Clarence Haley v. Kintock Group

587 F. App'x 1
Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit·Decided October 7, 2014·No. 13-2806·Unpublished·Cited by 2 cases

Opinions

OPINION

HARDIMAN, Circuit Judge.

Clarence Haley appeals an order of the District Court denying his claim that the [2] Kintock Group and several of its employees violated his constitutional rights when they discharged him from a halfway house for medical reasons. Because Haley lacks a protected liberty interest in remaining at the halfway house, we will affirm.

I

Haley was an inmate in the New Jersey state prison system and was paroled on June 4, 2010. As a condition of his parole, he was required to report to a halfway house run by the Kintock Group and to successfully complete Kintock’s “Stages to Enhance Parolee Success” (STEPS) Program. The New Jersey State Parole Board contracts with Kintock, a private organization, to provide alternatives to incarceration and re-entry services to parolees. Participants in the STEPS program sign a contract with the Kintock Group before entering the program, subjecting them to a range of restrictions. D. Ct. Op. 2. Residents are required to “abide by a dress code, keep their rooms neat, follow a strict bedtime, request permission to leave and enter the facility, submit to random searches, and submit to random urine testing.” Id. The Kintock Group reserved its right to reject any “applicant with mental illness who ... [was] unable to successfully participate in the program, who ... [was] not stabilized on [a] medication regime, or who ... [posed] a danger to him/herself, other residents/offenders or the community.” SA65-66. Haley had also signed an agreement indicating that he understood that his “failure to complete the program [could] result in a violation of parole and re-incarceration.” D. Ct. Op. at 2.

While in the STEPS program, Haley filed two grievances about the staff. The first alleged that the kitchen staff served him chemically-laced food, and the second alleged that the staff withheld or destroyed his medical records from the New Jersey Department of Corrections. Id. at 2. Haley was evaluated by a psychiatrist, Dr. Robert Latimer, who diagnosed him with paranoid schizophrenia and antisocial behavior, noting that Haley was “hostile and highly delusional,” “uncooperative and irrational,” and “argumentative, sullen, ne-gativistic and angry.” Id. Dr. Latimer concluded that Haley was a “danger to others” and recommended that he be transferred to a psychiatric facility where he could be supervised “24/7.” Id. Soon thereafter, Haley was discharged from the STEPS program on medical grounds and sent back to state prison.

In September 2011, Haley filed a pro se complaint against the Kintock Group and several of its employees, alleging civil rights violations pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1988. He seeks $20 million in damages on the grounds that he was improperly discharged from the STEPS program and that Dr. Latimer “colluded” with the other defendants and submitted a “contrived and bogus psychological evaluation.” Id. In May 2012, Haley amended his complaint to allege violations of his First, Fourth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights.

When discovery ended in July 2012, Haley had not deposed any Kintock employees. Kintock moved for summary judgment in August 2012, which the District Court granted in May 2013. Haley filed a motion for reconsideration, which was denied. He filed this timely appeal soon thereafter.

II1

We review the District Court’s order granting summary judgment de novo. [3] Azur v. Chase Bank, USA Nat’l Ass’n, 601 F.3d 212, 216 (3d Cir.2010). Summary judgment is appropriate when “there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(a). A genuine issue of material fact exists “if the evidence is such that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the nonmoving party.” Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). We “may affirm the District Court on any grounds supported by the record.” Kossler v. Crisanti, 564 F.3d 181, 186 (3d Cir.2009) (en banc) (quoting Nicini v. Morra, 212 F.3d 798, 805 (3d Cir.2000) (en banc)).

To obtain relief under section 1983, Haley must show that Kintock: (1) acted under color of state law, and (2) deprived Haley of his constitutional rights. 42 U.S.C. § 1983; Groman v. Twp. of Manalapan, 47 F.3d 628, 633 (3d Cir.1995). At issue is whether the Kintock Group’s actions violated Haley’s constitutional right to due process under the Fourteenth Amendment and whether they were driven by a retaliatory motive in violation of Haley’s First Amendment rights.2

To establish a due process violation, Haley must show that: (1) he had a protected liberty interest in remaining in the halfway house, and (2) that the procedures that led to the deprivation of his liberty interest were constitutionally insufficient. Sample v. Diecks, 885 F.2d 1099, 1113 (3d Cir.1989).

Our review of the record leads us to conclude that Haley has failed to show that he had a protected liberty interest in remaining at the Kintock facility. As the District Court aptly noted, the Due Process Clause does not protect an individual’s interest in remaining at a particular form of institutional confinement, whether it be a prison or a halfway house. Montanye v. Haymes, 427 U.S. 236, 242, 96 S.Ct. 2543, 49 L.Ed.2d 466 (1976) (“As long as the conditions or degree of confinement ... is within the sentence imposed ... and is not otherwise violative of the Constitution, the Due Process Clause does not itself subject an inmate’s treatment by prison authorities to judicial oversight.”). Moreover, in Asquith v. Department of Corrections, 186 F.3d 407 (3d Cir.1999), we held that placement in a halfway house amounts to “institutional confinement” when significant restrictions are placed on the freedom of its residents, and that removal from such a halfway house therefore does “not trigger the protections of the Due Process Clause.” Id. at 411.

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Clarence Haley v. Kintock Group, 587 F. App'x 1 (3d Cir. 2014).

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