Dist. Ct. erred in granting defendants-prison officials’ motion for summary judgment in portion of plaintiff-prisoner’s section 1983 action alleging that defendants violated plaintiff’s 1st Amendment rights when they confiscated death certificate of plaintiff’s murder victim that plaintiff had ordered in mail, even though defendants argued that confiscation was appropriate because plaintiff’s receipt of said death certificate posed threat to safety and security of prison. While defendants argued that plaintiff’s receipt of said death certificate would increase tension in prison and decrease chance of plaintiff’s rehabilitation because he would use death certificate as some sort of trophy arising out of his murder conviction, plaintiff argued that he needed death certificate for use in his state-court post-conviction proceedings. Moreover, defendants failed to provide any contrary evidence to support their assumption that plaintiff would use death certificate as trophy.
Federal 7th Circuit Court
Civil Court
Prisoner