Cromwell v. WardCromwell v. Ward
- Reporters:
- ,
- Before:
- Curtin
In this civil rights action, initiated by the plaintiff pro se pursuant to
Defendants have now moved pursuant to
A case brought under the Civil Rights Act (
With respect to plaintiff’s first claim that he was subjected to improper disciplinary action, the Supreme Court has recognized that an inmate, while deprived of substantial aspects of his liberty, is still entitled to minimal due process protections when he is subjected to disciplinary proceedings within a correctional facility. Wolff v. McDonnell, 418 U.S. 539, 555-556, 94 S.Ct. 2963, 41 L.Ed.2d 295 (1973). The amended complaint alleges that plaintiff was improperly charged before the Attica Adjustment Committee, that the proceedings before that committee were in violation of the regulations of the New York State Department of Corrections and in disregard of constitutional due process requirements and that, as a result, plaintiff lost certain privileges and recreational opportunities that would otherwise have been available to him.
In my order of February 28, 1975, I enumerated the ways in which petitioner in his pro se complaint had alleged a denial of due process safeguards:
(1) Plaintiff was not given notification of charges prior to his appearance before the Adjustment Committee;
*99 (2) He was not allowed to call as witnesses other persons who observed the incident of February 1, 1975;
(3) No findings were advanced by the Adjustment Committee to justify imposition of punishment.
In addition, defendants’ own records should enable them to formulate a responsive pleading with respect to whether their own regulations and due process requirements were complied with in the course of the disciplinary proceeding.
Plaintiff’s second claim is that his rights of access to counsel and to the courts were interfered with by defendants’ repeated denial to him of access to the facility’s law library and by defendants’ unreasonable delay in forwarding plaintiff’s legal mail to the court. Availability of and access to reasonable legal library facilities are aspects of an inmate’s constitutionally protected right of access to the courts. White v. Sullivan, 368 F.Supp. 292 (S.D.Ala.1973); Gilmore v. Lynch, 319 F.Supp. 105 (N.D.Cal. 1970), aff’d sub nom. Younger v. Gilmore, 404 U.S. 15, 92 S.Ct. 250, 30 L.Ed.2d 142 (1971). Also encompassed within the inmate’s right of access to the courts is the right to dispatch mail to the courts free from interference by corrections officials. Stiltner v. Rhay, 322 F.2d 314 (9th Cir. 1963), cert. denied, 376 U.S. 920, 84 S.Ct. 678, 11 L.Ed.2d 615, rehearing denied, 376 U.S. 959, 84 S.Ct. 972, 11 L.Ed.2d 978 (1964); Corby v. Conboy, 457 F.2d 251 (2d Cir. 1972); Carothers v. Follette, 314 F.Supp. 1014, 1022 (S.D.N.Y.1970).
I conclude that plaintiff’s causes of action are sufficiently pleaded and supported by the case law to withstand defendants’
In the alternative, defendants have moved for a more definite statement pursuant to
The pleading system under the Federal Rules requires only notice of the claim with the details to be provided by discovery.
See
I believe that plaintiff has formulated both an intelligent and intelligible pleading which satisfies the requirements of
Defendants are directed to submit an answer to the complaint within 45 days from the date of this order. The parties are then directed to proceed to discovery so that defendants may be provided with the factual details which they have sought in this motion.
So ordered.