Case Information
*1 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA _________________________________________
)
JED LINEBERRY, )
)
Plaintiff, )
) v. ) Civil Action No. 11-2056 (RMC) )
FEDERAL BUREAU OF PRISONS, et al. , )
)
Defendants. )
_________________________________________ )
MEMORANDUM OPINION
This matter is before the Court on Defendant’s [sic] Motion to Dismiss [Dkt.
#11]. [1] For the reasons discussed below, the motion will be granted.
I. BACKGROUND
TRULINCS is the system by which prisoners in the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons (“BOP”) may correspond electronically and in writing with the public. See generally Mem. in Supp. of Defs.’ Mot. to Dismiss (“Defs.’ Mem.”), Attach. B (Program Statement P5265.13, Trust Fund Limited Inmate Computer System (TRULINCS) – Electronic Messaging (Feb. 19, 2009)) (hereinafter “Program Statement 5265.13”). The stated program objectives are:
• To provide inmates with an alternative means of written communication with the public. • To provide the [BOP] with a more efficient, cost-effective, and secure method of managing and monitoring inmate communication services.
*2 • To reduce the opportunities for illegal drugs or contraband to be introduced into [BOP] facilities through inmate mail.
Program Statement 5265.13 at 1.
Generally, an inmate must “place a TRULINCS-generated mailing label on all outgoing postal mail,” and if he fails to do so, “the mail is returned to the inmate for proper preparation.” Id. at 5; see also Program Statement P5265.14, Correspondence (Apr. 5, 2011) at 7 (“[A]ll outgoing mail, for institutions with a TRULINCS-generated mailing label system, must utilize these mailing labels on all outgoing correspondence, in accordance with the Program Statement Trust Fund Limited Inmate Computer System (TRULINCS) -- Electronic Messaging.”) (emphasis removed). An inmate using TRULINCS “must establish a contact list, which consists of people with whom [he wants] to communicate while [he is] incarcerated,” and upon confirmation from the potential recipients of inmate correspondence, “through use of the TRULINCS program, [the inmate] may communicate . . . by way of electronic messaging and postal mail” with people on the approved contact list. Defs.’ Reply to Pl.’s Resp. to Defs.’ Mot. to Dismiss Pl.’s Compl. (“Defs.’ Reply”), Decl. of Rocky Patterson (“Patterson Decl.”) ¶ 2. In order to send “postal mail to a person on [his] contact list, the inmate must use the TRULINCS program to generate a mailing label,” a step designed “to ensure that contraband or illegal drugs are not smuggled into our prison facility through the use of other types of mailing labels.” , Patterson Decl. ¶ 2. If outgoing mail does not bear a TRULINCS-generated label, it “is intercepted through [the] mail sorting process and returned to” the inmate. “Inmates who use mailing labels for other than their intended purpose may be subject to disciplinary action for misuse of Government property.” Program Statement 5265.13 at 5.
Plaintiff’s “federal incarceration has taken away from him the means to have access to the postal service other than the institutional mail box system.” Compl. at 4. Now that *3 use of TRULINCS is mandatory at the Federal Correctional Institution in Texarkana, Texas (“FCI Texarkana”), the facility in which Plaintiff currently is incarcerated, he must “apply to TRULINC[S]” for a mailing label, and “[i]f TRULINCS deems it appropriate, it will approve the request for access to postal service by providing a label.” Id. If TRULINCS does not approve the request, Plaintiff alleges, he is denied “access to the postal service.” Id. With the exception of “a few . . . letters going to a court,” Plaintiff explains that “[e]very letter he has placed into the institutional mail has been returned to him.” Id. For example, he states that thrice he “attempted to send out mail to his father,” but the BOP allegedly “returned the letter [because] the outgoing mail did not have a mailing label approved by TRULINCS.” Id. at 6. Now Plaintiff “refuse[s] to apply to TRULINC[S] for permission in order to exercise his constitutional right[s]” under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. at 4. In addition, Plaintiff objects to “[t]he mandatory prior approval of a request in order to have access to the postal service, the possibility of [b]eing the access to the postal service as well as the limited number of labels and access to the one computer that services 1200 inmates, located in the law library, closed on all holidays, Sundays, for counts, staff meetings etc[.]” at 8. For these alleged “blatant violation[s] of [his] First Amendment Right to have unrestricted access to ‘FREEDOM OF SPEECH’, FREEDOM ‘OF THE PRESS’, to the ‘ESTABLISHMENT OF RELIGION’[,] protection for ‘FREE EXERCISE’ of religion, his right to ‘PEACEABL[E] ASSEMBL[Y]’ and his right to ‘PETITION’ the government,” id. at 3, Plaintiff demands injunctive relief, id. at 6; see id. at 12. [2]
*4 Acknowledging that he must “complete the administrative remedy process before he request[s] assistance from the court,” id. at 8-9, Plaintiff submitted an informal inmate grievance to Mr. Hamilton, a counselor, who instructed Plaintiff to submit the request instead to Rocky Patterson, id. at 9, the Trust Fund Supervisor at FCI Texarkana, Patterson Decl. ¶ 1. Patterson’s response merely referred to Program Statement 5265.13. Compl. at 9; see Pl.’s Resp. to Def.’s Mot. to Dismiss (“Pl.’s Opp’n”), Ex. (Inmate Request to Staff dated September 9, 2011). When Plaintiff attempted to file a formal inmate grievance, Mr. Hamilton allegedly “became hostal [sic] and refused” to give Plaintiff the proper form. Id. Plaintiff’s attempts to submit his grievance to another counselor and to his Unit Manager were unsuccessful. at 10. According to Plaintiff, any attempt by an inmate “to challenge any policy of the BOP” meets with resistance from BOP staff members who “will do everything in within their power to block the challenge as well as constantly harass, intimidate and persecute the inmate that questions” a policy. at 9-10. And Plaintiff has acknowledged his failure to “request[] or attempt[] to file an administrative remedy for tort (for this claim),” id. at 11, under the Federal Tort Claims Act (“FTCA”), see 28 U.S.C. § 2671 et seq. , to the BOP, see 28 C.F.R. § 543.31.
II. DISCUSSION
A. This Court Lacks Personal Jurisdiction Over Patterson In His Individual Capacity
[3]
Plaintiff brings this action against Rocky Patterson in his individual capacity
under
Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of the Fed. Bureau of Narcotics
,
Patterson does “not work or reside in the District of Columbia,” nor does he “have
property interests in the District of Columbia.” Defs.’ Reply, Patterson Decl. ¶ 3. His “duties as
Trust Fund Supervisor do not cause [him] to transact business in the District of Columbia,” as
these duties “are limited to serving the inmates” at FCI Texarkana.” Patterson, then, is not “a
person domiciled in, organized under the laws of, or maintaining [a] principal place of business
in, the District of Columbia” over whom this Court may exercise jurisdiction. D.C. Code § 13-
422. In order to determine whether the Court may exercise personal jurisdiction over this non-
resident defendant, the analysis begins by referencing the law of the District of Columbia,
United
States v. Ferrara
,
A District of Columbia court may exercise personal jurisdiction over a person, who acts directly or by an agent, as to a claim for relief arising from the person’s –
(1) transacting any business in the District of Columbia; (2) contracting to supply services in the District of Columbia; (3) causing tortious injury in the District of Columbia by an act or omission in the District of Columbia; [or]
(4) causing tortious injury in the District of Columbia by an act or
omission outside the District of Columbia if he regularly does or
solicits business, engages in any other persistent course of conduct,
or derives substantial revenue from goods used or consumed, or
services rendered, in the District of Columbia[.]
D.C. Code § 13-423(a). None of these provisions appear applicable. The Court must also
consider “whether the exercise of personal jurisdiction would comport with the requirements of
due process.”
Kurtz v. United States
, __ F. Supp. 2d __, __,
At most Patterson has enforced at FCI Texarkana a policy which originated at
BOP’s Central Office in Washington, D.C.
See
Pl.’s Opp’n at 7-8. “[T]he mere enforcement of
a regulation that was promulgated [in the District of Columbia] does not suffice to confer
personal jurisdiction to a court in this district over [an] individual[] who [is] not located in this
district and who committed no acts in this district, when the alleged injury sustained by the
plaintiff . . . did not occur in this district either.”
Zakiya v. United States
,
B. Plaintiff’s Claim Against Patterson In His Official Capacity Is Dismissed
“Official capacity suits . . . generally represent only another way of pleading an
action against an entity of which an officer is an agent,” such that “an official capacity suit is, in
*7
all respects other than name, to be treated as a suit against the entity.”
Kentucky v. Graham
, 473
U.S. 159, 165-66 (1985). Accordingly, the Court treats any claim against Patterson in his official
capacity as if it were brought against the United States directly.
See, e.g., Morton v. Bolyard
,
C. Plaintiff’s Claims Against the BOP Are Dismissed [4] Defendants argue that the complaint “should be summarily dismissed because Plaintiff has failed to exhaust his administrative remedies with regard to the claims raised in this lawsuit.” Defs.’ Mem. at 5.
1. Sovereign Immunity
Defendants move to dismiss Plaintiff’s FTCA claim for his failure to exhaust,
id.
at 7, a matter that Plaintiff readily concedes.
See
Compl. at 11 (“As for the [FTCA, Plaintiff] has
not attempted to file a claim.”). Generally, the FTCA provides that the “United States shall be
liable [for tort claims] in the same manner and to the same extent as a private individual under
*8
like circumstances.” 28 U.S.C. § 2674(a).
[5]
It operates as a limited waiver of sovereign
immunity, rendering the United States amenable to suit for certain, but not all, tort claims.
See,
e.g., Richards v. United States
,
A viable claim under the FTCA requires that a claimant present his claim to the
appropriate federal agency prior to filing a civil action in a federal district court.
McNeil v.
United States
,
2. Exhaustion of Administrative Remedies under the Prison Litigation Reform Act In relevant part, the Prison Litigation Reform Act (“PLRA”) provides that: No action shall be brought with respect to prison conditions under section 1983 of this title, or any other Federal law, by a prisoner confined to any jail, prison, or other correctional facility until such administrative remedies as are available are exhausted.
42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a). Defendants argue that the Court lacks subject matter jurisdiction over the challenge to the constitutionality of Program Statement 5265.13 because Plaintiff has failed to exhaust his available administrative remedies for purposes of the PLRA. Defs.’ Mem. at 5.
The PLRA’s exhaustion requirement is mandatory and “applies to all prisoners
seeking redress for prison circumstances or occurrences.”
Porter v. Nussle
,
The BOP’s Administrative Remedy Program is the means by which a federal inmate may “seek formal review of an issue relating to any aspect of his confinement.” Defs.’ Mem., Attach. A (“Watts Decl.”) ¶ 4. The process is described as follows:
First, the program allows an inmate to resolve the matter informally. However, if an informal resolution is unsuccessful, the inmate may file a request at the institutional level to the Warden by filing a Form BP-9. See 28 C.F.R. § 542.14(a). If the inmate is not satisfied with the Warden’s response, [he] has 20 calendar days to file an appeal of the issue(s) to the Regional Director by filing a Form BP-10. See 28 C.F.R. § 542.15(a). Finally, if the inmate is dissatisfied with the review and determination by the Regional Director, [he] has 30 calendar days to file an appeal by filing a Form BP-11 with National Inmate Appeals of the Office of General Counsel (OGC). See 28 C.F.R. § 542.15(a).
Id. , Watts Decl. ¶ 4. The Administrative Remedy Clerk, upon receipt of an inmate’s grievance, “stamps the form with the date received, logs it into the SENTRY index as received on that date, and writs the ‘Remedy ID’ as assigned by SENTRY on the form.” ¶ 5.
A review of SENTRY yielded no “record showing that [Plaintiff] has filed a formal Administrative Remedy regarding any grievance regarding the use of the Trust Fund Limited Inmate Computer System (‘TRULINCS’).” , Watts Decl. ¶ 6. Defendants thus *11 demonstrated that Plaintiff “has failed to exhaust his administrative remedies on staff confiscating his mail and returning it to him.” , Watts Decl. ¶ 7.
Plaintiff acknowledges that he has not exhausted his administrative remedies for purposes of the PLRA. Instead, he “ask[s] this court permission to allow him to by pass [sic] the administrative remedy procedure,” Compl. at 9, because the procedure was not available to him, id. at 10. He alleges that neither his counselor nor his Unit Manager provided him the appropriate form for submitting a formal inmate grievance, see Compl. at 9-10, and without access to the first step of the process, he could not have been expected to complete the process, see id. at 10. “[P]rison officials refused to give him the form and with hostility forced him out of [the] office and told [him] not to return.”
The PLRA requires that an inmate exhaust only those administrative remedies “as
are available.” 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a). Courts have recognized that exhaustion is not required
“when circumstances render administrative remedies ‘effectively unavailable.’”
Sapp v.
Kimbrell,
D. Plaintiff Fails to State a Constitutional Claim Upon Which Relief Can Be Granted
Defendants argue for dismissal of the complaint on the ground that it merely sets
forth “conclusory allegations that the BOP’s policy of requiring him to affix a TRULINCS-
generated label on his outgoing postal mail infringes on his First Amendment rights.” Defs.’
Mem. at 14. Such unsupported assertions, Defendants contend, do not recognize that “the
objectives of . . . the TRULINCS program . . . serve[] a legitimate penological interest.” “The burden . . . is not on the State to prove the validity of prison regulations but on the prisoner
to disprove it,”
Overton v. Bazzetta
,
Plaintiff is well aware,
see
Compl. at 6, that “[p]rison walls do not form a barrier
separating prison inmates from the protections of the Constitution.”
Turner v. Safley
, 482 U.S.
78, 84 (1987);
see Levitan v. Ashcroft
,
Plaintiff is not the first federal prisoner to challenge the constitutionality of
Program Statement 5265.13, and he is not the first to lose on the merits.
See Russell v.
Whitehead
, No. 09-3007,
III. CONCLUSION
Plaintiff’s complaint fails to allege adequately a First Amendment claim. Even if it had, the complaint still would be subject to dismissal in part because the Court lacks personal jurisdiction over Rocky Patterson and sovereign immunity bars his claim for damages against the BOP. Accordingly, Defendants’ motion to dismiss will be granted. An Order accompanies this Memorandum Opinion.
Date: February 15, 2013 /s/ ROSEMARY M. COLLYER
United States District Judge
[1] Also before the Court is Plaintiff’s Motion for Summary Judgment [Dkt. #19]. The facts that Plaintiff purports are undisputed for purposes of summary judgment are essentially restatements of the factual allegations set forth in his Complaint, and the motion fails to comply in form and in substance with Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and Local Civil Rule 7(h). The motion will be denied.
Notes
[2] Plaintiff later clarifies that he “is not seeking damages.” Pl.’s Resp. to Def.’s Mot. to Dismiss at 4. Instead, he “is only seeking [to have] the mandatory provision [of Program Statement 5265.13] removed,” id. , and “recovery cost for prosecuting this case,” id. at 5.
[3] For purposes of this discussion, the Court presumes, without deciding, that service of process has been effected properly on Patterson in his individual capacity and that counsel is authorized to represent Patterson in his individual capacity.
[4] Defendants characterize Plaintiff’s FTCA claim as arising from the retention and return of mail by BOP officers. See Def.’s Mem. at 8. Because the FTCA expressly excludes claims “arising in respect of . . . the detention of goods, merchandise, or other property by . . . any . . . law enforcement officer,” 28 U.S.C. § 1680(c), and because the “[c]onfiscation of inmate mail” qualifies as the detention of property by a law enforcement officer, Def.’s Mem. at 8-9, Defendant argues that the FTCA claim must be dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, id. at 10. Plaintiff reiterates that “[t]he damage is that Defendants are blatantly violating [his] First Amendment. Not some singular piece of mail.” Pl.’s Opp’n at 10. The Court therefore denies Defendants’ motion to dismiss the FTCA claim on the ground that it is excluded by § 2680(c).
[5] Only the United States can be a defendant to a claim under the FTCA.
See
28 U.S.C. §
2679(a);
Cox v. Sec’y of Labor
,