Opinion ID: 77923
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: August 2003 Grievance

Text: In 2003, Officer James Jones, who brings legal mail to inmates, told Al-Amin that Martin was opening legal mail from Karima. Al-Amin then filed an August 2003 grievance alleging that Martin had knowingly[,] ignoring and disregarding D.O.C. Policy, instructed that my Legal Mail is to be opened. Al-Amin's grievance listed his nine attorneys, including his wife. Al-Amin requested that his privileged mail be treated as such. On September 19, 2003, Warden Smith denied the grievance, stating that [n]o evidence was found to support the allegations you made against Ms. Martin. Mail is processed within established guidelines. On September 25, 2003, Al-Amin filed a grievance appeal, repeating his allegations and stating that [m]y wife is one of my lawyers and should be shown the respect of any attorney. On November 13, 2003, as part of the grievance investigation, Theresa Jarriel submitted a sworn statement based on a telephone interview with Martin. Martin told Jarriel that: (1) when Al-Amin came to GSP, he received legal mail in envelopes with preprinted business labels from his wife; (2) a lot of the privileged mail had personal letters in it although some of the envelopes contained legal transcripts and such; and (3) because Al-Amin was asked to list his attorneys and Karima was not included, Warden Smith instructed mailroom staff to open all mail received from Karima, whether privileged or not, before taking it over to Al-Amin's building. On November 14, 2003, Warden Smith submitted a sworn statement that Al-Amin's legal mail received from any attorney of record is opened in his presence as established in policy. Mail received from his wife who I am told is an attorney or legal representative has been opened outside of inmate Al-Amin's presence. On November 18, 2003, Smith sent a memorandum to the DOC's Assistant Regional Director and the lead investigator for Inmate Affairs and Appeals stating that mail arriving for Al-Amin would be processed as privileged mail as long as it met the criteria under the mail policy.