Whitington v. Lawson, No. 10-1299 (10th Cir. 2011)
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Plaintiff-Appellant Michael Whittington filed a civil rights lawsuit, alleging that prison officials violated his Eighth Amendment rights by forcing him to choose between spending funds in his inmate bank account on court costs, or on dental hygiene items. Specifically, Plaintiff claims that he was unable to pay for basic hygiene supplies because all of his inmate salary and the funds in his account were levied for mandatory deductions imposed by the Department of Corrections, or for the necessary costs of protected litigation. Refusing to give him the hygiene supplies for free, Plaintiff argued, was "cruel and unusual punishment." Ultimately the district court dismissed all Plaintiffs' claims based on various grounds. Plaintiff only challenged the dismissals based on "qualified immunity." The Tenth Circuit found that the deprivation of hygiene items for extended periods can implicate the Eighth Amendment, but the law was not established on this point at the time Plaintiff brought his complaint. The Court noted that the facts of Plaintiff's complaint do not allege that the Department of Corrections denied him the items per se. Rather, Plaintiff's complaint alleged that the Department forced him to choose between two constitutionally protected activities. The Court held that the district court properly granted qualified immunity on Plaintiff's claims against the Department of Corrections. Accordingly, the Court affirmed the lower court's decision to dismiss Plaintiff's claims.
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