In 1974, inmates of the Nebraska Penal and Correctional Complex filed a Section 1983 lawsuit in the District of Nebraska, against officials of the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services. Plaintiffs alleged that the defendants had confiscated money from them as a punitive measure without due process of law.

In July 1975, the District Court (Judge Warren K. Urbom) granted plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment. Defendants appealed. On appeal, plaintiffs were represented by a law professor from the University of Detroit. The Court of Appeals affirmed, holding that the inmates had a property interest protected by due process in the confiscated money and prison officials violated due process by prescribing and enforcing forfeitures of that money as a punitive measure for violation of administrative rules and regulations prohibiting the possession of money by inmates. Sell v. Parratt, 548 F.2d 753 (8th Cir. 1977). Defendants' petition for writ of certiorari was denied. Parratt v. Sell, 434 U.S. 873 (1977).

The docket for this case is not available on PACER, and therefore our information ends with the last reported decision, dated October 3, 1977

Eoghan Keenan - 06/10/2005


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