Court Opinion

ID: 9620503
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 05:43:07.709616+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:28:25.589405
License: Public Domain

BAUER, Circuit Judge,
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
I join the excellent opinion of the majority as to the property claims; I respectfully dissent from that portion of the opinion that remands the issue of the “separation” order and its implications.
As the district court held, Parrott has failed to demonstrate any basis for concluding that prison officials acted in negligent disregard of such risks when they released him into the general prison population. Parrott was released from the Special Housing Unit on July 5, 2001, at his request, over a year after a minor altercation that he had instigated with Gregory in which no one was injured. See RE 99-9 at 2, SA 35; RE 99-10 at 2, SA 37; RE 107-3 at 6, SA 83. Parrott has pointed to no threats or other reasons that the BOP would reasonably have suspected that releasing him into the general population would result in his harm at the hands of Gregory. Rather, as the district court held, “[t]he evidentiary record here contains no feature or fact suggesting that BOP staff knew of a potential problem between Parrott and Gregory on July 11, 2001” such that Parrott could not be released into the general population. RE 117 at 3, SA 118.
Indeed, Parrott signed a statement indicating that he had no concerns regarding his return to the general population and did not fear for his safety. RE 99-9 at 2, SA 35; RE 99-10 at 2; SA 37 (requesting “to remain housed in General Population as there is no need for staff to protect me at this time” and agreeing to notify BOP staff if threats arise). Although Parrott suggests that he did not sign this statement, see BR. 36, nothing in the record provides the basis for a genuine factual dispute and Parrott cannot resist summary judgment on the basis of “mere allegations or denials.” Moreover, the records before the district court contain statements by two BOP officials that no order existed that required the separation of Parrott and Gregory.
Without any basis that I can see in the record, Parrott insists that the redacted file (which the Court properly held was not available as discovery material) showed otherwise. The majority opinion, while professing sympathy for the BOPs regulations that prevent them from disclosing the contents of the file, says the concern could have been accommodated by either the court (or a court appointed counsel) reviewing the redacted material to see if the BOP officials were lying. Leaving out the fact that I knew of no requirement that the court should appoint an attorney in a case that raises the issues we face, the trial court concluded that such a study was unnecessary; that the record shows that nothing Parrott raised produced enough of a question that required further discovery.
Nothing in the record shows that the BOP was aware of any reason to separate Parrott and Gregory. There was a minor altercation between the two; in a prison population such altercations are frequent, not unexpected and virtually impossible to prevent. If they all led to Separation or*640ders, the prisons would occupy half the state.
I think Judge Young had it right; the defendants were entitled to summary judgment on both facets of the case.