Opinion

Wesley Batten v. Shasta County Board of Supervi

  • 489 F. App'x 174
Court
Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Filed
Nov 21, 2012
Status
Unpublished
On the bench
Canby, Trott, Fletcher
Cited by
3 cases
Authority
More cited than 51.0%

The opinion

FILED

NOT FOR PUBLICATION NOV 21 2012

MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS U .S. C O U R T OF APPE ALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

WESLEY C. BATTEN, No. 11-17444

Plaintiff - Appellant, D.C. No. 2:08-cv-02511-LKK-

EFB

v.

SHASTA COUNTY BOARD OF MEMORANDUM *

SUPERVISORS; et al.,

Defendants - Appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court

for the Eastern District of California

Lawrence K. Karlton, District Judge, Presiding

Submitted November 13, 2012 **

Before: CANBY, TROTT, and W. FLETCHER, Circuit Judges.

Wesley C. Batten appeals pro se from the district court’s summary judgment

in his 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action alleging constitutional violations while he was

confined in Shasta County Jail awaiting civil commitment proceedings pursuant to

*

This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent

except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3.

**

The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision

without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2).

California’s Sexually Violent Predator Act. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C.

§ 1291. We review de novo, Jones v. Blanas, 393 F.3d 918, 926 (9th Cir. 2004),

and we affirm.

The district court properly granted summary judgment on Batten’s strip

search claim because Batten failed to raise a genuine dispute of material fact as to

whether the strip search was done with an “expressed intent to punish” or was “not

reasonably related to a legitimate goal[.]” Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520, 538-39

(1979); cf. Bull v. City & County of San Francisco, 595 F.3d 964, 982 (9th Cir.

2010) (en banc) (upholding a policy requiring strip searches of all arrestees

classified for custodial housing in the general population, “notwithstanding the

lack of individualized reasonable suspicion as to the individuals searched”).

The district court properly granted summary judgment on Batten’s claims

concerning mail and telephone use because Batten failed to raise a genuine dispute

of material fact as to whether the policies concerning mail and telephone use

served legitimate, non-punitive governmental interests. See Jones, 393 F.3d at 932

(analyzing conditions of confinement for civil detainees under the Fourteenth

Amendment and stating that civil detainees may be subject to “[l]egitimate,

non-punitive government interests” such as “maintaining jail security, and effective

management of [the] detention facility”); cf. Stevenson v. Koskey, 877 F.2d 1435,

2 11-17444

1440-41 (9th Cir. 1989) (mere negligence in opening legal mail outside of inmate’s

presence does not sustain a due process claim under § 1983).

The district court properly granted summary judgment on Batten’s claims

concerning treatment because Batten failed to show that he had any right to sex

offender treatment. See People v. Ciancio, 134 Cal. Rptr. 2d 531, 545-46 (Ct. App.

2003) (there is no mandated pretrial treatment of alleged sexually violent predators

awaiting commitment proceedings in California).

Batten’s contentions concerning alleged violations of his procedural due

process rights are unpersuasive.

AFFIRMED.

3 11-17444

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

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