Kevin G. Smith, o/b/o other similarly situated individuals v. Rob Jeffreys, Nebraska Dept. Corr. Service Director; Steve Fannon, The Work Ethic Camp Warden; and Dawn Sheafer, The Work Ethic Camp Staff Worker

CourtDistrict Court, D. Nebraska
DecidedJanuary 15, 2026
Docket8:25-cv-00389
StatusUnknown

This text of Kevin G. Smith, o/b/o other similarly situated individuals v. Rob Jeffreys, Nebraska Dept. Corr. Service Director; Steve Fannon, The Work Ethic Camp Warden; and Dawn Sheafer, The Work Ethic Camp Staff Worker (Kevin G. Smith, o/b/o other similarly situated individuals v. Rob Jeffreys, Nebraska Dept. Corr. Service Director; Steve Fannon, The Work Ethic Camp Warden; and Dawn Sheafer, The Work Ethic Camp Staff Worker) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Nebraska primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kevin G. Smith, o/b/o other similarly situated individuals v. Rob Jeffreys, Nebraska Dept. Corr. Service Director; Steve Fannon, The Work Ethic Camp Warden; and Dawn Sheafer, The Work Ethic Camp Staff Worker, (D. Neb. 2026).

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF NEBRASKA

KEVIN G. SMITH, o/b/o other similarly situated individuals; 8:25CV389 Plaintiff,

vs. MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

ROB JEFFREYS, Nebraska Dept. Corr. Service Director; STEVE FANNON, The Work Ethic Camp Warden; and DAWN SHEAFFER, The Work Ethic Camp Staff Worker;

Defendants.

Plaintiff Kevin G. Smith (“Plaintiff”), a prisoner currently confined in the Nebraska State Penitentiary under the custody of the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services (“NDCS”), see Filing No. 8, filed a Complaint on June 11, 2025, Filing No. 1. He has been given leave to proceed in forma pauperis. Filing No. 7. The Court now conducts an initial review of Plaintiff’s Complaint to determine whether summary dismissal is appropriate under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1915(e) and 1915A. For the reasons that follow, Plaintiff’s Complaint will be dismissed without prejudice for failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted. I. SUMMARY OF COMPLAINT When Plaintiff filed his Complaint, he was confined in the NDCS’ Work Ethic Camp (“WEC”) in McCook, Nebraska. Plaintiff purports to bring this action on behalf of himself and “other similarly situated individuals,” Filing No. 1 at 1, against NDCS Director Rob Jeffreys (“Jeffreys”), WEC Warden Steve Fannon (“Fannon”), and WEC Staff Worker Dawn Sheaffer (“Sheaffer”) (collectively “Defendants”) in their individual capacities and against Jeffreys and Fannon in their official capacities as well, Id. at 2–3. Plaintiff asserts violations of his Fifth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, as well as state statutory and constitutional violations. Id. at 3. Plaintiff alleges that since his placement at the WEC and through the time he filed his Complaint, “Defendants collectively and in-concert denied, refused, and rejected

plaintiff’s requests to access law library, obtain legal materials, prepare and draft legal correspondences (allowed by NDCS Policy)[ and] invaded plaintiff’s right to legal privacy of his legal mail, notwithstanding plaintiff’s grievance and complaints to NDCS officials.” Id. at 10. Plaintiff states he had litigation already pending when he came to the WEC, namely a case in this Court at 8:23-cv-1561 and a Nebraska Court of Appeals case, A-24- 386,2 and Plaintiff immediately initiated a request to access the WEC law library upon his inception at the WEC, but “[t]he access took weeks . . . and nearly every week, even now[,] has been dilatory.” Id. at 4. Plaintiff submitted many “kite requests” to Sheaffer for law library access, but she

often failed to schedule Plaintiff for the library because “she would take the rest of days off early or express she ‘forgot’ or ‘got too busy.’” Id. at 8 (punctuation corrected). Sheaffer also would routinely not provide Plaintiff with his requested legal copies as she “promised and affirmed,” and her delay in providing copies “hindered plaintiff from submitting his legal documents/mail to the courts, his attorney, and parole board.” Id.

1 The Court takes judicial notice of its records in Smith v. Eberhardt, et al., No. 8:23-cv-156 (D. Neb.). The Court can sua sponte take judicial notice of its own records and files, and facts which are part of its public records. United States v. Jackson, 640 F.2d 614, 617 (8th Cir. 1981).

2 This Court has been afforded access to the computerized record keeping system for the Nebraska state courts. The Court takes judicial notice of the Nebraska Court of Appeals appellate case records related to this case in A-24-386. See Stutzka v. McCarville, 420 F.3d 757, 760 n.2 (8th Cir. 2005) (court may take judicial notice of judicial opinions and public records). Nebraska's judicial records may be retrieved on-line through the JUSTICE site, https://www.nebraska.gov/justice/case.cgi. Sheaffer, against NDCS policy, denied Plaintiff use of the law library typewriter to type a letter to the Nebraska Board of Parole and, “possibly at the behest of defendant Fannon, sporadically denied and refused plaintiff’s access to WEC’s law library and legal materials (i.e. legal justice forms) for days on [end]” and sometimes a week or more. Id. at 8–9 (punctuation corrected).

Plaintiff submitted numerous kite requests and grievances to Fannon “regarding his needs and requests to access the law library,” but Fannon “failed to instruct, direct, or otherwise implore defendant Sheaffer to provide plaintiff legal access to WEC law library via sufficient means (more than once a week/one hour a day).” Id. at 6 (punctuation corrected). Fannon “expressed his opinions and responses to plaintiff’s submitted grievances, but never any resolutions.” Id. Fannon also “made promises to afford plaintiff more and extra legal library access (more than the one hour stipend), however, to no avail.” Id. Plaintiff further alleges that Fannon failed to ensure that WEC mailroom staff promptly and properly handled Plaintiff’s legal mail “using certified and registered postal

cards” as Plaintiff “discovered that his legal mail took 10 days from Omaha to McCook[,] 15 days from McCook to U.S. Capitol[,]” and the return receipts were deficiently handled and not always returned to Plaintiff. Id. at 6–7. Fannon also “failed to train, instruct, or admonish” WEC mailroom staff after they “opened plaintiff’s legal mails (more than once)” outside of Plaintiff’s presence contrary to NDCS policy. Id. at 7. Plaintiff alleges Jeffreys failed to enforce NDCS policies regarding access to the WEC law library and legal materials and the handling of inmate legal mail and failed to correct or alleviate the alleged “arbitrary and/or atypical actions” inflicted upon Plaintiff by Fannon and Sheaffer. Id. at 5. As a result of Defendants’ actions, Plaintiff states that his “[o]nly injury amounted to emotional distress tantamount to psychological shocking plaintiff’s conscience.” Id. at 10. For relief, Plaintiff seeks an order declaring Defendants violated his constitutional rights by denying access to the WEC law library and that such violations constituted cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment, and Plaintiff also requests

$1,000,000.00 in damages. Id. II. APPLICABLE LEGAL STANDARDS ON INITIAL REVIEW The Court is required to review prisoner and in forma pauperis complaints seeking relief against a governmental entity or an officer or employee of a governmental entity to determine whether summary dismissal is appropriate. See 28 U.S.C. §§ 1915(e) and 1915A. The Court must dismiss a complaint or any portion of it that states a frivolous or malicious claim, that fails to state a claim upon which relief may be granted, or that seeks monetary relief from a defendant who is immune from such relief. 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B); 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(b).

Pro se plaintiffs must set forth enough factual allegations to “nudge[] their claims across the line from conceivable to plausible,” or “their complaint must be dismissed.” Bell Atlantic Corp. v.

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Kevin G. Smith, o/b/o other similarly situated individuals v. Rob Jeffreys, Nebraska Dept. Corr. Service Director; Steve Fannon, The Work Ethic Camp Warden; and Dawn Sheafer, The Work Ethic Camp Staff Worker, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kevin-g-smith-obo-other-similarly-situated-individuals-v-rob-jeffreys-ned-2026.