Franklin v. Gilless

870 F. Supp. 792, 1994 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17430
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Tennessee
DecidedNovember 15, 1994
DocketNo. 94-2884-Ml/Bro
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 870 F. Supp. 792 (Franklin v. Gilless) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Franklin v. Gilless, 870 F. Supp. 792, 1994 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17430 (W.D. Tenn. 1994).

Opinion

ORDER OF DISMISSAL

McCALLA, District Judge.

Plaintiff, Howard Franklin, an inmate at the Northwest Correctional Center (NWCC) in Tiptonville, Tennessee, who was formerly confined at the Shelby County Criminal Justice Complex (Jail), has filed a complaint under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.

Plaintiff sues Shelby County Sheriff, A.C. Gilless, alleging that in September of 1994 he was improperly confined at the jail instead of Cold Creek Correctional Facility (CCCF) in Henning, Tennessee, while temporarily away from his assigned Tennessee Department of Corrections (TDOC) institution, NWCC, to attend a post-conviction petition hearing in Shelby County Criminal Court. Plaintiff was booked into the jail and placed on maximum security. He was not permitted to possess various unspecified documents and papers related to his conviction, although he was able to speak with his attorney. He also alleges that unidentified jail personnel did not provide him with prescribed medicine, but that later a member of the jail medical staff did provide him with a “small dose of medication”.

Plaintiff alleges that, after about two weeks in the jail, another inmate attacked plaintiff without warning or provocation and broke his hip. Jail personnel responded promptly and plaintiff received medical treatment and was transported to the hospital, where he received treatment of which he does not complain.

Analyzed as a due process claim, this complaint is frivolous. Plaintiff has no claim based on either his confinement in the jail pending a post-conviction petition or on his assignment by jail officials to a particular security classification. There is no federal constitutional right to a particular security classification or to assignment to a particular prison. Newell v. Brown, 981 F.2d 880, 883 (6th Cir.1992); Beard v. Livesay, 798 F.2d 874, 876 (6th Cir.1986). See also Hewitt v. Helms, 459 U.S. 460, 468-69, 103 S.Ct. 864, 869-70, 74 L.Ed.2d 675 (1983) (state must create liberty interest in placement in particular part of prison population); Olim v. Wakinekona, 461 U.S. 238, 103 S.Ct. 1741, 75 L.Ed.2d 813 (1983) (prisoners enjoy no liberty interest in confinement in particular prison); Meachum v. Fano, 427 U.S. 215, 96 S.Ct. 2532, 49 L.Ed.2d 451 (1976) (same); Montanye v. Haymes, 427 U.S. 236, 96 S.Ct. 2543, 49 L.Ed.2d 466 (1976).

While prior versions of TDOC classification regulations had been interpreted by the Sixth Circuit as creating a liberty interest in an inmate receiving a hearing before his security classification is changed,1 this court has recently held that intervening amendments to those classification regulations eliminated the mandatory language and removed the liberty interest previously enjoyed. See Warr v. Kissell, No. 93-2982-G/Bro, slip op. at 2 (W.D.Tenn. Dec. 21, 1993); Moore v. Compton, No. 93-2786-G/A, slip op. at 10-11 (W.D.Tenn. Nov. 29, 1993); Harrison v. Raney, 837 F.Supp. 875 (W.D.Tenn.1993) (per Turner, J.). See also Meeks v. Reynolds, No. Civ. 3-92-434, 1993 WL 741856 (E.D.Tenn. July 6, 1993) (unpublished).

As plaintiff has no liberty interest in a security classification, he has no right to due process in connection with the location in which he is confined or the security classification in which he is placed. Any claim that this plaintiff was deprived of due process by the reclassification lacks an arguable basis either in law or in fact, and is therefore frivolous. See Denton v. Hernandez, 504 U.S. 25, -, 112 S.Ct. 1728, 1733, 118 L.Ed.2d 340 (1992); Neitzke v. Williams, 490 U.S. 319, 325, 109 S.Ct. 1827, 1831-32, 104 L.Ed.2d 338 (1989).

Similarly, plaintiffs allegation that he should have been housed at a different prison does not amount to a constitutional claim. See generally Olim v. Wakinekona; Meachum; Montanye. This claim lacks an arguable basis either in law or in fact, and is therefore frivolous. See Denton, 504 U.S. at [795]*795-, 112 S.Ct. at 1733; Neitzke, 490 U.S. at 325, 109 S.Ct. at 1831-32.

To the extent that plaintiff is attempting to assert a claim of interference with his right of access to the courts under the First Amendment, he also has no claim. The First Amendment right of access to the courts, enunciated by Bounds v. Smith, 430 U.S. 817, 97 S.Ct. 1491, 52 L.Ed.2d 72 (1977), is fully protected by the appointment of counsel to represent the indigent prisoner in that case. Skelton v. Pri-Cor, Inc., 963 F.2d 100, 104 (6th Cir.1992); Bellamy v. Bradley, 729 F.2d 416, 421 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 845, 105 S.Ct. 156, 83 L.Ed.2d 93 (1984); Holt v. Pitts, 702 F.2d 639, 640 (6th Cir.1983).

In the context of claims stemming from the Sixth Amendment right to counsel, that right is fully protected by appointment of the counsel to represent an indigent criminal defendant. A post-conviction petitioner has no right to insist on “helping” his attorney by visiting the law library and conducting additional research or preparing additional documents. See United States v. Sammons, 918 F.2d 592, 602 (6th Cir.1990) (defendant’s waiver of right to court-appointed counsel and decision to represent self in defense of criminal prosecution constituted waiver of right of access to law library).

Finally, to the extent that plaintiff is attempting to assert a Sixth Amendment right of access to the courts, the Sixth Amendment does not apply to post-conviction proceedings. Coleman v. Thompson, 501 U.S. 722, 751-57, 111 S.Ct. 2546, 2566-68, 115 L.Ed.2d 640 (1991).

To the extent that plaintiffs claim should be construed as one under the Eighth Amendment, he has no claim. The Eighth Amendment prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. See generally Wilson v. Seiter, 501 U.S. 294, 111 S.Ct. 2321, 115 L.Ed.2d 271 (1991). The Eighth Amendment proscription on cruel and unusual punishment encompasses an inmate’s right to personal safety. Stewart v. Love, 696 F.2d 43, 44 (6th Cir.1982). An Eighth Amendment claim consists of both objective and subjective components. Farmer v. Brennan, — U.S.-,-, 114 S.Ct. 1970, 1977, 128 L.Ed.2d 811 (1994); Hudson v. McMillian, 503 U.S. 1,-, 112 S.Ct. 995, 999, 117 L.Ed.2d 156 (1992); Wilson, 501 U.S. at 298, 111 S.Ct. at 2323-24.

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Franklin v. Gilless
870 F. Supp. 792 (W.D. Tennessee, 1994)

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Bluebook (online)
870 F. Supp. 792, 1994 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17430, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/franklin-v-gilless-tnwd-1994.