Hale v. Ashcroft

683 F. Supp. 2d 1189, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 73921, 2009 WL 2601312
CourtDistrict Court, D. Colorado
DecidedAugust 19, 2009
DocketCivil Action 06-cv-00541-PAB-KLM
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 683 F. Supp. 2d 1189 (Hale v. Ashcroft) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Colorado primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hale v. Ashcroft, 683 F. Supp. 2d 1189, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 73921, 2009 WL 2601312 (D. Colo. 2009).

Opinion

ORDER ACCEPTING RECOMMENDATION OF MAGISTRATE JUDGE

PHILIP A. BRIMMER, District Judge.

This matter comes before the Court on Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss Plaintiffs Claims as Moot [Docket No. 121]. Plaintiff is a prisoner in the Federal Bureau of Prisons (“BOP”). The issue before the Court is whether, despite the lifting of the Special Administrative Measures (“SAMs”) that the Attorney General had placed on plaintiff, plaintiffs original claims can be fairly read to challenge the effect of new BOP restrictions placed on him.

Plaintiff Matthew F. Hale filed a response to the motion to dismiss on April 10, 209 [Docket No. 125] and defendants filed a reply on April 24, 2009 [Docket No. 126]. On June 29, 2009, Magistrate Judge Kristen L. Mix entered a Recommendation of United States Magistrate Judge (“Recommendation”) [Docket No. 127] recommending that the defendants’ motion to dismiss be granted on two grounds: first, that the matter is moot because, on February 25, 2009, the SAMs previously placed on plaintiff were not renewed; second, because plaintiff is no longer subject to the SAMs, plaintiff no longer has standing to challenge the SAMs.

Plaintiff filed a timely objection to the Recommendation on July 9, 2009 [Docket No. 128]. Defendants filed a response [Docket No. 129] on July 23, 2009. The defendants’ motion to dismiss and the Recommendation are ripe for review.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

Because Mr. Hale is proceeding pro se, the Court construes his pleadings liberally. Haines v. Kerner, 404 U.S. 519, 520-21, 92 S.Ct. 594, 30 L.Ed.2d 652 (1972); Hall v. Bellmon, 935 F.2d 1106, 1110 (10th Cir.1991). Where a party files timely objections, the Court reviews the objected-to portion of the Recommendation de novo. Fed.R.Civ.P. 72(b). In this case, I have applied a de novo review to each part of the Recommendation.

As noted by the magistrate judge, the defendants have mounted a factual attack on the Complaint pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(1). As such, the Court may consider *1192 matters outside the pleadings in order to determine whether the Court has subject matter jurisdiction over this case. Holt v. United States, 46 F.3d 1000, 1003 (10th Cir.1995). Here the Court has considered two sets of facts not found in the Complaint — the lifting of the SAMs imposed on plaintiff and the imposition of new restrictions on plaintiff following the lifting of the SAMs.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

The following facts are undisputed:

Plaintiff Matthew Hale was sentenced to 480 months imprisonment and designated to the United States Penitentiary, AD-MAX (“ADX”) in Florence, Colorado. In 2003, the United States Attorney General placed certain SAMs on plaintiff, including restrictions on plaintiffs ability to send mail. The Attorney General is authorized to impose SAMs pursuant to 28 C.F.R. § 501.3. On February 25, 2009, the SAMs placed on plaintiff were removed, and the BOP moved plaintiff from the restrictive unit at ADX to a general population unit. However, although the SAMs were lifted, the BOP placed plaintiff on “Restricted General Correspondence Status” and “Restricted Mail Status” pursuant to 28 C.F.R. § 540.15 and § 540.18. The effect of these restrictions is to limit plaintiffs ability to correspond with persons other than members of his immediate family.

ANALYSIS

Plaintiffs principal objection to the Recommendation is that the Recommendation focuses on “the source of the restrictions rather than the continued existence of the restrictions themselves.” Plaintiffs Objections at 8. Plaintiff argues that his Complaint attacked the nature of the restrictions rather than the SAMs that created them and that therefore the BOP cannot render his claims moot by removing the SAMs but reimposing similar’ restrictions in a different guise, namely, Restricted General Correspondence Status and Restricted Mail Status. To resolve this issue, the Court looks to the Complaint. 1

Claim One asserts a violation of plaintiffs Fifth Amendment right to due process. Plaintiff claims that his due process rights were violated when he did not receive a hearing before the SAMs were imposed on him. As stated in Claim One, “[njeither Defendant B.O.P. in general nor ADX specifically have ever provided me a hearing prior to imposition or enforcement of SAM.” Complaint [Docket No. 2], at 13. The only harm that plaintiff alleges in Claim One is that his due process rights were violated by not receiving a hearing before the BOP imposed the SAMs on him.

Claim Three asserts a violation of plaintiffs First Amendment right to freedom of speech. Specifically, plaintiff claims that, by enforcing the SAMs on him, the BOP restricted his right to receive most newspapers and to watch television news programs and banned him from speaking to non-SAMs inmates, from receiving phone calls, and from having visits from his family. While not as clear as Claim One, a fair reading of Claim Three is that defendants have violated his free speech rights by virtue of imposing the “measures” (i.e. SAMs) on him.

Claim Four asserts a violation of Mr. Hale’s Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches. Specifically, plaintiff claims that a SAM denies his ability to mail correspondence to a court without the BOP opening such mail. Claim Four therefore is directly linked to the imposition of the SAMs.

*1193 Thus, Claims One, Three, and Four each explicitly tie the alleged constitutional violation to the imposition of the SAMs. Plaintiff argues, however, that his Complaint should be read to have put the defendants on notice that he was attacking the “restriction of his correspondence without any prior notice and opportunity to be heard....” Plaintiffs Objections at 8. The Complaint cannot be read so broadly. Plaintiff appropriately made detailed factual allegations in his Complaint. These allegations put the defendants on notice that he was challenging the SAMs that imposed certain restrictions on his claimed constitutional rights. These claims, however, did not put the BOP on notice that plaintiff was objecting to any restrictions on his claimed right to receive mail, have visits, or receive newspapers. Count One is illustrative. It alleges that Mr. Hale’s rights to due process were violated when he was not given a hearing before the SAMs were imposed on him. This claim cannot be read as asserting a prospective right to a hearing before similar restrictions are imposed on him or as alleging that the defendants’ failure to grant him a hearing in connection with the imposition of the SAMs prohibits the defendants from ever imposing similar non-SAM restrictions on him.

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Bluebook (online)
683 F. Supp. 2d 1189, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 73921, 2009 WL 2601312, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hale-v-ashcroft-cod-2009.