In 1975, William Thomas Bryan, an inmate at the State Correctional Institution, Dallas, Pennsylvania, filed a Section 1983 suit, pro se, in the Middle District of Pennsylvania against prison officials. Plaintiff alleged that various regulations and practices unconstitutionally restrict inmates' access to the courts. Specifically, plaintiff complained of defendants' refusal to allow inmates to use the Resident Law Clinic for the preparation of writs, damage suits, or civil suits against the prison. To enforce this policy, outgoing mail from the clinic was inspected and subject to approval by one of the coordinators.

After a consolidated hearing, the district court denied plaintiff's motion for a preliminary and permanent injunction and entered judgment in favor of defendants. Plaintiff appealed. The Court of Appeals affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded. Bryan v. Werner, 516 F.2d 288 (3d Cir. 1975). The court (Judge James Hunter III) held that defendants could not refuse to mail legal papers because it impeded inmate's access to the courts. The court also held that defendants' policy of preventing the clinic from assisting inmates in suits against the prison is valid only if there are reasonable alternatives for the inmate. The case was remanded for reconsideration of reasonable alternatives to the clinic available to inmates.

The docket for this case is not available on PACER, and therefore our information ends with the most recent decision, dated May 7, 1975.

Eoghan Keenan - 06/10/2005


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