Tolbert v. Bragan, 71-2537 Summary Calendar.

Citation451 F.2d 1020
Decision Date24 November 1971
Docket NumberNo. 71-2537 Summary Calendar.,71-2537 Summary Calendar.
PartiesGeorge TOLBERT, Jr., Petitioner-Appellant, v. Warden BRAGAN et al., Respondents-Appellees.
CourtUnited States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (5th Circuit)

George Tolbert, Jr., pro se.

Before GEWIN, GOLDBERG, and DYER, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM:

George Tolbert, Jr., appeals from the district court's denial of leave to file his Civil Rights1 complaint in forma pauperis without requiring any responsive pleading of the defendants. We reverse and remand.

Tolbert is presently serving a sentence in a federal prison. He alleges that he was taken from there to the Jefferson County, Alabama, jail on a writ of habeas corpus ad prosequendum to answer state criminal charges against him. After disposition of these charges and while awaiting transportation back to federal prison, Tolbert alleges that five jailers beat him severely about the head and body with blackjacks, leaving him badly injured. He alleges that the beating was done under color of state law and racially motivated. Tolbert alleges that the white jailers beat him, a black man, "for sheer sport and/or to satisfy their racist egos."

The district court held that these are "merely allegations of assault and battery and do not involve federal constitutional questions. These are matters which, if true, are within the province of prison officials or state courts of the State of Alabama."

We do not agree. Tolbert has alleged more than a mere matter of prison administration or of state law. Severe physical abuse of prisoners by their keepers without cause or provocation is actionable under the Civil Rights Act. See Lowe v. Warden, 5 Cir. 1971, 450 F. 2d 9; Collum v. Butler, 7 Cir. 1970, 421 F.2d 1257; Allison v. California Adult Authority, 9 Cir. 1969, 419 F.2d 822; Wiltsie v. California Department of Corrections, 9 Cir. 1968, 406 F.2d 515.

The order of the district court denying Tolbert's motion for leave to file his complaint in forma pauperis is reversed and the cause is remanded for further appropriate proceedings.

Reversed and remanded.

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  • Ruiz v. Estelle
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Southern District of Texas
    • December 12, 1980
    ...law. Hamilton v. Chaffin, 506 F.2d 904, 909 (5th Cir. 1975); United States v. Stokes, 506 F.2d 771, 775 (5th Cir. 1975); Tolbert v. Bragan, 451 F.2d 1020 (5th Cir. 1971); Bruce v. Wade, 537 F.2d 850 (5th Cir. In their attempts to remedy prisons and jails determined to be unconstitutionally ......
  • Perkins v. State of Mississippi
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit
    • June 2, 1972
    ...1961, 365 U.S. 167, 187, 81 S.Ct. 473, 484, 5 L.Ed.2d 492, 505; Anderson v. Nosser, supra, 438 F.2d at 188. See also Tolbert v. Bragan, 5 Cir., 1971, 451 F.2d 1020. 71 Compare the language of § 245(b) with 42 U.S.C.A. § 2000a-2(c), the statute utilized as a vehicle for removal in Rachel. Si......
  • United States v. Loera
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — District of New Mexico
    • June 22, 2017
    ...jail could assert a § 1983 against various city jail officials. See 497 F.2d at 125, The Fifth Circuit explained:In Tolbert v. Bragan, 451 F.2d 1020 [(5th Cir. 1971)], this Court upheld the right of an individual convicted for violation of federal law and housed temporarily in a county jail......
  • Johnson v. Glick
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit
    • June 29, 1973
    ...reached the same result. Bethea v. Crouse, 417 F.2d 504 (10 Cir. 1969); Collum v. Butler, 421 F.2d 1257 (7 Cir. 1970); Tolbert v. Bragan, 451 F.2d 1020 (5th Cir. 1971); Howell v. Cataldi, 464 F.2d 272 (3 Cir. 1972). Still others, though they apparently have not yet been faced with precisely......
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