Hewes v. Magnusson.

U.S. District Court

LAW LIBRARY

EXPERT WITNESS

Hewes v. Magnusson, 350 F.Supp.2d 222 (D.Me. 2004). A state inmate brought an action asserting that prison officials violated his rights. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the officials. The court found that the officials' failure to protect the inmate from an assault by another prisoner did not demonstrate deliberate indifference to the inmate's safety, even though the officials were aware of the inmate's past confrontations with the other prisoner and that they were currently housed in the same unit. The court noted that the inmate did not tell the officials that other inmates had told him that the prisoner was making statements about him. The court held that the prison's library schedule did not deprive the inmate of his right of access to courts, even if the inmate's laundry duties and hygiene needs limited his access to four and one-half hours per week, and the inmate had once been denied additional library time. Inmates were allowed to use the law library five days per week during their three-hour recreation period, the inmate was permitted to take books back to his cell, and the single denial of additional time had no material impact on the disposition of the inmate's case, according to the court. The inmate had designated as "expert witnesses" a number of fellow prisoners who would have testified about prison policies and procedures and would offer their opinions regarding the constitutionality of certain prison policies and procedures. (Maine State Prison)