Williams 124345 v. Ryan

District Court, D. Arizona·Decided July 15, 2020·No. 2:17-cv-01833·Unknown

Opinion

MGD WO DaJuan Torrell Williams, No. CV 17-01833-PHX-DGC (CDB) Plaintiff, v. ORDER Charles L. Ryan, et al., Defendants.

Plaintiff DaJuan Torrell Williams, who is currently confined in the Yuma County Detention Center, brought this pro se civil rights action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 challenging the Arizona Department of Corrections’ (ADC) policy prohibiting prisoners from sending, receiving, or possessing “sexually explicit material or content that is detrimental to the safe, secure, and orderly operation of the facility.” (Doc. 15.) Pending before the Court is the parties’ supplemental briefing regarding Plaintiff’s as-applied challenge to the policy seeking injunctive relief (Docs. 119, 127, 137, 143) and Defendant Shinn’s Motion for Partial Summary Judgment on the basis of exhaustion of administrative remedies (Doc. 145), which Plaintiff opposes (Doc. 154)1. Also pending is the Court’s Order to Show Cause, to which Plaintiff has responded. (Docs. 164, 166.) 1 The Court provided notice to Plaintiff pursuant to Rand v. Rowland, 154 F.3d 952, 962 (9th Cir. 1998) (en banc), regarding the requirements of a response to the Motion (Doc. 147). The Court will discharge the Order to Show Cause, deny Defendant Shinn’s Motion for Partial Summary Judgment on exhaustion, grant summary judgment to Plaintiff on exhaustion, and grant in part and deny in part Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. 65) with respect to Plaintiff’s as-applied claim for injunctive relief. I. Background On screening of Plaintiff’s First Amended Complaint pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(a), the Court determined that Plaintiff stated First Amendment claims against former ADC Director Ryan and Correctional Officers Barnes, Anderson, Osler, Mangan, Williams, and Antolin. (Doc. 17.) The Court required Defendant Ryan to answer Counts One and Two in his official capacity and Defendants Barnes, Anderson, Osler, Mangan, Williams and Antolin to answer the claims against them in their individual capacities.2 (Id.) The Court dismissed Count Eight. (Id.) In an August 30, 2019 Order, the Court granted Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment as to Plaintiff’s facial challenge to ADC Department Order (DO) 914.07, the policy prohibiting sexually explicit material or content. (Doc. 110.) The Court also determined that Defendants were entitled to qualified immunity on Plaintiff’s as-applied claim for damages. (Id.) The Court ordered additional briefing from the parties on Plaintiff’s as-applied challenge seeking injunctive relief, requiring the parties to discuss “the specific injunctive relief Plaintiff seeks, with reference to specific excluded or redacted materials” that Plaintiff had ordered, and requiring Defendants to “state the bases for the exclusion and justify those reasons under applicable law.” (Id.) During the supplemental briefing period, Defendant Shinn sought leave to move for summary judgment on the basis of exhaustion as to some of Plaintiff’s as-applied claims, and the Court permitted Defendant to do so. (Docs. 139, 144.) On May 11, 2020, Plaintiff filed a notice of change of address indicating that he was transferred from his ADC prison to the Yuma County Detention Center where he is

2 On October 1, 2019, David Shinn became ADC’s Director and was automatically substituted for Ryan in his official capacity under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 25(d). (See Doc. 119 at 1 n.1.) awaiting criminal charges related to a 2018 incident at a Yuma prison. (Doc. 160.) In a May 21, 2020 Order, the Court ordered Plaintiff to show cause why his remaining claim in this action for injunctive relief is not rendered moot by his transfer. (Doc. 164.) The Court permitted Defendants 10 days from the date of Plaintiff’s response to file a reply. Plaintiff filed his response on June 1, 2020 (Doc. 166), but Defendants did not file a reply. II. Plaintiff’s Response to Order to Show Cause Plaintiff states that he is currently in the custody of the ADC serving a life sentence, which is to be followed by a consecutive 18-year prison term. (Doc. 166 at 1.) According to Plaintiff, he is being held in the custody of the Yuma County Sheriff’s Office awaiting trial on a criminal indictment, but this transfer of custody is only temporary and will not alter his life sentence in the custody of ADC. (Id.) Plaintiff states that he has not been released or discharged from ADC jurisdiction and that all of his personal property remains at ADC and is being held in “out to court” storage at Arizona State Prison Complex (ASPC)-Eyman/SMU II, where Plaintiff will be returned following the disposition of his criminal matter. (Id.) Plaintiff therefore requests that his claims for injunctive relief not be dismissed as moot. (Id. at 2.) Plaintiff’s Response is sufficient to discharge the Order to Show Cause. A review of the ADC website lists Plaintiff’s most recent location as ASPC-Eyman, noting that his last movement was on April 17, 2020 and that Plaintiff was “Out to Court.”3 The website reflects that on September 16, 1999, Plaintiff received a life sentence for conspiracy to commit murder in the first degree along with 19-year sentences for attempt to commit murder in the first degree and burglary in the first degree in Coconino County Superior Court case #98609. In 2000, Plaintiff received an 18-year sentence for promoting prison contraband in Maricopa County Superior Court case #20000006948. Because Plaintiff remains in ADC custody, his claim is not moot. / / /

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