Opinion ID: 2994465
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Untimely Delivery of Mail

Text: Zimmerman complains that Wabash Valley is also violating his First Amendment rights by delivering his mail in an untimely manner. The free-speech clause of the First Amendment applies to communications between an inmate and an outsider, Martin v. Brewer, 830 F.2d 76, 77 (7th Cir. 1987), and if Zimmerman alleges a continuing pattern or repeated occurrences of such conduct he has a valid claim for a First Amendment violation. Sizemore v. Williford, 829 F.2d 608, 609 (7th Cir. 1987). The allegations in his Second Amended Complaint, however, do not measure up to that standard and we therefore find that he has failed to state a claim upon which relief can be granted and affirm the District Court’s dismissal of this claim. Zimmerman details in his Second Amended Complaint only one instance in which his mail was delayed. He claims that on November 7, 1997, his fiancee sent an envelope to him that was not received by him until December 1, 1997./2 Accepting this allegation as true, as we must for purposes of our review, the most that Zimmerman alleges is an isolated incident of mail that was untimely delivered. His attempt to bolster that allegation with an assertion that there was a routine practice of not processing incoming offender mail in a timely manner, without any supporting factual allegations, is simply is not enough. Allegations of sporadic and short-term delays in receiving mail are insufficient to state a cause of action grounded upon the First Amendment. See e.g., Rowe v. Shake, 196 F.3d 778, 782 (7th Cir. 1999); Sizemore, 829 F.2d at 610. Zimmerman’s claim, then, was properly dismissed.