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Charles Edward Whitfield, Appellant, v. Herb Dicker, Lt., Pulaski
County Detention Facility; Ronald Talley, Sergeant/Disciplinary Board Member,
Pulaski County Detention Facility originally sued as R. Talley; Tonya Blackmon,
Disciplinary Board Member, Pulaski County Detention Facility originally sued as
T. Blackmon, Appellees.
UNITED STATES COURT OF
APPEALS FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT
March 5, 2002,
Submitted
PER CURIAM.
Arkansas inmate Charles Edward
Whitfield appeals from the final judgment entered in the District Court n1 for
the [*7] Eastern District of Arkansas, granting summary judgment to
defendants--employees at the Pulaski County Detention Facility (PCDF) --in his 42
U.S.C. § 1983 action. Whitfield alleged that while he was a pretrial detainee
at PCDF, defendants violated his First and Fourteenth Amendment rights by
placing him in segregation, where his telephone privileges were limited, prior
to and after disciplinary hearings. For the reasons discussed below, we affirm
the judgment of the district court.
Upon de novo review, see Hott
v. Hennepin County, 260 F.3d 901, 904 (8th Cir. 2001), we conclude that summary
judgment was appropriate. Whitfield's
First Amendment claim failed because he did not demonstrate any actual injury
from having to use
the telephone while it was noisy or in the evening. See Lewis v. Casey, 518 U.S. 343, 349, 356, 135
L. Ed. 2d 606, 116 S. Ct. 2174 (1996) (inmate alleging violation of right of access to courts
must show "actual injury," i. e., that actionable claim he desired to
bring has been lost or rejected, or that presentation of such claim is
currently being prevented). His Fourteenth Amendment claims failed because his proof did not create
a genuine issue of material fact that defendants confined him to administrative
segregation prior to any hearing for punitive reasons rather than for
institutional security. See Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520, 538-40, 546,
60 L. Ed. 2d 447, 99 S. Ct. 1861 (1979) (maintaining safety and internal order
within institution are permissible nonpunitive objectives); Martinez v. Turner,
977 F.2d 421, 423 (8th Cir. 1992) (pretrial detainees may not be punished, and whether particular restriction or
condition accompanying pretrial detention is punishment turns on whether
restriction or condition is reasonably related to legitimate governmental
objective), cert. denied, 507 U.S. 1009, 123 L. Ed. 2d 277, 113 S. Ct. 1658
(1993). As to the disciplinary segregation, the record shows that in each
disciplinary proceeding, Whitfield received advance notice of the claimed
violations and a written statement by the disciplinary committee of its
findings, and was afforded the right to call witnesses. See Wolff v. McDonnell, 418 U.S. 539, 564-66,
41 L. Ed. 2d 935, 94 S. Ct. 2963 (1974) (elements of due process in prison
disciplinary proceeding).
We
also conclude that the district court properly declined to consider Whitfield's
allegations that he was placed on suicide watch at PCDF. He raised this claim
in response to defendants' summary judgment motion, and he failed to show proof
of administrative exhaustion as to the claim. See 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a).
Accordingly, we affirm. We will not consider Whitfield's new allegations
on appeal against the staff at his current place of confinement, Tucker Maximum Security Unit, and we deny his
pending motion for an injunction against the staff there.
FOOTNOTE:
n1 The Honorable William R.
Wilson, United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Arkansas,
adopting the report and recommendations of the Honorable Henry L. Jones, Jr.,
United States Magistrate Judge for the Eastern District of Arkansas.