Marshel Robinson, Plaintiff-appellant, v. Edward L. Evans, Larry A. Fields, and State of Oklahoma,defendants-appellees, 69 F.3d 548 (10th Cir. 1995)

Plaintiff Marshel Robinson is an inmate of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections serving a 25 year sentence for robbery with a firearm after a felony conviction. While at the James Crabtree Correctional Center, Helena, Oklahoma, Plaintiff filed this pro se civil rights action, 42 U.S.C.1983, against Edward L. Evans, warden of the correctional center, and Larry A. Fields, director of the department.³  In his complaint, Plaintiff alleged violations of his First, Fourth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights resulting from certain institutional procedures; namely, (1) grievance procedures, (2) laundry procedures, (3) medical prescription procedures, (4) emergency medical procedures, (5) visitation procedures, and (6) information access procedures. Plaintiff requested $500,000.00 damages.⁴ 

The district court dismissed Plaintiff's complaint for failure to state a cause of action. Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b) (6). The court held that the facts which Plaintiff alleged did not establish any deprivation of constitutional rights. Our review is de novo. Gillihan v. Shillinger, 872 F.2d 935, 938 (10th Cir. 1989) (accepting complaint's allegations as true and viewing them liberally, in a light most favorable to pro se plaintiff). Jurisdiction arises under 28 U.S.C. 1291. We have reviewed the parties' briefs, the pleadings, the district court's order, and the entire record before us, and affirm.

We agree with the district court substantially for the reasons set forth in its order dismissing Plaintiff's complaint. Vol. I, doc. # 25. The Constitution does not protect every "change in the conditions of confinement having a substantial adverse impact on the prisoner." Meachum v. Fano, 427 U.S. 215, 224 (1976). In Sandin v. Conner, 115 S. Ct. 2293 (1995), the Supreme Court admonished federal courts not to become involved in daily prison operations which would further limit scarce judicial resources. Id. at 2299. To do so would--

run counter to the view expressed in several [Supreme Court] ... cases that federal courts ought to afford appropriate deference and flexibility to state officials trying to manage a volatile environment. Such flexibility is especially warranted in the fine-tuning of the ordinary incidents of prison life, a common subject of prisoner claims....

Id. (citations omitted). Nearly fifty years ago, the Supreme Court recognized that " [l]awful incarceration brings about the necessary withdrawal or limitation of many privileges and rights, a retraction justified by the considerations underlying our penal system." Price v. Johnston, 334 U.S. 266, 285 (1948). The conditions and procedures about which Plaintiff complains are normal incidents of prison life. Accordingly, the judgment of the district court is

AFFIRMED.