Court Opinion

ID: 9492500
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 14:42:34.847508+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:55:20.196788
License: Public Domain

MICHAEL, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
While I agree with the majority’s conclusion that Altizer’s suit was not barred by 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g), I respectfully dissent from its holding that the opening and inspection of outgoing prisoner mail automatically passes constitutional muster.1
In Procunier v. Martinez, 416 U.S. 396, 94 S.Ct. 1800, 40 L.Ed.2d 224 (1974), the Supreme Court considered the constitutionality of regulations governing incoming and outgoing prisoner mail. The Court held that in order to pass muster under the First Amendment, prison mail regulations “must further an important or substantial governmental interest.” Id. at 413, 94 S.Ct. 1800. “Security, order, and rehabilitation” are the only three governmental interests that were recognized as “substantial.” Id. The scope of this holding was subsequently limited by the Supreme Court in Thornburgh v. Abbott, 490 U.S. 401, 109 S.Ct. 1874, 104 L.Ed.2d 459 (1989). In that case the Court carefully drew a distinction between incoming and outgoing prisoner mail, concluding that a lower level of scrutiny should be applied in reviewing prison regulations governing incoming mail. Regulations governing incoming mail are valid if they are “reasonably related to legitimate pe-nological interests.” Id. at 413, 109 S.Ct. 1874 (quoting Turner v. Safley, 482 U.S. 78, 89, 107 S.Ct. 2254, 96 L.Ed.2d 64 (1987)). The Abbott Court ruled that “Martinez [would] be limited to regulations concerning outgoing correspondence.” Id. This continued heightened scrutiny for the regulation of outgoing mail is justified by the “categorically lesser” implications this mail has for prison security. See id.
The majority today substantially alters this prescription. It does so by limiting the heightened scrutiny required by Martinez only to cases involving censorship of the contents of outgoing prisoner mail. This additional limitation on Martinez is unprecedented. The majority also ignores the broader language of Abbott, which says that Martinez continues to apply to “regulations concerning outgoing correspondence.” Abbott, 490 U.S. at 413, 109 S.Ct. 1874. The Martinez standard therefore governs the treatment of outgoing mail in this case. As a result, the warden should be required to show that the practice of opening and inspecting all outgoing mail furthered “an important or substantial governmental interest,” namely, security, order, or rehabilitation. See Martinez, 416 U.S. at 413, 94 S.Ct. 1800.2
Altizer has been incarcerated at the Keen Mountain Correctional Center, an *551“adult institution” operated by the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Department of Corrections (VDOC). Since June 1990 the VDOC has had a written policy or procedure governing the inspection of prisoner mail at adult institutions. Under that policy, an inmate’s outgoing legal mail “will not be opened, inspected or read in any manner.” An exception permits the reading of outgoing prisoner mail if “there is reasonable belief that the mail is being used in violation of State or Federal law or for purposes which threaten the security of the facility.” This policy was violated for a time at Keen Mountain, where officers opened and inspected every piece of the inmates’ outgoing legal mail. The initiation date of the blanket “open and inspect” practice is unknown, but it went on from at least 1994 until January 1996. The district court concluded that the practice affected Altizer, who was sending out legal mail during this time and who filed several grievances complaining about the inspection of his outgoing legal mail. The practice of opening and inspecting all outgoing legal mail at Keen Mountain has been changed to conform to VDOC policy. Outgoing legal mail is now opened only when prison staff suspect that it contains contraband.
The question in this case is whether the warden offered a “substantial governmental interest” concerning security or prison order to justify the practice of opening and inspecting every piece of outgoing legal mail. The district court considered this question carefully and reached the following conclusions: (1) the warden did “not attempt to defend” the practice of opening and inspecting every piece of the. inmates’ outgoing legal mail; (2) he did “not identify any important and substantial administrative interest of the prison which was furthered” by the practice; (3) he did not show that the practice “was generally necessary for prison security reasons;” and (4) he did “not offer[ ] any justification” at all for the practice of opening and inspecting “every letter from every inmate.” The district court’s conclusions are supported by the fact that the blanket “open and inspect” practice has been discontinued at Keen Mountain and the VDOC policy is being followed. Again, under the VDOC policy outgoing legal mail is inspected only when there are reasonable concerns about security or. unlawful conduct.
I, too, believe that security and order in prisons is of critical importance. Indeed, prison authorities are granted, as they must be, substantial deference in this area. See, e.g., In re Long Term Administrative Segregation of Inmates Designated as Five Percenters, 174 F.3d 464 (4th Cir.1999) (finding no constitutional prohibition on long-term segregation of members of purported religious group that was classified as a security threat), cert. denied Mickle v. Moore, — U.S. -, 120 S.Ct. 179, — L.Ed.2d -, 68 U.S.L.W. 3080 (1999). The Supreme Court has determined, however, that the security interests in regulating outgoing prisoner mail are “of a categorically lesser magnitude” than those for controlling the flow of materials into prison. Abbott, 490 U.S. at 413, 109 S.Ct. 1874. Although prison authorities may be justified in opening outgoing prisoner mail in certain circumstances, the warden here failed to offer a “substantial governmental interest” for opening all outgoing legal mail.3 I would therefore affirm the judgment of the district court.

. I accept the majority's conclusion on these facts that Altizer's Sixth Amendment right to counsel was not implicated by the opening and inspection of his outgoing legal mail. See ante at n. 14.

. Unless censorship of outgoing personal mail is involved, the majority contends that the Turner standard now governs the review of "constitutional rights in the prison context." Ante at n. 13. That extends Turner too far because Abbott, which was decided two years after Turner, preserves more of Martinez than the majority is willing to recognize. In Abbott the Supreme Court analyzed Martinez and Turner at length and noted that Martinez (with its heightened standard of scrutiny) would continue to apply "to regulations concerning [the] outgoing correspondence” of prisoners. Abbott, 490 U.S. at 413, 109 S.Ct. 1874. Abbott ’s language is clear: it does not limit Martinez to cases involving censorship of content.

. A formal policy authorizing blanket inspection of outgoing mail may be appropriate for certain classes of prisoners or for certain types of institutions. For example, the Federal Bureau of Prisons has a policy allowing inspection of outgoing general correspondence from inmates in medium and high security facilities, see 28 C.F.R. § 540.14(c)(2), although this policy does not apply to legal mail, see 28 C.F.R. §§ 540.18(c)(1), 540.19. *552At any rate, a formal policy of this sort might have justified inspections of Altizer’s outgoing mail.
The Commonwealth advises us in its brief that after Altizer filed this suit, he was caught trying to mail a homemade knife to a deputy clerk of the district court for the Western District of Virginia. Appellants’ Br. at 35. That attempt was apparently foiled under the VDOC policy that allows inspection of outgoing mail when prison authorities believe security is threatened. My point here is that the prior blanket inspection practice at Keen Mountain cannot be sanctioned by us when the warden himself did not offer any substantial justification for it in district court.