ANTHONY BOONE v. NEW JERSEY DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS

NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE

APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION

SUPERIOR COURT OF NEW JERSEY

APPELLATE DIVISION

DOCKET NO. A-3038-10T4

ANTHONY BOONE,

Appellant,

v.

NEW JERSEY DEPARTMENT

OF CORRECTIONS,

Respondent.

_______________________________________

March 4, 2013

Submitted November 8, 2012 - Decided

Before Judges Fuentes, Ashrafi and Hayden.

On appeal from the New Jersey Department

of Corrections.

Anthony Boone, appellant pro se.

Jeffrey S. Chiesa, Attorney Genereal, attorney for respondent (Melissa H. Raksa, Assistant Attorney General, of counsel; Daniela Ivancikova, Deputy Attorney General, on the brief).

PER CURIAM

Inmate Anthony Boone appeals from an administrative decision of the New Jersey Department of Corrections denying his appeal of a prison policy instituted at East Jersey State Prison ("EJSP") that restricts inmates from wearing braided or "tied" hair or pony tails when they are outside their cells. We dismiss the appeal as moot because Boone is no longer an inmate at EJSP.

N.J.A.C. 10A:14-2.5, a regulation applicable generally to New Jersey State prisons, states:

(a) Inmates shall be permitted to have the hair style or length of hair they choose, including beards and mustaches, provided their hair is kept clean and does not present a safety hazard, or a health, sanitary or security problem.

(b) When the length, style or condition of an inmate's hair is found to present a safety hazard, or a health, sanitary or security problem, the inmate shall be required to trim or cut his or her hair or wear an appropriate protective head and/or beard covering.

EJSP had a long-standing rule pertaining to inmate contacts with visitors that stated: "Inmates may not enter the Visit Area with hair that is braided, pinned up, tied (as in a pony tail), or in any manner that may be utilized to conceal contraband." According to Boone's brief on appeal, EJSP began enforcing similar restrictions more generally within the prison after prison guards were assaulted by several inmates on September 1, 2007. Boone, who is serving a life sentence for murder, was transferred to EJSP on September 25, 2007. In 2008, he challenged the hair restrictions as a violation of his constitutional rights and contrary to the Department of Corrections policy and regulation quoted previously. By order dated April 13, 2010, we dismissed a prior appeal filed by Boone to permit him to exhaust administrative remedies.

A March 18, 2010 memorandum of the Director of Custody at EJSP invokes prison regulations subjecting inmates to search of their persons and states the prison's rule with respect to "tied hair" as follows:

The inmate's hair is included in these searches and as such must not be braided, pinned up or tied in any manner that may be utilized to conceal contraband. While out of their cells or bed areas inmates are not permitted to utilize foreign objects to tie hair, including but not limited to, metal clips, rubber bands or any type of string or rope.

Boone's inmate referral complaint of this rule was denied on administrative appeal to prison officials.1

On appeal before us, Boone emphasizes that EJSP is the only State prison that has such a restrictive hair-style rule. He argues that EJSP cannot deviate from general Department of Corrections regulations without adhering to the requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act, N.J.S.A. 52:14B-1 to -15, and also that no evidence of security concerns justifies EJSP's hair-style restriction.

Boone's inmate record states that he has been confined at Northern State Prison since February 2012. He is no longer an inmate at EJSP. Because Boone has challenged a prison rule at a different prison from the one where he is now confined, his appeal is moot. He has no standing to challenge a rule applicable only at EJSP now that the rule does not apply to his personal conditions of confinement.

1 The date of the written denial of Boone's administrative appeal is not discernible in our record.