On September 3, 1987, an inmate at the Turney Industrial Center and Farm, a prison in Tennessee, filed a lawsuit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against the Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Corrections, and against the warden and various officers of the Turney Center in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee. After a hearing, the court's Magistrate judge ordered, on February 9, 1988, that numerous portions of the complaint were frivolous, and dismissed those claims. The plaintiff, who was represented by the Vanderbilt Legal Clinic, asked the court for declaratory and injunctive relief as well as damages for the remaining claims, alleging that the Turney Center deprived inmates in protective segregation of their constitutional right of access to the courts. Specifically, the plaintiff alleged that his access to prison law library materials and to legal assistance was unreasonably limited. The plaintiff sought to change the Turney Center's policies regarding the distribution of legal publications to inmates in segregation.

Both parties moved for Summary Judgment. On August 3, 1989, the Magistrate recommended that both parties' motions be denied and that the case be set for trial. The plaintiff appealed the denial of his Motion for Summary Judgment, and on December 7, 1989, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee (Judge Thomas Higgins) enjoined the Turney Center from restricting segregated inmates' access to legal publications by giving prison officials or fellow inmates the power to give or deny legal assistance to them. Watson v. Norris, 729 F. Supp. 581 (M.D. Tenn. 1989). The court ordered the Turney Center to submit to the court a proposed plan for changes in its policy within 30 days.

Laura Uberti - 05/16/2006


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