in civil rights suit, prison administration must establish the reasonableness of seizing envelope containing prisoner’s trial transcript
How later courts described this case
- in civil rights suit, prison administration must establish the reasonableness of seizing envelope containing prisoner’s trial transcript
- relying on Wolff v. McDonnell, 418 U.S. 539, 94 S.Ct. 2963, 41 L.Ed.2d 935 (1974)
- pre-Bounds case assumes that intentional taking of prisoner legal materials resulting in access interference may violate due process
- prisoners must be given access to documents that are "crucial or essential to a pending or contemplated appeal."
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
FAIRCHILD, Chief Judge
(concurring).
With respect to Part I of the opinion of the court, I agree that Bonner has stated a cause of action for the seizure of his transcript. I would predicate the cause of action upon the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, and not reach the question whether an incarcerated individual is entitled to Fourth Amendment protection of his interest in privacy. See, however, Hansen v. May, 502 F.2d 728, 730 (9th Cir. 1974).
With respect to Part II of the opinion, I agree that Bonner’s claim that the negligence of the guards caused the loss of his property is not an adequate claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 . I would base this result on the proposition that the negligence of a state employee which causes loss of property is not state action which deprives the owner of property under the Fourteenth Amendment, nor is it, under § 1983, action under color of state law subjecting the plaintiff to such deprivation. The availability of a state remedy in damages seems to me to be irrelevant to the existence of § 1983 liability. See Monroe v. Pape, 365 U.S. 167, 183 , 81 S.Ct. 473 , 5 L.Ed.2d 492 (1961); Chevigny, Section 1983 Jurisdiction: A Reply, 83 Harv.L.Rev. 1352 (1970).