Public-domain · open source
OpenJurist

16 F. App'x 310

Treat v. Corrections Corp.

U.S. Courts of Appeals

Decided June 18, 2001

U.S. Courts of Appeals · decided 2001-06-18

Cited by 4 later decisions — most recently September 2004

1 federal appellate · 1 district ·

Key passage — most relied on by later courts

“[t]he PLRA applies to privately-operated prisons”

quoted by 2 later decisions, including Louis Boyd v. Corrections Corporation Of America, Boyd

Applies 28 U.S.C. § 1915 · 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (Civil Rights Act of 1871 / Section 1983 (Ku Klux Klan Act))

Relies on Neitzke v. Williams · McGore v. Wrigglesworth · Forrest Zayne Brown, Stephen Michael Richmond, Christopher Michael Croft, and Tony Lynn Meadows v. Alan Bargery

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 2001-06-18

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

¶1Pro se Wisconsin prisoner Jerald Treat appeals a district court judgment that dismissed his 42 U.S.C. § 1983 suit as frivolous. The case has been referred to this panel pursuant to Rule 34(j)(l), Rules of the Sixth Circuit. We unanimously agree that oral argument is not needed. See Fed. R.App. P. 34(a).

¶2*311Treat filed a 54-page complaint against the Corrections Corporation of America (“CCA”), other related private-prison businesses, several John Doe defendants, and multiple employees of CCA. Treat, who is incarcerated at the Whiteville Correctional Facility, claimed that the defendants violated his civil rights and state tort law and engaged in racketeering. Essentially, his complaint is a diatribe against privately-operated prisons in general and CCA specifically.

¶3The district court granted Treat leave to proceed as a pauper, denied class certification, dismissed Treat’s suit as frivolous, and certified that an appeal could not be taken in good faith.

¶4In his timely appeal, Treat argues that the district court: (1) improperly applied the Prison Litigation Reform Act (“PLRA”) to his suit because Whiteville is a privately-operated prison, and (2) that the court erred by dismissing his suit as frivolous.

¶5As an initial matter, we note that Treat’s first enumerated issue is patently merit-less. The PLRA applies to privately-operated prisons. See, e.g., Brown v. Bargery, 207 F.3d 863, 865-66 (6th Cir.2000) (applying the PLRA to suit against a CCA-operated prison); Pischke v. Litscher, 178 F.3d 497, 500 (7th Cir.) (stating that Wisconsin prisoners housed in private prisons in other states were required to comply with the PLRA when filing § 1983 suits), cert. denied, 528 U.S. 954, 120 S.Ct. 379, 145 L.Ed.2d 296 (1999); Skelton v. Pri-Cor, Inc., 963 F.2d 100, 102 (6th Cir.1991) (holding that when a state entity contracts with a private corporation to house inmates, the private corporation is performing a function traditionally attributable to the state and may be treated as acting for the state under color of law).

¶6We review de novo a judgment dismissing a suit as frivolous under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e). See McGore v. Wrigglesworth, 114 F.3d 601, 604 (6th Cir.1997). A complaint is frivolous where it lacks an arguable basis either in law or in fact. See Neitzke v. Williams, 490 U.S. 319, 325, 109 S.Ct. 1827, 104 L.Ed.2d 338 (1989). A sua sponte dismissal of a complaint is appropriate where the complaint is frivolous on its face. See McGore, 114 F.3d at 609.

¶7Upon a thorough review of the pleadings, the district court’s order of dismissal, and Treat’s brief, we affirm the district court’s judgment for the reasons stated by that court in its June 19, 2000, order of dismissal. Rule 34(j)(2)(C), Rules of the Sixth Circuit.

/16/fappx/310 · .json · Public domain