Filed Date: Nov. 9, 1972
Closed Date: Nov. 28, 1975
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In 1972, inmates confined at Mt. Meigs Medical and Diagnostic Center brought a class action lawsuit in the Middle District of Northern Alabama alleging that Mt. Meigs and the state Board of Corrections violated their First, Sixth, Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment rights. Plaintiffs requested various forms of injunctive relief including the return of certain personal property which they claimed had been confiscated without cause or compensation.
On July 30, 1973, the District Court for the Middle District of Alabama (Judge Frank Minis Johnson, Jr.) found that, when plaintiffs were moved from the general population to administrative segregation, corrections officials improperly confiscated from them certain property to which they were entitled under prison rules governing administrative segregation. Because this property was never returned to the prisoners, the District Court issued an injunctive order requiring that the corrections officials either return the property to the inmates or replace it. Diamond v. Thompson, 364 F.Supp. 659 (M.D. Ala. 1973).
Both Plaintiffs and Defendants initially appealed from the District Court decree, but the appeal was eventually dismissed on joint motion of the parties.
A few months after the order was entered, three inmates filed motions in the District Court alleging that they were members of the class covered by the injunction and that defendants had failed to return to them all of their property. After holding hearings, the District Court entered judgment against defendants for the market value of the unreturned property.
On November 28, 1975, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (Judges John Cooper Godbold, John Milton Bryan Simpson, and Charles Clark) affirmed the District Court decision. Diamond v. Thompson, 523 F.2d 1201 (5th Cir. 1975). The Fifth Circuit concluded that the defendants improperly sought to attack the factual basis of the July 30, 1973 District Court decree in the present appeal; such an attack should have been launched in the appeal from that decree (which was dismissed on joint motion of the parties), not in the present enforcement proceedings for such decree.
We have no further information on this case.
Summary Authors
Vidhya Reddy (2/19/2008)
Clark, Robert M Jr (Texas)
Godbold, John Cooper (Louisiana)
Baxley, William J. (Alabama)
Bowen, William M. (Alabama)
Calhoun, Richard F. (Alabama)
Clark, Robert M Jr (Texas)
Godbold, John Cooper (Louisiana)
Johnson, Carl E. Jr. (Alabama)
Simpson, Charles Ralph III (Kentucky)
Last updated Jan. 23, 2024, 3:18 a.m.
Docket sheet not available via the Clearinghouse.State / Territory: Alabama
Case Type(s):
Key Dates
Filing Date: Nov. 9, 1972
Closing Date: Nov. 28, 1975
Case Ongoing: No
Plaintiffs
Plaintiff Description:
Inmates confined at the Mt. Meigs Medical and Diagnostic Center of the Alabama Department of Corrections.
Plaintiff Type(s):
Public Interest Lawyer: No
Filed Pro Se: No
Class Action Sought: Yes
Class Action Outcome: Granted
Defendants
Mt. Meigs Medical and Diagnostic Center (Mt. Meigs), State
Case Details
Causes of Action:
Constitutional Clause(s):
Available Documents:
Outcome
Prevailing Party: Plaintiff
Nature of Relief:
Injunction / Injunctive-like Settlement
Source of Relief:
Issues
General:
Affected Sex or Gender:
Type of Facility: