U.S. v. Kelton, 85-1987
| Decision Date | 11 June 1986 |
| Docket Number | No. 85-1987,85-1987 |
| Citation | 791 F.2d 101 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Hilton Jerry KELTON, Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit |
Robert G. Duncan, Kansas City, Mo., for appellant.
Linda L. Sybrant, Asst. U.S. Atty., Kansas City, Mo., for appellee.
Before McMILLIAN and BOWMAN, Circuit Judges, and HANSON, * Senior District Judge.
Kelton appeals his conviction on four counts of distributing cocaine, asserting that it was error to allow the government to introduce into evidence letters he had written while in custody at the United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth, Kansas. For the reasons stated below, we affirm the decision of the district court. 1
While awaiting the trial of his conviction on four counts of distributing cocaine, Kelton was incarcerated at penitentiary, serving time for the previous federal convictions. During May and June of 1985, Kelton wrote and mailed numerous letters from the prison. Some seventy-four letters were inspected, read, and copied by prison officials at the penitentiary. Seven letters were eventually offered and admitted into evidence at trial. Those seven letters contained Kelton's attempts to identify who was working for the government as an informant against him, and made numerous threats against all those who would be a witness against him. On July 11, 1985, the jury returned verdicts of guilty on all four counts.
The single issue that Kelton raises on appeal is whether the trial court erred in admitting into evidence letters written by Kelton that prison officials had read and copied before mailing. Kelton argues that the letters should have been suppressed because they were seized in violation of his fourth amendment rights.
Prison officials are authorized, under the regulations of the Bureau of Prisons, to read and copy outgoing prisoner mail. 28 C.F.R. Sec. 540.13 (1985) provides in part that:
(d) Outgoing mail in Security Level 4, 5, and 6 and administrative institutions, except "special mail," may not be sealed by the inmate and may be inspected and read by staff.
(e) The Warden may reject correspondence sent by or to an inmate if it contains any of the following:
(1) ...
(2) Information ... of plans to commit illegal activities, or to violate institution rules.
(3) ...
(4) Threats, extortion, obscenity, or gratuitous profanity; ....
the penitentiary at Leavenworth is a Level 5 institution. Moreover, 28 C.F.R. Sec. 540.11(c) (1985) provides in part that:
Correspondence containing threats, extortions, etc., may result in prosecution for violation of federal laws. When such material is discovered, the inmate may be subject to disciplinary action, the written material may be copied, and all material may be referred to the appropriate law enforcement agency for prosecution.
There can be no doubt that the penitentiary prison officials were acting within the scope of their authority, as provided by the Bureau of Prisons' regulations, when these letters were copied and forwarded to the United States Attorney. Furthermore, the prison officials were not under any obligation to inform Kelton that they were reading and copying his mail. 2
The actions of the prison officials were particularly justified in the light of the fact that in the letters Kelton states that informants would not testify against him at trial because of this threatened retaliation. He further makes reference to "my crew," his street gang which would carry out his threats and potentially kill whoever would testify against him.
Kelton argues that the regulations that authorize prison officials to read and copy inmate mail violate his fourth amendment right to privacy. In Stroud v. United States, 251 U.S. 15, 40 S.Ct. 50, 64 L.Ed. 103 (1919), the Supreme Court held that interception by prison personnel and use in evidence by the prosecution of certain letters containing incriminating material written by a federal prisoner, who had been charged with the murder of a prison guard, did not violate the fourth amendment rights of the accused. The Court noted that the letters were voluntarily written and that no threat or coercion was used to obtain them. The Court added that the letters came into the possession of officials of the penitentiary under established practice, reasonably designed to promote the discipline of the institution. Id. at 21-22, 40 S.Ct. at 52-53.
More recent cases since Stroud have held that a prisoner's fourth amendment rights are not violated when his mail is inspected by...
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Sparkman v. State
...privacy, prison officials do not violate the constitution when they read inmates' outgoing letters." Id.; see also United States v. Kelton, 791 F.2d 101, 102-03 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, 479 U.S. 989, 107 S.Ct. 583, 93 L.Ed.2d 586 (1986). FCI-Oxford officials are permitted to examine inmate......
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Washington v. Meachum
...352 (1991) ("it is well established that prisons have sound reasons for reading the outgoing mail of their inmates"); United States v. Kelton, 791 F.2d 101, 103 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, 479 U.S. 989, 107 S.Ct. 583, 93 L.Ed.2d 586 (1986) (fourth amendment not violated when prison official i......
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Gatlin ex rel. Gatlin v. Green, 02-CV-154JMR/SRN.
...cases that require police or jail guards to embargo and detain threatening prison mail. The most analogous case is United States v. Kelton, 791 F.2d 101 (8th Cir.1986), authorizing prison officials to read and copy incriminating outgoing prisoner mail before posting it. Neither Kelton nor a......
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Busby v. Dretke
...that the jail at least present a justification for its mail policy. See, e.g., Whalen, 940 F.2d at 1034-35; United States v. Kelton, 791 F.2d 101, 102-03 (8th Cir.1986). See generally Gary D. Spivey, Annotation, Censorship and Evidentiary Use of Unconvicted Prisoners' Mail, 52 A.L.R.3d 548,......