Abney v. Alameida.

U.S. District Court

INMATE FUNDS

Abney v. Alameida, 334 F.Supp.2d 1221 (S.D.Cal. 2004). A state prisoner brought an action against a state corrections director alleging violations of the Fifth Amendment Takings Clause, the Equal Protection Clause, and due process. The prisoner alleged breach of judiciary duty and violations of state regulations regarding prison trust accounts, in connection with deductions taken from deposits made to the prisoner's trust accounts in order to pay court-ordered restitution. The court held that deductions taken from checks and money orders that were to be deposited into the prisoner's trust account in order to satisfy court-ordered restitution, did not violate the Takings Clause, where the restitution was duly authorized by state law. The court held that the director did not violate equal protection by allowing city and county inmates a $300 exemption of funds held in their trust accounts from collection to satisfy restitution orders, but not affording the same exemption to state prisoners, because the difference in the length of incarceration terms and nature of convictions suggested that jail inmates would be able to satisfy restitution fines more quickly because they would be released into the workforce sooner than state prisoners. (California Department of Corrections)