Holloway v. Magness, et al., No. 11-1455 (8th Cir. 2012)
Annotate this CaseUnder a contract with the ADC, GTL provided telephone services to ADC inmates and pays ADC 45% of GTL's gross revenues. Plaintiff, an inmate, commenced this 42 U.S.C. 1983 action against GTL and ADC officials alleging that the elevated telephone charges he must pay by reason of the contract violated his First Amendment free speech rights because he would call family members outside the prison more frequently if calls were less expensive. The court held that ADC had no First Amendment obligation to provide any telephone service and it had no obligation to provide that service at a particular cost to users; the Constitution did not prohibit charging prisoners for essential prison services, at least in the absence of showing that the result was a severe deprivation of a fundamental right; and the district court properly conducted a four-factor Turner test but correctly noted that "[i]t was not at all clear that the Turner framework applies."
Court Description: Civil case - civil rights. In suit alleging Department of Correction's phone contract with a third party vendor violated prisoner's First Amendment rights because it raised the price of phone calls, the district court did not err in granting the defendants' motion for summary judgment, as the Constitution does not prohibit charging prisoners for essential services, at least in the absence of a showing that the result is a severe deprivation of a fundamental right, and plaintiff failed to show the arrangement was a significant infringement of his right to communicate with the outside world.
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