Opinion
2015 CA 1919
06-03-2016
ERIC DEVON HOWARD #486451 v. LOUISIANA DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY AND CORRECTIONS
Eric D. Howard #486451 Homer, Louisiana Plaintiff/Appellant Pro Se Susan Wall Griffin Baton Rouge, Louisiana Attorney for Defendant/Appellee Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections
NOT DESIGNATED FOR PUBLICATION
APPEALED FROM THE NINETEENTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT IN AND FOR THE PARISH OF EAST BATON ROUGE STATE OF LOUISIANA
DOCKET NUMBER C632,265 HONORABLE DONALD JOHNSON, JUDGE Eric D. Howard #486451
Homer, Louisiana Plaintiff/Appellant
Pro Se Susan Wall Griffin
Baton Rouge, Louisiana Attorney for Defendant/Appellee
Louisiana Department of Public
Safety and Corrections BEFORE: McDONALD, McCLENDON, and THERIOT, JJ. McDONALD, J.
In this prisoner suit, an inmate appeals a judgment denying his claim for the return of or compensation for personal property confiscated by prison officials. We affirm the judgment.
Eric Devon Howard is an inmate housed at David Wade Correctional Center (DWCC) in Homer, Louisiana. Under Department of Public Safety and Corrections Offender Posted Policy (DOPP) #28, inmates in the general prison population are allowed to possess personal property in certain quantities. In April 2014, Mr. Howard was placed in Disciplinary Detention/Extended Lockdown (DD/EL). Under DOPP #36, while in DD/EL, an inmate's allowance of personal property is specifically restricted to lesser amounts than that allowed under DOPP #28. Under DOPP #19, items in excess of allowed amounts are considered unauthorized items and are confiscated as such. Thus, because he was in DD/EL, Mr. Howard was allowed to possess only that personal property allowed by DOPP #36, and his excess personal property was confiscated, inventoried, and temporarily placed in storage. Under DOPP #28, DWCC officials later gave Mr. Howard the option to send his confiscated property home at his expense, give it to charity, or have it destroyed as contraband, as defined by LSA-R.S. 14:402(D). Mr. Howard refused to choose, claiming he had no home to which his excess personal property could be sent and he did not want to donate it or have it destroyed.
Mr. Howard later filed a loss of personal property claim, which DWCC officials denied as untimely but apparently accepted as an administrative procedure (#DWCC-2014-0547) under the Louisiana Corrections and Administrative Remedy Procedure Act, LSA-R.S. 15:1171, et seq. Mr. Howard sought to have his excess personal property stored at DWCC while he was in DD/EL. After DWCC denied his relief at the first step of the administrative remedy procedure, and the Department of Public Safety and Corrections (DPSC) denied his relief at the second step, Mr. Howard filed a petition for judicial review. DWCC Warden James M. LeBlanc answered and sought dismissal of the petition. A 19th Judicial District Commissioner conducted a hearing and later issued a report recommending that the DPSC's decision be affirmed and Mr. Howard's appeal be dismissed. On August 31, 2015, the trial court signed a judgment adopting the commissioner's report and affirming the DPSC's decision. Mr. Howard appeals from the adverse judgment.
After the appeal was lodged, this Court granted Mr. Howard's motion to file a copy of a purported 2016 update to DOPP #36 requiring prison officials to develop procedures "for the storage and issuance of offender personal property not allowed or allowed in the different levels of maximum security." We need not address this amendment, which was not in effect at the time Mr. Howard's property was confiscated.
Mr. Howard does not dispute the authority of DWCC officials, under DOPP #36, to restrict his allowance of personal property while he is in DD/EL, nor does he dispute their authority, under DOPP #19, to confiscate that amount of his personal property that exceeds the limits set forth in DOPP #36. Rather, he argues that his excess property should not have been classified and disposed of as contraband under DOPP #28. Further, he argues that DPSC Regulation C-03-007, which provides the procedure for the reception, transfer, and disposal of offender personal belongings, required that his excess property be stored until his release from DD/EL.
After a thorough review of the record, applicable statutes, and applicable rules and policies, we conclude the trial court and the commissioner reached the correct conclusion in this case. When Mr. Howard was placed in DD/EL, under DOPP #19, DOPP #28, DOPP #36, and under LSA-R.S. 14:402(D), DWCC officials had authority to confiscate his excess personal property and to classify such as contraband. DWCC officials also had authority to require that he send his confiscated property home at his expense, donate it to charity, or have it destroyed. DPSC Regulation C-03-007 did not require that DWCC store Mr. Howard's confiscated property until his release from DD/EL. Further, if his confiscated property was destroyed, which is unclear from the record, Mr. Howard is owed no compensation. Mr. Howard's appeal is without merit.
The trial court's August 31, 2015 judgment is affirmed. No costs are assessed in this pauper suit. We render this memorandum opinion under Uniform Rules, Courts of Appeal, Rule 2-16.1.B.
AFFIRMED.