of state prison officials and Plaintiffs have failed to show that there is no rational basis for such removal.

Plaintiffs filed this action alleging federal jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1331, "inasmuch as federal questions of violations of constitutional rights under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 are alleged." Complaint, ¶ 1. Because the Court finds that Plaintiffs' Complaint does not state a valid claim for violation of constitutional rights under Section 1983, the case is dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.

On a motion to dismiss, the district court must construe the complaint in a light most favorable to the plaintiff, accept all of the factual allegations as true, and determine whether the plaintiff undoubtedly can prove no set of facts in support of his claims that would entitle him to relief. Columbia Natural Resources, Inc. v. Tatum, 58 F.3d 1101, 1109 (6th Cir.1995).

Plaintiffs King, Sample and Coker ("the Inmate Plaintiffs") are inmates in Unit Two at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution ("RMSI") in Nashville, Tennessee. Unit Two at RMSI specifically houses male inmates who have been sentenced to death, "death row" inmates. Plaintiffs Rawls, House, Wray and Keyes ("the Donor Plaintiffs") are not incarcerated.

On or about March 23, 1993, Plaintiff Rawls, on behalf of the Donor Plaintiffs and others,¹ donated to the State of Tennessee, Department of Correction, a satellite dish, receivers and related accessories. Plaintiff Rawls signed an Acknowledgement of Donation Form which indicated that the donation was "FOR RMSI UNIT TWO." That Acknowledgement of Donation Form is not executed by anyone on behalf of the State. Then-Governor Ned McWherter acknowledged the gift in a letter to Plaintiff Rawls dated August 5, 1993, but the letter from Governor McWherter makes no reference to any specific use or purpose of the gift.

The satellite equipment at issue was installed at Unit Two, RMSI, and operated for the use of the inmates there until on or about April 21, 1995, when, upon orders from Defendant Governor Don Sundquist, Defendants Warden Ricky Bell and Commissioner Donal Campbell directed that the satellite equipment be disconnected and removed from Unit Two. Plaintiffs contend that the equipment is currently being stored at RMSI.

Plaintiffs allege that Defendants have taken their property without due process of law, in violation of the Fourth, Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution² and further contend that Defendants' actions constituted a denial of Plaintiffs' equal protection rights. Plaintiffs also assert that the conduct of the Defendants amounted to conversion, fraudulent misappropriation and misuse of property under state law. For these claims, Plaintiffs seek injunctive relief and money damages.

Defendants have filed a Motion to Dismiss, alleging that no constitutional rights have been violated; that Plaintiffs' allegations against the Tennessee Department of Correction are barred by the Eleventh Amendment; that Defendants are immune from monetary damages; and that Defendants are entitled to qualified immunity. Because the Court finds there was no constitutional violation by the Defendants, it need not reach Defendants' other arguments.

PLAINTIFFS' CONSTITUTIONAL CLAIMS

Section 1983 of Title 42 of the United States Code provides a civil remedy for violation of constitutional rights. It states:

Every person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State or Territory or the District of Columbia, subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States of other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress.

42 U.S.C. § 1983. Thus, Plaintiffs must establish that the Defendants, acting under color of state law, deprived Plaintiffs of rights, privileges or immunities secured by the Constitution or laws of the United States.

The Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution provides that no State shall "deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the law." U.S. Const. amend. XIV, § 1. Thus, if Defendants in fact deprived Plaintiffs of life, liberty or property, then Plaintiffs were entitled to the protections of due process. Also, Plaintiffs are entitled to equal protection of the law. Here, however, Plaintiffs have failed to show that they have been deprived of any constitutionally-protected right.

DUE PROCESS

Plaintiffs' claim that their property was taken without due process of law fails because Plaintiffs have not established that they had a constitutionally-protected interest in the property which was taken.

The satellite equipment, having been given by the Donor Plaintiffs to the State of Tennessee, Department of Correction, no longer belonged to the Donor Plaintiffs. In other words, the Donor Plaintiffs had no property interest in the equipment at issue once it was given to the State of Tennessee. In addition, the Inmate Plaintiffs never had any property interest in the satellite equipment at all. The equipment was not given to the Inmate Plaintiffs; it was given to the State.³

To claim a property interest in a benefit, a person clearly "must have more than a unilateral expectation of it. He must ... have a legitimate claim of entitlement to it." Board of Regents v. Roth, 408 U.S. 564, 577, 92 S.Ct. 2701, 2709, 33 L.Ed.2d 548 (1972). In addition, property interests are not created by the Constitution. "Rather they are created and their dimensions are defined by existing rules or understandings that stem from an independent source such as state law — rules or understandings that secure certain benefits and that support claims of entitlement to those benefits." Id.

Plaintiffs attempt to create property and/or liberty interests in the satellite equipment by reliance upon the Contract Clause of the U.S. Constitution, a Tennessee Department of Corrections ("TDOC") policy and American Correctional Association Standards.⁴

In their Contract Clause argument, Plaintiffs assert that Defendants' actions violated and impaired the terms of a specific agreement under which the gift of the satellite equipment was given to the State.⁵ Plaintiffs claim the gift was donated "exclusively" for the use and benefit of plaintiffs at RMSI Unit Two and that Defendants' misuse violates the Contract Clause.

Plaintiffs' reliance upon the Contract Clause, however, is misplaced. Article 1, Section 10 of the U.S. Constitution provides, in pertinent part: "No State shall ... pass any ... Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts...." U.S. Const. art. 1, § 10, cl. 1. There is no State law at issue here. Plaintiffs have not even alleged that a State statute violates their rights.

It is well settled that "the prohibition upon the passage of state laws impairing the obligation of contracts refers only to the law of a state, and not to judicial decisions, or to the acts of state tribunals or officers under statutes in force at the time of the making of the contract the obligation of which is alleged to have been impaired." Hanford v. Davies, 163 U.S. 273, 278, 16 S.Ct. 1051, 1054, 41 L.Ed. 157 (1896). The Contract Clause is inapplicable to this case.⁶

The Donor Plaintiffs assert no other basis for claiming a property or liberty interest in this case. They had no constitutionally-protected interest in the satellite equipment which they donated to the State of Tennessee. Therefore, no process was due them before that equipment was removed from Unit Two at RMSI.

This Court need not reach the issue of whether there was in fact a "contract" between the Donor Plaintiffs and the State or whether Plaintiffs' claims amount to a valid breach of contract claim, since those questions are state law issues.⁷ The Court notes, however, that nowhere in this record have Plaintiffs presented evidence that their gift was accepted by the State under specific terms and conditions.⁸

The Inmate Plaintiffs have no property or liberty interest in the satellite equipment at issue either and, therefore, raise no valid constitutional claim. There is no constitutional right to television while incarcerated. Dede v. Baker, 1994 WL 198179 at *2 (6th Cir.1994); Temple v. Dahm, 905 F.Supp. 670, 674 (D.Neb.1995) ("Plaintiff has no right to view television as arising from the Constitution."); Montana v. Commissioners Court, 659 F.2d 19, 23 (5th Cir.1981); Murphy v. Walker, 51 F.3d 714, 718, n. 8 (7th Cir.1995); Glasshofer v. Jeffes, 1989 WL 95360 at *2 (E.D.Pa.1989) ("No court has recognized a federal constitutional right to the usage of radio and television by...