Vinson v. DeBruin

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF WISCONSIN

JOSHUA LEE VINSON, SR.,

Plaintiff, v. Case No. 19-cv-1237-bhl

JASON DEBRUIN, et al.,

Defendants.

DECISION AND ORDER

Plaintiff Joshua Lee Vinson, Sr., is representing himself in this §1983 case. He is proceeding on claims against five Racine police officers. On April 13, 2021, Vinson filed a motion to compel, which asks the Court to order the records department staff at Columbia Correctional Institution to allow him to view a flash drive that Defendants produced in discovery. Dkt. No. 86. Vinson asserts that staff have been reviewing the flash drive for more than a month and that he has not been allowed to view it. Vinson states that he does not want to respond to Defendants’ requests for admission before viewing the flash drive. The Court will deny Vinson’s motion because institution staff are not defendants in this case and therefore the Court is without jurisdiction to grant the relief he seeks. Further, as the U.S. Supreme Court has acknowledged, courts are “ill equipped to deal with the difficult and delicate problems of prison management,” so they afford “considerable deference to the determinations of prison administrators who, in the interest of security, regulate the relations between prisoners and the outside world.” Thornburgh v. Abbott, 490 U.S. 401, 407-08 (1989). The Court infers from Vinson’s motion that institution staff want to review the flash drive Defendants produced before allowing Vinson to view it. Thus, even if records department staff were defendants, the Court would not interfere with that decision. The Court encourages Defendants’ counsel to consider calling Columbia’s records department in an effort to obtain an update on the flash drive review or to assist in moving the review along so resolution of this case is not delayed. Further, the Court encourages Vison to keep

Defendants’ counsel informed. He has provided good cause for not timely responding to Defendants’ requests for admission. The Court trusts the parties will work together in good faith to modify Vinson’s deadline to respond. THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED that Vinson’s motion to compel Columbia Correctional Record Staff to Allow Him to View Flash Drive (Dkt. No. 86) is DENIED. Dated at Milwaukee, Wisconsin this 16th day of April, 2021. BY THE COURT:

s/ Brett H. Ludwig BRETT H. LUDWIG United States District Judge