Pfender v. Secretary Pennsylvania Department of Corrections

443 F. App'x 749
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit
DecidedSeptember 6, 2011
Docket11-1638
StatusUnpublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 443 F. App'x 749 (Pfender v. Secretary Pennsylvania Department of Corrections) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pfender v. Secretary Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, 443 F. App'x 749 (3d Cir. 2011).

Opinion

OPINION

PER CURIAM.

Donna Pfender appeals the District Court’s entry of summary judgment for the defendant prison officials in this suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. For the reasons that follow, we will affirm.

I.

Because the parties are familiar with the background, we merely summarize for purposes of addressing the issues on appeal. The facts are largely undisputed. Pfender’s common-law husband and daughter are incarcerated in Pennsylvania, and she is the president of a prisoner rights advocacy group. In 2008, Raymond Lawler, Superintendent of the State Correctional Institution (“SCI”) at Hunting-don, sent a letter to Pfender advising that she was barred from visiting any SCI for an indefinite period of time. Inmate Dwayne Hill, Pfender’s common-law hus *751 band, had been found in possession of a satellite photograph showing a complete aerial view of SCI-Huntingdon’s layout. The photograph, which was discovered in an envelope during a search of Hill’s cell, was deemed contraband because it could be used as an implement of escape. An investigation determined that Pfender was the source of the contraband, that it was mailed from her address, and that she used the name “Donna Hill” on the return address in an attempt to disguise her identity due to her affiliation -with the prisoner advocacy group.

Pfender denied any connection to the contraband, and she wrote a letter to Superintendent Lawler asking for reconsideration. Superintendent Lawler reaffirmed the decision to suspend her visiting privileges. Pfender then appealed by writing a letter to Jeffrey Beard, Secretary of the Department of Corrections (“DOC”). Secretary Beard declined to reinstate Pfen-der’s visiting privileges, concluding that the suspension was appropriate and in accordance with DOC policy, citing both the threat to security that Pfender’s actions posed at SCI-Huntingdon as well as a prior visiting room incident at SCI-Forest in 2007. Secretary Beard advised that Pfender could apply for reinstatement of her privileges after two years. On July 7, 2010, in response to Pfender’s request, Superintendent Lawler reinstated her non-contact visiting privileges, and he advised that, if there were no further incidents, her contact visiting privileges would be reinstated automatically on January 7, 2011.

Pfender filed this pro se suit seeking damages and other relief under § 1983, arguing that the suspension of visiting privileges violated her rights to due process and equal protection. She named Beard, Lawler, and the Superintendent at SCI-Forest (Raymond Sobina) as defendants. Pfender filed a motion for partial summary judgment, which the District Court denied. Defendants moved for summary judgment after the close of discovery, and the Magistrate Judge recommended granting the motion. The Magistrate Judge determined that there is a rational basis for limiting visits when a putative visitor is reasonably thought to have supplied a prison layout diagram to an inmate, and that a legitimate interest in preventing escapes and escape attempts justifies precluding inmates from having access to aerial depictions of the prison’s layout. The Magistrate Judge further concluded that Pfender was afforded adequate due process through the exchange of letters regarding the suspension, and that she was not denied equal protection because a rational basis supports the prison officials’ decision.

The District Court adopted the Report and Recommendation and entered summary judgment for defendants. It agreed that the due process claim must fail because defendants had a rational basis for their actions. The District Court noted that it is irrelevant whether Pfender actually sent Hill the photograph, as defendants had a reasonable basis for concluding that the photograph was sent by Pfender since it was found inside an envelope in Hill’s cell bearing Pfender’s identification on the return address. The District Court further determined that defendants’ actions comported with the flexible due process standards that the situation demanded. With regard to equal protection, the District Court concluded that, because Pfender did not allege any suspect classification, a rational basis standard applies, and that defendants’ decision to suspend visiting privileges was adequately supported. Pfender timely filed this appeal.

II.

We have appellate jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. “We review an award of *752 summary judgment de novo, applying the same test on review that the District Court should have applied.” Burns v. PA Dep’t of Corr., 642 F.3d 163, 170 (3d Cir.2011) (quotation marks omitted). “The court shall grant summary judgment if the mov-ant shows that 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). “We review the facts in the light most favorable to the nonmov-ing party and draw all inferences in that party’s favor.” Burns, 642 F.3d at 170 (quotation marks omitted).

Pfender challenges the entry of summary judgment primarily by disputing the determination that she supplied the contraband photograph to Hill. Although the prison officials investigated the matter and determined that Pfender supplied the photograph to Hill, Pfender suggests that Hill received the photograph from another source, presumably not through the mail, and that he merely chose to store the item in an old envelope that bore Pfender’s name. Pfender contends that “the logical connection between [her and] the item of contraband is so remote as to render her visiting ban arbitrary or irrational.” Appellant’s Br. at 6.

We agree with the District Court that defendants are entitled to summary judgment. A claimed denial of procedural due process requires a plaintiff to show that a protected liberty or property interest was taken in a procedurally deficient manner. See Bd. of Regents of State Colls. v. Roth, 408 U.S. 564, 570-71, 92 S.Ct. 2701, 33 L.Ed.2d 548 (1972). Any protection for the liberty interest that Pfender might have in visiting with inmate family members must derive either from the Due Process Clause itself or from state law. See Sandin v. Conner, 515 U.S. 472, 483-84, 115 S.Ct. 2293, 132 L.Ed.2d 418 (1995). The Due Process Clause has not been held to guarantee an interest in prison visitation. See Ky. Dep’t of Corr. v. Thompson, 490 U.S. 454, 460, 109 S.Ct. 1904, 104 L.Ed.2d 506 (1989) (rejecting notion that “unfettered visitation is guaranteed directly by the Due Process Clause”); see also Overton v. Bazzetta, 539 U.S. 126, 131, 123 S.Ct.

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443 F. App'x 749, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pfender-v-secretary-pennsylvania-department-of-corrections-ca3-2011.