Spears v. Thigpen
| Citation | 846 F.2d 1327 |
| Decision Date | 13 June 1988 |
| Docket Number | No. 87-7672,87-7672 |
| Parties | Ronald H. SPEARS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Morris THIGPEN, John Nagle; Steve Dees (jointly, individually and each in their capacity), Defendants-Appellees. Non-Argument Calendar. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (11th Circuit) |
Ronald H. Spears, pro se.
Don Siegelman, Atty. Gen., Thomas T. Allison, P. David Bjurberg, Asst. Atty. Gen., Montgomery, Ala., for defendants-appellees.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama.
Before HILL, KRAVITCH and JOHNSON, Circuit Judges.
The appellant, Ronald Spears, filed this suit under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 complaining about various aspects of his confinement in administrative segregation at the West Jefferson Correctional Facility in Bessemer, Alabama. He alleged that the conditions of his confinement in administrative segregation violated his rights under the First, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. He further alleged that administrative segregation was used as a pretext for extended punitive segregation without due process of law. The appellant sought injunctive and declaratory relief. The district court entered summary judgment in favor of the defendants, and Spears appeals. We vacate the judgment of the district court and remand with instructions to dismiss the bulk of appellant's claims as moot and to conduct further proceedings on appellant's due process claim.
This court must review its jurisdiction over an appeal at all times during the appellate process. Ray v. Edwards, 725 F.2d 655, 658 n. 3 (11th Cir.1984). This court has clearly stated the following:
Absent class certification, an inmate's claim for injunctive and declaratory relief in a section 1983 action fails to present a case or controversy once the inmate has been transferred.
Wahl v. McIver, 773 F.2d 1169, 1173 (11th Cir.1985).
Appellant filed the present complaint while he was incarcerated at the West Jefferson facility. He specifically challenged the conditions of his administrative segregation at that facility. In fact, he complained that administrative segregation at the West Jefferson facility compared unfavorably to such segregation at other Alabama facilities. The record shows that Spears was transferred to another facility shortly after his complaint was filed. Indeed, he was transferred to one of the facilities which he had alleged was better equipped and more adequate than the West Jefferson facility. At that point, his claims for injunctive and declaratory relief relating to the conditions of his administrative segregation at the West Jefferson facility no longer presented a case or controversy. See id. Thus, the claims...
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...and declaratory relief under § 1983 are moot. Clas v. Torres, 549 F.App'x 922, 923 (11th Cir. 2013) (citing Spears v. Thigpen, 846 F.2d 1327, 1328 (11th Cir. 1988) (quoting Wahl v. McIver, 773 F.2d 1169, 1173 (11th Cir.1985) (stating that "[a]bsent class certification, an inmate's claim for......
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...to him there has been no change in his place of incarceration which would moot his claims for injunctive relief. (See Spears v. Thigpen, 846 F.2d 1327 (11 Cir.1988); Cotterall v. Paul, 755 F.2d 777 (11 Cir.1985) (an inmate's transfer or release renders moot his claims for injunctive and/or ......
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Calloway v. Stewart
...relief becomes moot one he is transferred or released from the facility where the cause of action arose. See Spears v. Thigpen, 846 F.2d 1327, 1328 (11th Cir. 1988) (Plaintiff "was transferred to another facility shortly after his complaint was filed. . . . At that point, his claims for inj......
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Nashaddai v. Johnson
...relief against the prison officials there are moot."); Clas v. Torres, 549 F.App'x 922, 923 (11th Cir. 2013) (citing Spears v. Thigpen, 846 F.2d 1327, 1328 (11th Cir. 1988)); see also Zatler v. Wainwright, 802 F.2d 397, 399 (11th Cir. 1986) (relying on Wahl and holding that the prisoner's "......