Opinion ID: 475472
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Adequate Access to the Courts

Text: 17 Now we must decide whether Kunzelman's writ-writing activities were constitutionally protected. The prosecution of Kunzelman violated the other Juneau County Jail inmates' constitutional rights if it left them without alternative means of meaningful access to the courts. 6 Buise v. Hudkins, 584 F.2d 223, 228 (7th Cir.1978). In Johnson v. Avery, 393 U.S. 483, 89 S.Ct. 747, 21 L.Ed.2d 718, the Supreme Court held that inmates denied access to libraries 7 and public defenders had a constitutional right to seek legal assistance from other inmates. The Court stated, unless and until the State provides some reasonable alternative to assist inmates in the preparation of petitions for post-conviction relief, it may not validly enforce a regulation ... barring inmates from furnishing such assistance to other prisoners. Id. at 490 & n. 11, 89 S.Ct. at 751 & n. 11. 18 Here the district judge's decision to enter a judgment notwithstanding the verdict must be reviewed de novo (C. Wright & A. Miller, Federal Practice & Procedure Sec. 25.24 n. 40) and the evidence is to be viewed in the light most favorable to the non-moving party. Unless there is no evidence from which a jury could reasonably find for the party against whom the verdict is directed, the judgment withstanding the verdict must be reversed. Selle v. Gibb, 741 F.2d 896, 900 (7th Cir.1984). 19 This right to receive assistance from other prisoners is conditioned upon a showing that the inmates in question did not have adequate access to the court without the help of an inmate writ-writer. Bounds v. Smith, 430 U.S. 817, 821, 97 S.Ct. 1491, 1494, 52 L.Ed.2d 72; Buise v. Hudkins, 584 F.2d 223, 228 (7th Cir.1978). The state bears the burden of demonstrating the adequacy of the alternative means of access it provides. Buise, 584 F.2d at 228. In the Supreme Court cases (Johnson and Bounds ) the plaintiffs attacked the system of legal assistance available. Here Kunzelman does not argue that the public defender system is inadequate, merely that the otherwise adequate system failed to provide Spencer and Guevara adequate and meaningful access to the courts, given their particular situations. 20 We hold that once the state has shown the actual availability of a regular system of assistance by public defenders of which the inmates are generally aware, it has met its burden under Johnson v. Avery. The plaintiff then bears the burden of showing that under the particular circumstances the assistance was either not available to the inmates helped or that they were not aware of the system's availability. See Buise, 584 F.2d at 228-229; Johnson v. Avery, 393 U.S. at 489, 89 S.Ct. at 750. This burden allocation protects the inmates' right to meaningful access without overburdening the government to prove facts not easily at its disposal. 21 The defendants put on sufficient evidence before the district court to show both that there was a regular system of assistance provided and that the inmates were generally aware of the public defender's availability. There was testimony that the public defender's office represented inmates at the county jail from pre-trial through to post-conviction matters. The attorney responsible for the jail population, Ina Pogainis, visited the jail twice a week to speak with inmates and called every day to inquire if anyone needed help or had questions. Additionally, inmates were given direct phone access to the public defender's office so that they could initiate conversations with that office. Pogainis testified that she explained to everyone using the office that they could request one change of attorney without reason. The Juneau County jailer had a great concern for the ability of these inmates to get legal representation and communicated between them and Pogainis. Both Spencer and Guevara were represented by attorneys through the public defender's office. This testimony meets the defendants' burden of showing the awareness of and availability of legal assistance. The burden then shifted to the plaintiff to establish that the otherwise adequate system failed to provide Spencer and Guevara the necessary assistance. This burden was not met by the plaintiff on the record. 22 Kunzelman notes that with respect to Guevara, Pogainis refused to petition the court for pre-trial detention credit immediately; Guevara wanted it done faster and so sought out other help. But this does not rise to the level of inadequate access to the courts. Pogainis merely exercised her professional judgment with which Guevara disagreed. Additionally, plaintiff did not contradict that Guevara was informed of his right to request a replacement for Pogainis. 23 The Spencer situation presents a more complicated problem. Spencer was represented by a private bar attorney via the public defender's office. Once he realized that if given credit for pre-trial detainment his sentence would be completed, he phoned that attorney. His attorney never answered his many attempts to contact him, evidently because the attorney had closed Spencer's file after sentencing. Understandably desperate, Spencer turned to Kunzelman. By itself, this could exemplify unavailability of access to courts for post-conviction relief. What stops that conclusion is a combination of testimony that (a) Spencer could have initiated contact with the public defender's office and (b) generally inmates were aware that if they were unsatisfied with the representation of the first appointed attorney, they could request another, no questions asked. According to the record, Spencer had the alternative to contact the public defender's office again for assistance. Without contrary testimony that Spencer was unaware of this alternative or thwarted in an attempt to take advantage of the alternative, the defendants' evidence of adequate access stands. 24 Because the defendants presented sufficient evidence of a regular system of legal assistance to the inmates at Juneau County Jail and that inmates were aware of its availability, plaintiff had to prove that under the circumstances the individual inmates he assisted lacked adequate and meaningful access to the courts. Since he failed to show that, no reasonable jury could have found for the plaintiff. The judgment of the district court that there was no constitutional deprivation must therefore be affirmed. 25 For the reasons discussed above the judgment of the district court is affirmed. 8