Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
____________________
No. 97-1501
Plaintiff, Appellant,
v.
Defendants, Appellees.
____________________
____________________
Before
____________________
States
Attorney,
and
Agnes I. Corde
_______________
____________________
Per Curiam.
__________
was convicted
He
of being a
is serving
Center
in
prisons,
his sentence
Guaynabo,
previously
felon in possession of
Puerto
served time on
but he
was
at
moved
("MDC
MDC
Guaynabo
Detention
Guaynabo");
this conviction in
to
a firearm.
the Metropolitan
Rico
Dodson
he
three federal
after
being
Dodson
has
alleged
several
constitutional
claims
appeal, we
are mainly
of them.
First,
the federal
Bureau
of
Prisons plan
Penitentiary in Marion,
the
Eighth
to
have
retaliate
against him
Second,
deliberately
he
claims
kept him
and his
at
family
letters protesting
the conditions
discuss
claims first
these two
to
United States
Amendment.
officials
transfer him
MDC
the same
Guaynabo to
for writing
of his
and
that
of
various
confinement.
then address
We
Dodson's
1.
to Marion
has two
branches.
officials
at Marion would
First,
he claims
place him in
-2-
that prison
remainder of
his prison
term in order
claims that
him from
even in segregation,
probably killed
to protect
by AB members.
he would be
Dodson
Second, he
assaulted and
has sought
various
planned to
the
Bureau of
Prisons transfer
facility, an order
and federal
to a
Washington state
to federal officials to
prosecute prison
officials for
him
violating his
civil rights,
and
We
are
troubled
by
the
allegations
in
this
even
though
serious
Marion
records
require unusually
apparently
of
houses
institutional
meet.
prisoners
violence
The government
It appears
Dodson to Marion,
or
does not
abandoned the
typically
case,
who
have
otherwise
that Dodson
argues that
it
abandonment
raises
abandoned only
Dodson
has
the possibility
upon
also
that
Dodson's initiation
made
plausible
the
of
albeit
transfer was
this
lawsuit.
unsubstantiated
-3-
allegations
that
efforts
to transfer
him
to
Marion will
resume
could
when this
case concludes.
add substance
to
these
Dodson
allegations
alleges that
if
allowed
he
to
undertake discovery.
claims regarding
transfer.
The
existing plans
substantial evidence to
contrary.
Dodson
has
there is no
We therefore
no
live
claim for
an
the
injunction,
let
alone
materialize,
Eighth
and we
do
not reach
Amendment challenges.
The
the
merits of
district
Dodson's
court did
not
Dodson is
free to initiate
if the
transfer
to Marion
government
effort.
renews its
bar a
transfer
an injunction.
The
district court's
to reapply for
dismissal is
plainly
2.
Dodson's
retaliation claim
factual
predicate.
Dodson claims
Prisons
officials
have
been
-4-
rests
that
retaliating
on a
different
federal Bureau
against
of
him for
writing letters
incarceration.
in
He
the form of
form of
continued detention at
Dodson
transferred to
has
a facility
occurred not
to Marion
but in the
refusal to
Specifically,
throughout his
United States.
repeatedly requested
in Washington so
that
that he
he be
can be
The
district
retaliation
claim
court
not
directly
address
the
unsoundly premised
right to
did
on the
notion that
Dodson had
This confusion
Dodson
apparently
detail
and in
argued
light of
pleadings liberally,
(1972),
we
will
However,
the retaliation
our obligation
claim
given that
below
to construe
in
pro se
______
treat Dodson's
complaint
as
amended and
However,
a constitutional claim if
by the First
Amendment.
See Sandin v.
___ ______
protected
Conner, 115 S.
______
Ct.
-5-
must
is being kept
writing.
would certainly
toward
him.
However,
suggests that
Guaynabo.
Dodson
this animosity is
Dodson's
strongest
has
made no
showing
evidence
is
an
that
at MDC
alleged
"spin" him
(i.e., transfer
____
rapid succession).
happened.
There
him through
is no
several prisons
indication that
in
this ever
retaliatory motive
and Dodson's
continued incarceration
at
Dodson's further
pretrial
that MDC
Guaynabo
is
remained there
irrelevant to
prior
allegations
over
the issue
attacks
unusual measures
on
year
are,
in
of retaliatory
Dodson elsewhere
were obviously
in
this
case,
motive.
the
necessary.
Given the
prison system,
Indeed, it
is
-6-
largely
Of
course, Dodson's
lack
of
evidence of
retaliatory
Dodson to
issue,
we hold
discretion
claim.
undertake discovery.
that the
in denying
Although this
district court
is a
did not
further discovery on
close
abuse its
the retaliation
Cir. 1992).
court, but in
3.
Dodson
district court
prejudice.
Dodson
process
and
equal
which the
protection
principles because
most
inmates are
his
family in Washington
State.
that
his
incarceration
meet
However,
Eighth Amendment
particular
demand
conditions.
See
___
Dodson
also
seeks
monetary
damages
from
federal
by AB members while
these assaults
previous assaults
However, he
been responsible
took place.
Dodson
-7-
cannot sue
supervisory
superior.
See Gutierrez-Rodriguez
___ ___________________
v. Cartagena,
_________
882 F.2d
has access to
books; the
access at
right to access a
will.
access to
security regulations
An inmate
does not
legal challenges.
law
barring inmates
Casey, 116 S.
_____
library.
prison has
from physical
have a
on access
See Lewis v.
___ _____
See
___
To
conclude:
the dismissal as
transfer to
of
a new
threat to
transfer
retaliation
claim is also
reassertion
if Dodson
motive
keeping him
respects
for
the district
prejudice is affirmed.
________
It is so ordered.
________________
him.
Dismissal of
Dodson's
obtains
at
MDC
court's
evidence
of
Guaynabo.
judgment
In
as to
retaliatory
all
of dismissal
other
with
-8-