On February 3, 1992 an individual inmate at Halawa Medium Security Facility filed a pro se complaint against the Director of the Department of Public Safety and an administrator of the prison in the District Court for the District of Hawaii, under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, seeking declaratory and injunctive relief and compensatory damages. The Plaintiff alleged that the Defendants promulgated and enforced policies that prevented Plaintiff from writing to specific members of the news media. He alleged that his equal protections rights were violated because other prisoners were selectively allowed to write to the news media even though he was not.

Both parties moved for summary judgment, and on September 18, 1992 Magistrate Judge Francis I. Yamashita filed a Report and Recommendation finding that Plaintiff's motion for summary judgment should be denied and Defendants' motion for summary judgment should be granted. On November 12, 1992 the court (Judge David A. Ezra) affirmed in part and reversed in part the Magistrate's Report and Recommendation, granting summary judgment in favor of the Plaintiff declaring Hawaii Administrative Rules 17-203-11(g)(4) and (i) unconstitutional, but also granting summary judgment in favor of defendants, as prison officials were qualifiedly immune in their official capacities. The court therefore dismissed Plaintiff's claims for damages.

Plaintiff filed an appeal to the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on December 4, 1992. On July 22, 1993 the Ninth Circuit (Judges William C. Canby, Jr., Ferdinand Francis Fernandez, Thomas G. Nelson) affirmed the District Court's decision

Caitlin Howitt - 12/02/2011


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