Unpublished Disposition, 889 F.2d 1095 (9th Cir. 1989)

MEMORANDUM^** 

Appellant Tony Luca, an Arizona state prisoner, filed pro se a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action in district court challenging the constitutionality of Ariz.Rev.Stat.Ann. Sec. 31-235. This statute provides: "All mail written by a prisoner committed to the state department of corrections shall be marked by the department of corrections indicating that the mail was sent from a prison maintained in the state." Luca alleges that this statutory requirement violates his constitutional right of privacy. The district court granted the defendants' motion to dismiss. Luca now appeals pro se from the district court's judgment.

In Cox Broadcasting Corp. v. Cohn, 420 U.S. 469, 494-95 (1975), the Supreme Court stated that "the prevailing law of invasion of privacy generally recognizes that the interests in privacy fade when the information involved already appears on the public record." Convictions and incarcerations are generally matters of public record. See United States Dep't. of Justice v. Reporters Comm., 109 S. Ct. 1468, 1470-71 (1989). Luca may feel embarrassed by having "Arizona State Prison" written on his outgoing mail. But, because his conviction and incarceration in a state prison are matters of public record, Luca does not have a right of privacy that could be offended by section 31-235, which only requires that inmates' outgoing mail truthfully be identified as coming from a state prison.

The district court therefore did not err in granting the defendants' motion to dismiss.

AFFIRMED.