Hernandez v. Hanks
Opinion of the Court
ORDER
Indiana prisoner Rosalio Hernandez brought this action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 alleging that Warden Craig Hanks and Casework Manager Diane Daugherty are violating his Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments rights by holding him in disciplinary segregation. The district court screened the complaint under 28 U.S.C. § 1915A and dismissed it for failure to state a claim. We affirm.
In his pro se complaint, Hernandez alleges that Daugherty improperly changed his segregation release date on the paperwork for two conduct violations, requiring him to serve nine additional years in disciplinary segregation (his release from segregation is now scheduled for April 2011; his prison term apparently is projected to end in 2054). Hernandez asserts that he has already served the three years’ of disciplinary segregation imposed for a 1998 attempted murder and an additional year for a 1999 battery and, therefore, by his count should have been released to the general prison population in July 2002. Because Daugherty modified the segregation release date, however, Hernandez remains in disciplinary segregation without the benefit of the various privileges afforded inmates in the general population. Hernandez challenged his segregation release date through the classification and disciplinary review processes, but relief was denied.
We review de novo dismissals under § 1915A for failure to state a claim, accepting as true the plaintiffs factual allegations and drawing all inferences in the plaintiffs favor. Wynn v. Southward, 251 F.3d 588, 591-92 (7th Cir. 2001). Dismissal of Hernandez’s complaint was proper only if no relief is available under any conceivable set of facts consistent with his allegations. Id. at 592.
Hernandez first argues that his continued detention in segregation violates due process because the defendants ex
Likewise, the court appropriately dismissed the Eighth Amendment claim. Hernandez argues that, by keeping him in disciplinary segregation and out of the general prison population even though he completed the originally imposed sanctions, the defendants are subjecting him to cruel and unusual punishment. But, to succeed on an Eighth Amendment claim, Hernandez must demonstrate that being excluded from the general prison population deprives him of the “ ‘minimal civilized measure of life’s necessities,” ’ such as adequate food, clothing, shelter, or medical care. Higgason, 83 F.3d at 809 (quoting Rhodes v. Chapman, 452 U.S. 337, 347, 101 S.Ct. 2392, 69 L.Ed.2d 59 (1981)); see Brown v. Nix, 33 F.3d 951, 953, 955 (8th Cir. 1994) (nine years’ disciplinary segregation not cruel and unusual punishment). Because Hernandez does not allege that he is being deprived of anything beyond the privilege of . being in the general population, he fails to state a claim under the Eighth Amendment.
The judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED. Hernandez’s motion to appoint counsel,'filed April 22, 2003, is DENIED. The district court’s dismissal and our decision here count as two of Hernandez’s three allotted “strikes” under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g). He previously incurred a “strike” in Hernandez v. Aul, No. 02-CV-1673 (S.D.Ind. Dec. 5, 2002). This brings the total number of strikes to three and, accordingly, bars Hernandez from bringing future civil suits in forma pauperis except a provided in § 1915(g).
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Rosalio HERNANDEZ v. Craig HANKS and Diane Daugherty
- Cited By
- 4 cases
- Status
- Published