Opinion ID: 653664
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Shakedowns

Text: 16 Pursuant to the Illinois Administrative Code, Stateville authorities frequently conduct shakedown searches of prisoners' cells looking for contraband. ILL.ADMIN.CODE tit. 20, Sec. 501.220(b)(1). 5 Stewart's cell was searched on July 5, 1989 and May 24, 1990. Stewart alleges that in the first shakedown Stateville officers took a pair of blue jeans, an electric fan and legal papers, and threw them away. After the first search, Stewart was issued a shakedown slip 6 listing the following property as taken from his cell: 4 mattresses, 25 sheets, 4 pillow cases, 1 wooden rod, 3 pillows, 3 desks, 1 roll cart, 1 letter telling about drugs and an electric fan. The shakedown slip said nothing of blue jeans or legal papers. On July 12, 1989, Stewart received an adjustment committee hearing and was convicted of possession of unauthorized property, including the fan. 7 On August 11, 1989, the electric fan, among other items taken from Stewart's cell on July 5, was disposed of as broken junk. 17 As for the second shakedown, on May 24, 1990, Stewart alleges that a pair of blue jeans, a fingernail clipper, a hair tweezer, shoes and a jogging suit were taken from his cell. Stewart never received a shakedown slip for this property and no one knows what became of the items. 18 We first examine whether Stewart is entitled to money damages as compensation for the missing property for which no shakedown slip was issued. The failure to issue a shakedown slip violates IDOC procedure. Stewart argues that the failure to follow proper procedure deprived him of due process, because he received neither notice nor an opportunity to be heard. As a result, Stewart claims he is entitled to damages under Sec. 1983. 19 Hudson v. Palmer, 468 U.S. 517, 104 S.Ct. 3194, 82 L.Ed.2d 393 (1984), applies here and Stewart's argument fails. Hudson held that a prisoner whose property had been intentionally destroyed during a shakedown search of his cell was not deprived of due process because the state provided an adequate postdeprivation remedy. Id. at 536, 104 S.Ct. at 3205. The Court reasoned that a predeprivation hearing was not required because it was impracticable, stating: where the loss of property is occasioned by a random, unauthorized act by a state employee, rather than by established state procedure, the state cannot predict when the loss will occur. Id. at 532, 104 S.Ct. at 3203. 20 Stewart takes the position that because the shakedowns are regularly conducted pursuant to state regulation, the loss of property is authorized and predictable, not the result of random, unauthorized action. Stewart's position is unsound. The shakedowns may be predictable; as we have noted, they are authorized by state regulation. However, the confiscation and immediate destruction of non-contraband property is not authorized, nor is it predictable. The Stateville officers who allegedly removed and destroyed Stewart's belongings did not follow state procedures, or they would have issued Stewart a shakedown slip for his confiscated property and placed the property in storage for the requisite 30 days. See ILL.ADMIN.CODE tit. 20, Sec. 501.230. The officers' failure to comply with established regulatory procedure is indistinguishable from the random and unauthorized behavior described in Hudson. 8 21 Having concluded that the destruction of Stewart's property was the result of random and unauthorized conduct, we need to decide if the state of Illinois provides an adequate postdeprivation remedy for Stewart. Stewart does not contend that he is without a postdeprivation remedy; in fact he is not--pursuant to statute he may file a tort claim in the Illinois Court of Claims. See 705 ILCS 505/8. Instead, like the plaintiff in Hudson, Stewart advances reasons why the state postdeprivation remedy is inadequate. 22 First, Stewart argues that the destruction of legal papers cannot be remedied by subsequent state judicial proceedings. The Supreme Court rejected an identical argument in Hudson, stating: If the loss is 'incompensable,' this is as much so under Sec. 1983 as it would be under any other remedy. 468 U.S. at 535, 104 S.Ct. at 3204. 9 Second, Stewart argues that he will have problems of proof in a state suit because no one believes an inmate. This argument is meritless. Stewart faces the same proof problems in any suit. Stewart falls far short of showing that his state court remedy is inadequate to the point that it is meaningless or non-existent. Easter House v. Felder, 910 F.2d 1387, 1406 (7th Cir.1990), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 1067, 111 S.Ct. 783, 112 L.Ed.2d 846 (1991). 23 In sum, we hold that because the state of Illinois provides Stewart with an adequate postdeprivation remedy, Stewart's due process rights were not violated when Stateville officers confiscated and destroyed his property in violation of IDOC regulations. 24 We now turn our attention to whether the disposal of Stewart's fan, confiscated in the first search, violated his due process rights. Implicit in Stewart's claim is an argument that his due process rights were violated even when Stateville officers followed IDOC procedures in disposing of his fan. This argument requires us to review more closely the IDOC procedures governing property confiscation and destruction after shakedowns. As mentioned, IDOC procedure provides that a prisoner should receive a shakedown slip after contraband property is removed from his cell during a shakedown. ILL.ADMIN.CODE tit. 20, Sec. 501.220(b)(6). Once the property is confiscated, a prisoner has 30 days to file a grievance contesting whether the property is truly contraband. ILL.ADMIN.CODE tit. 20, Sec. 501.230(c). If a grievance is filed, the property is stored until the grievance has been resolved. ILL.ADMIN.CODE tit. 20, Sec. 501.230(f). If the prisoner is unhappy with the outcome, he may appeal to the Director of the IDOC. ILL.ADMIN.CODE tit. 20, Sec. 504.850(a). 25 Once it is determined that a prisoner's property is unauthorized or contraband, the prisoner has 30 days to (a) have the property shipped to, or picked up by a designated individual, (b) request in writing that the property be destroyed, or (c) indicate, in writing, that he has filed a grievance. ILL.ADMIN.CODE tit. 20, Sec. 501.230(c). If the prisoner does none of these three things, the state may sell, destroy or donate the property. ILL.ADMIN.CODE tit. 20, Sec. 501.230(e). 26 The record indicates that Stateville officers followed proper procedure regarding the confiscation and destruction of Stewart's fan. He received notice that his fan had been confiscated in the form of a shakedown slip. At an adjustment committee hearing, he was found to have possessed an unauthorized piece of property--the fan. At that point, Stewart had 30 days to file a grievance or make a written request regarding the disposition of the property. On July 16, Stewart sent a letter to O'Leary asking for help in getting his property back. Stewart asked that his letter be considered an emergency grievance. 10 Stewart did not notify the appropriate personnel that he had filed a grievance. Thus, 30 days later, on August 11, the fan was disposed of pursuant to regulation. 27 These events do not amount to a constitutional violation. Due process requires that Stewart have a meaningful opportunity to be heard on the issue of whether the fan was contraband. See Castaneda v. Henman, 914 F.2d 981, 985 (7th Cir.1990), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 1124, 111 S.Ct. 1085, 112 L.Ed.2d 1190 (1991). Stewart received a hearing on that precise issue during the adjustment committee meeting, at the conclusion of which he was convicted of possessing several items of contraband, including the fan. Stewart also had an opportunity to file a grievance regarding the decision that the fan was contraband. While he did initiate the grievance process, he failed to notify the proper person that a grievance was in the works. Thus, he lost his property, not because the state did not provide him an opportunity to be heard, but because he was unable to convince the factfinder that the fan was not contraband and because he did not follow the proper procedure for preserving his property while a grievance was pending. 28 The foregoing discussion explains why Stewart is not entitled to money damages; however, we must still determine whether he can obtain equitable relief. Given the fact that Stewart alleges injury both when IDOC procedures are followed and when they are not, we construe Stewart to be seeking two types of equitable relief: (1) an injunction enjoining the defendants from taking property during shakedowns without following established IDOC procedures, and (2) a declaration that IDOC procedures regarding the confiscation and disposal of property taken during shakedowns are unconstitutional. The district court concluded that Stewart lacked standing to seek injunctive and declaratory relief to change the procedures at Stateville because he had been transferred to Logan and thus could show no threat of immediate harm from Stateville employees. Stewart frames the issue differently. He contends that he is challenging the procedures of the IDOC as a whole, and that as an Illinois prisoner he has standing to do so. 29 As a Sec. 1983 plaintiff, Stewart is entitled to injunctive and declaratory relief only if he has a personal stake in the outcome of the litigation. City of Los Angeles v. Lyons, 461 U.S. 95, 111, 103 S.Ct. 1660, 1669, 75 L.Ed.2d 675 (1983). See also Knox, at 1413; Robinson v. City of Chicago, 868 F.2d 959, 966-67 (7th Cir.1989) (Lyons applicable to declaratory relief), cert. denied, 493 U.S. 1035, 110 S.Ct. 756, 107 L.Ed.2d 773 (1990); Palmer v. City of Chicago, 755 F.2d 560, 571 (7th Cir.1985). The Supreme Court defined a personal stake as follows: 30 Abstract injury is not enough. The plaintiff must show that he has sustained or is immediately in danger of sustaining some direct injury as the result of the challenged official conduct and the injury or threat of injury must be both real and immediate, not conjectural or hypothetical. 31 Lyons, 461 U.S. at 101-02, 103 S.Ct. at 1665. Furthermore, evidence of past wrongs alone is insufficient to merit equitable relief. Id. at 102, 103 S.Ct. at 1665; Knox, at 1413; Robinson, 868 F.2d at 966; Palmer, 755 F.2d at 571. 32 We recently addressed the issue of prisoner standing in Knox. In that case, the prisoner plaintiff claimed that Stateville officers had violated his Eighth Amendment rights during his placement in segregation by restraining him with a mechanism that included handcuffs, a waist chain and a black box, an anti-lock picking device. He brought a Sec. 1983 claim after he had been returned to the general prison population, seeking both money damages and an injunction prohibiting the use of the black box. We held that he lacked standing to seek equitable relief because the possibility that Knox would again be subject to the black box is ... speculative. Id. at 1414. 33 We believe the same conclusion is required in this case. 11 Stewart has failed to establish the requisite personal stake in the outcome of this litigation. All the defendants, save the Director of the IDOC, are employees at Stateville. Thus, the injunctive relief prayed for in the complaint is clearly directed at Stateville. Stewart is no longer there, nor is there any indication that he will be returned to Stateville any time in the future; therefore, Stewart is under no immediate threat of harm from official conduct at Stateville. See Martin v. Sargent, 780 F.2d 1334, 1337 (8th Cir.1985) (prisoner lacked standing to obtain injunctive relief aimed at improving prison conditions because he had been transferred). 34 Moreover, even if we construe Stewart's complaint as seeking relief for the entire Illinois prison system, he still loses. At oral argument, Stewart's counsel contended that Stewart is under a real and immediate threat of harm from shakedowns because Illinois State law permits prisoners' cells to be shaken down every 60 days. The problem with Stewart's argument is that the harm he is complaining of is not the shakedown. Stewart admits that a surprise shakedown search of his cell does not violate his constitutional rights. See Block v. Rutherford, 468 U.S. 576, 104 S.Ct. 3227, 82 L.Ed.2d 438 (1984). The constitutional violation Stewart alleges is that his property is confiscated and destroyed without affording him due process, either because guards fail to follow IDOC procedures or because IDOC's procedures are constitutionally infirm. 35 However, to demonstrate an immediate threat of harm under either theory, Stewart must show that there is a real likelihood that his property will be confiscated during future shakedowns. Stewart has failed to do so. Evidence of past wrongs is probative of whether there is a real and immediate threat of future injury. Lyons, 461 U.S. at 102, 103 S.Ct. at 1665. The record shows, however, that Stewart had property confiscated during a shakedown only twice in a year; during that time shakedowns were presumably conducted every 60 days. 12 We do not believe that this rate of incidence supports a conclusion that Stewart is under an immediate threat of harm. Stewart's 12 M statement contained only unsupported conclusory allegations that fail as well to demonstrate the threat of any immediate harm. 13 36 Given Stewart's failure to allege the requisite threat of harm, Stewart is in the same position as the plaintiff in Lyons.Absent a sufficient likelihood that he will be wronged in a similar way, Lyons is no more entitled to an injunction than any other citizen of Los Angeles; and a federal court may not entertain a claim by any or all citizens who [do] no more than assert that certain practices of law enforcement officers are unconstitutional. 37 Lyons, 461 U.S. at 111, 103 S.Ct. at 1670. Therefore, we hold that Stewart lacks standing to pursue any type of equitable relief regarding his shakedown claim. 14