On August 2, 1991, seven inmates at the Iowa Men's Reformatory (IMR) brought a Section 1983 action against prison officials in the United District Court for the Northern District of Iowa. The plaintiffs, represented by private counsel, challenged the IMR mail policy denying free legal postage to indigent inmates, and the IMR rule requiring inmates to keep moving while exercising and also allowing officials to rescind exercise privileges without due process of law.

In 1993, upon the parties' consent, the case was tried before Magistrate John A. Harvey. The Magistrate found in favor of the plaintiffs on their claim that the IMR policy on legal mail denied them meaningful access to the courts. The court enjoined IMR from denying free postage to indigent inmates for legal purposes, charging inmates 50 cents per month for having a negative account balance as the result of purchasing legal postage, and forbidding inmates from exceeding $7.50 indebtedness for legal postage. IMR was further required to supply each indigent inmate weekly with at least one free stamped envelope for use for legal mail. However, the court held in favor of the defendants on the plaintiffs' challenge to the IMR exercise rule, finding the regulation did not violate due process or Eighth Amendment rights. Hershberger v. Scaletta, 861 F.Supp. 1470 (N.D. Iowa 1993).

Parties on both sides appealed to the Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. The Court of Appeals (Judges Pasco M. Bowman II, Gerald W. Heaney, and C. Arlen Beam) affirmed the magistrate judge's order in all respects. In a concurring opinion, Judge Heaney questioned the majority's reasoning with respect to inmates' personal mail, feeling that indigent inmates should have some access to free postage for personal mail as well. Hershberger v. Scaletta, 33 F.3d 955 (8th Cir. 1994).

Chris Sullivan - 08/20/2005


compress summary