Strickler v. Waters

¶4OPINION

¶5LUTTIG, Circuit Judge:

¶6Robert Dale Strickler, a Virginia prisoner, brought suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging primarily that the conditions of his confinement at the Portsmouth City Jail violated his Eighth Amendment right not to be subjected to cruel and unusual punishment and that he was denied adequate access to the courts during his confinement there. The district court granted the motions to dismiss of defendants Commonwealth of Virginia and City of Portsmouth and granted defendant Sheriff Water’s motion for summary judgment. For the reasons that follow, we affirm.

¶7I.

¶8On June 15, 1990, the Circuit Court for the City of Portsmouth sentenced Strickler to a prison term of four years and four months. . Strickler .was committed on that day to the Portsmouth City Jail pending an unrelated trial in the Virginia Beach Circuit Court, because the Virginia Department of Corrections refuses to accept prisoners with outstanding charges in local jurisdictions. On December 4, 1990, fewer than thirty days after the conclusion of the Virginia Beach Circuit Court trial, Strickler was transferred to a state correctional facility.

¶9Strickler brought a number of claims alleging violations of his constitutional rights during his approximately six-month confinement at the Portsmouth City Jail. Chief among these is a claim that the conditions of his confinement there violated his Eighth Amendment right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment. According to Strickler, during most of his stay at Portsmouth, he was housed in a seven-cell block with a day room measuring six and one-half by thirty-eight feet. Because of overcrowding at the facility, some inmates were required either to double-bunk or to sleep on mattresses on the floor of the day room. Prisoners were expected also to exercise in the day room, despite the fact that *1379the mattresses were rolled up and put aside only during meals and the daily cleaning. Further, climatological conditions inside the jail were occasionally uncomfortable, as fans and heating, ventilation and air conditioning equipment were inefficient and very little if any air penetrated jail windows, the screens of which were covered with dirt, dust, and rust, and some of which were partially blocked by concrete barriers to prevent prisoner escapes.

¶10Strickler also claims that he was denied access to the courts as a result of the jail’s inadequate library and his restricted access to that library, which includes the Virginia Code, the United States Code, and a set of Corpus Juris Secundum. Although he could request that legal materials be brought to his cell from the Portsmouth Circuit Court library, Strickler’s direct access to the jail’s law library was at best intermittent — one hour per week and sometimes as infrequently as one hour every five weeks. Strickler received no assistance from persons trained in the law in either an earlier habeas corpus proceeding, or in this civil action until on appeal, although he was represented by counsel in his ongoing criminal proceedings.

¶11We discuss the Eighth Amendment and inadequate access claims in turn and then consider three ancillary claims advanced by Strickler.1

¶12II.

¶13In order to make out a prima facie case that prison conditions violate the Eighth Amendment, a plaintiff must show both “(1) a serious deprivation of a basic human need; and (2) deliberate indifference to prison conditions on the part of prison officials.” Williams v. Griffin, 952 F.2d 820, 824 (4th Cir.1991) (citation omitted). The Supreme Court has explained that the first showing requires the court to determine whether the deprivation of the basic human need was objectively “sufficiently serious,” and the second requires it to determine whether subjectively “the officials act[ed] with a sufficiently culpable state of mind.” Wilson v. Seiter, — U.S. -,-, 111 S.Ct. 2321, 2324, 115 L.Ed 2d 271 (1991); see also Hudson v. McMillian, — U.S.-,-, 112 S.Ct. 995, 999, 117 L.Ed.2d 156 (1992). Because we conclude that Strickler has not established the serious deprivation of a basic human need required to survive summary judgment on his claim of an Eighth Amendment violation, we need not consider whether Sheriff Waters acted with an intent sufficient to satisfy the Amendment’s state-of-mind requirement.

¶14While recognizing that “[n]o static ‘test’ can exist by which courts determine whether conditions of confinement are cruel and unusual,” the Supreme Court has warned that “ ‘Eighth Amendment judgments should neither be nor appear to be merely the subjective views’ of judges.” Rhodes v. Chapman, 452 U.S.337, 346, 101 S.Ct. 2392, 2399, 69 L.Ed.2d 59 (1981) (quoting Rummel v. Estelle, 445 U.S. 263, 275, 100 S.Ct. 1133, 1140, 63 L.Ed.2d 382 (1980)). Instead, “such judgments] should be informed by objective factors to the maximum extent.” Id.(internal quotations omitted) (brackets in original). In an effort to infuse objectivity into the determination of whether a “serious deprivation” of a basic human need has occurred2 and, at *1380the same time, to ensure faithfulness to the Eighth Amendment’s ban only of “cruel and unusual” punishments, we held in Lopez v. Robinson that, for prison conditions to rise to the level of unconstitutional punishment, “ ‘there must be evidence of a serious medical and emotional deterioration attributable to’ the challenged-condition.”3914 F.2d 486, 490 (4th Cir.1990) (emphasis added) (quoting Shrader v. White, 761 F.2d 975, 979 (4th Cir.1985)).4

¶15We reaffirm today the essential holding in Lopez5 and our earlier holding *1381in Shrader that in order to withstand summary judgment on an Eighth Amendment challenge to prison conditions a plaintiff must produce evidence of a serious or significant physical or emotional injury resulting from the challenged conditions. The Eighth Amendment does not prohibit cruel and unusual prison conditions; it prohibits cruel and unusual punishments. If a prisoner has not suffered serious or significant physical or mental injury as a result of the challenged condition, he simply has not been subjected to cruel and unusual punishment within the meaning of the Amendment. See supra note 3.6

¶16In his efforts to establish a constitutional violation, Strickler alleges deprivations caused by double bunking, limited exercise opportunities,7 and inadequate ventilation.8 Though such conditions could rise to the level of constitutional violations were they to produce serious deprivations of identifiable human needs, Strickler has come forward with no evidence that he has sustained any serious or significant physical or emotional injury as a result of these conditions.9

¶17This is not the kind of extraordinary case of a palpable deprivation of the mini*1382mal requirements of civilized existence in which an inference of serious injury might be reasonable. Indeed, it is difficult to believe' that Strickler has been injured at all as a result of any of the conditions that he-challenges. We have previously held, for example, that there was no unconstitutional deprivation of the need for exercise where there was access to a day room eighteen hours each day, Clay v. Miller, 626 F.2d 345, 347 (4th Cir.1980), or where exercise was allowed only for two one-hour periods per week, Sweet v. South Carolina Dep’t of Corrections, 529 F.2d 854, 866 (4th Cir.1975). The conditions described by Strickler are not qualitatively different from those in Clay and Sweet, especially given that it is undisputed that the inmates, had they so chosen, could have left the mattresses stacked in the day room throughout the waking hours and had ample room and opportunity for exercise.

¶18Similarly, accepting Strickler’s allegation that the cell temperatures at Portsmouth were at times less than ideal, the inmates received blankets when the jail became uncomfortably cold, and the. jail was equipped with fans when the temperatures were hot. (We note that such actions belie the type of “unnecessary and wanton” infliction of pain proscribed by Rhodes, 452 U.S. at 347, 101 S.Ct. at 2399; see also Wilson, - U.S. at-, 111 S.Ct. at 2327 (“[A] low cell temperature at night combined with a failure to issue blankets” may establish an Eighth Amendment violation. (emphasis added))). At all times, furthermore, there was some degree of ventilation and fresh air. See Appellant’s Br. at 18-19.

¶19Finally, it is well established that “double or triple celling of inmates is not per se unconstitutional.” Griffin, 952 F.2d at 824; see also Rhodes, 452 U.S. at 348, 101 S.Ct. at 2400 (“[T]here is no evidence that double celling under these circumstances either inflicts unnecessary or wanton pain or is grossly disproportionate to the severity of crimes warranting imprisonment.”); Griffin, 952 F.2d at 824-25 (“[Ojvercrowding accompanied by unsanitary and dangerous conditions can constitute an Eighth Amendment violation, provided an identifiable human need is being deprived.”). Alone, double bunking simply does not constitute a cognizable Eighth Amendment deprivation.

¶20Moreover, the several conditions of confinement challenged by Strickler rather clearly did not have “a mutually enforcing effect that produce[d] the deprivation of a single, identifiable human need.” Wilson, - U.S. at -, 111 S.Ct. at 2327. In essence, Strickler alleges constitutional deprivation as a result of two conditions&emdash; overcrowding and excessive temperatures. Strickler alleges generally, however, only that these conditions resulted in an “explosive situation,” see J.A. at 14, not that they deprived him of any “single., identifiable human need.” See Wilson, - U.S. at -, 111 S.Ct. at 2327 (“Nothing so amorphous as ‘overall conditions’ can rise to the level of cruel and unusual punishment when no specific deprivation of a single human need exists.”).

¶21When considering claims such as those by Strickler that conditions of confinement constitute cruel and unusual punishment, “courts must bear in mind that their inquiries ‘spring from constitutional requirements and that judicial answers to them must reflect that fact rather than a court’s idea of how' best to operate a detention facility.’” Rhodes, 452 U.S. at 351, 101 S.Ct. at 2401 (quoting Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520, 539, 99 S.Ct. 1861, 1874, 60 L.Ed.2d 447 (1979)). Measured against constitutional standards, it is evident that Strickler failed to meet his heavy burden under the Eighth Amendment. Accordingly, we agree with the district court that summary judgment was warranted on his claim that the challenged conditions at Portsmouth Jail alone or in combination violated his Eighth Amendment right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment.

¶22III.

¶23Strickler next claims that he was denied his right of access to the courts both because the law library at Portsmouth City Jail is inadequate and because he was allowed inadequate access to the library. *1383“[T]he fundamental constitutional right of access .to the courts requires prison authorities to assist inmates in the preparation and filing of meaningful legal papers by providing prisoners with adequate law libraries or adequate assistance from persons trained in the law.” Bounds v. Smith, 430 U.S. 817, 828, 97 S.Ct. 1491, 1498, 52 L.Ed.2d 72 (1977). For two independent reasons, Strickler’s claim of inadequate access to the courts also fails.

¶24A.

¶25First, like the plaintiff in Magee v. Waters, 810 F.2d 451, 452-53 (4th Cir.1987), Strickler, who was only temporarily confined at Portsmouth, has alleged “no specific problem he wished to research and ... no actual injury or specific harm which has resulted to him by his limited access to the jail library or its limited contents.” 10

¶26Strickler contends generally that with better facilities he would have filed a habeas corpus petition earlier and thus “would be able to be nearing freedom of a high chance of Potenetially [sic] free. at this time.” J.A. at 83. Such a vague and con-clusory allegation does not state the kind of specific injury or prejudice to .his litigation sufficient to survive summary judgment,11 if it could be said to state an injury at all. Cf. Chandler, 926 F.2d at 1063 (“Indeed, the delay of little more than two weeks in initiating a proceeding that he delayed pursuing for a further year and that ultimately would take two-and-a-half years to reach final judgment in the district court is inconsequential.”). Strickler claims for the first time in his reply brief before this court that his failure to properly name in his complaint the Director of the Virginia Department of Corrections “may have been avoidable if a library was available,” Reply Br.. at 8 (emphasis added). This post hoc claim, which is not only con-clusory, but speculative, is likewise insufficient to show the actual injury required to survive summary judgment.12

¶27Strickler attempts to distinguish Magee, and thereby to avoid its requirement of a showing of harm, on the ground *1384that he was confined at Portsmouth for approximately six months, whereas Magee was confined for only twenty-nine days. Even assuming this difference in the length of temporary confinement in a local jail is of significance on the threshold question of whether an inmate has a constitutional access-to-courts claim, see infra Part III.B, we decline to hold that this difference relieves Strickler of the basic requirement that he show specific harm or prejudice from the allegedly denied access.

¶28Strickler alternatively contends, on the asserted authority of Chandler, 926 F.2d at 1062-63, and Sowell, 941 F.2d at 34-35, that he should not be required to show actual prejudice to his litigation' and that prejudice must be assumed from the facts he alleges. We do not read either case as providing authority for Strickler’s claim. The observation in Chandler that an independent showing of injury should not be required where “prejudice inheres in the specific facts,” Chandler, 926 F.2d at 1063, is obiter dicta; the Eleventh Circuit specifically held in that case that the inmate had alleged only “minor and short-lived impediments to access” and thus was required “to articulate facts indicating some prejudice such as being unable to do timely research on a legal problem or being procedurally or substantively disadvantaged in the prosecution of a cause of action.” Id. The First Circuit in Sowell did not even embrace the Chandler dicta that prejudice.necessarily inheres' in some facts. Indeed, as if to discourage reliance upon the Chandler observation in its circuit, it suggested (also in dicta) only that “[a]n absolute denial of access to all legal materials, like an absolute denial of access to a law library or other basic form of legal assistance, might be deemed inherently prejudicial.” 941 F.2d at 35. The court refused to infer prejudice to the prisoner before it because he had not alleged “such an unqualified deprivation.” Id.

¶29Strickler’s contention that he need show no injury merely because he has alleged denial of the “core” Bounds requirements of an adequate library and access thereto arguably does find support in Sands v. Lewis, 886 F.2d 1166, 1171 (9th Cir.1989). There, in purported reliance upon Peterkin v. Jeffes, 855 F.2d 1021, 1041 (3d Cir.1988),13 the Ninth Circuit arguably held that there is no “actual injury” requirement where a prisoner alleges violation of one of the “core” requirements of Bounds, such as access to an adequate law library or legal assistance.14Sands, however, has not been followed by any other circuit15— indeed, it has not consistently been followed even in the Ninth Circuit, see, e.g., *1385Johnson v. Moore, 948 F.2d 517 (9th Cir.1991) (rejecting library adequacy and access claims because prisoner “failed to demonstrate that these restrictions in any way handicapped his access to the courts”) — and we decline to follow it in this circuit. Bounds did not hold that there is a right of access to a law library; it held that there is a right of access to the courts. It does not inexorably follow from the fact that an institution’s library is inadequate or that access to that library is restricted, as Sands presupposes, that the prisoner was denied access to the courts. He may never have wished or attempted to access the courts, or he may have successfully gained • access to them despite the library’s inadequacy. In such circumstances, where the plaintiff has been accorded his right of access to the courts, we are simply without authority to adjudicate an abstract complaint about the library’s adequacy or his access to the library. As Judge Easter-brook has written:

A demonstration of inability to present a legal claim is an essential ingredient of a suit such as this because the prisoner must be able to show that the rules interfered with his entitlement (access to the courts) rather than with a mere instrument for vindicating an entitlement (access to books). When a prisoner who has had full access nonetheless contends that the law library services are not adequate, he is making a contention that only affects third parties, and thus inviting us to overstep the bounds of judicial authority. It is as if a prisoner who always has received adequate medical care files a suit contending that the prison’s physicians are not adequately trained, that the infirmary is poorly.equipped, and so on. Such shortfalls might cause harm, but unless they have worked to the plaintiff’s detriment he is not the right person to protest them.

¶30DeMallory v. Cullen, 855 F.2d 442, 452 (7th Cir.1988) (dissenting).16

¶31B.

¶32Even if Strickler could make out a claim of actual injury, his claim would nevertheless fail because he has not shown that the law library at Portsmouth Jail, a local facility intended to house inmates for short periods only, is constitutionally inadequate, or that his access to that library was unconstitutionally restricted.

¶33The Portsmouth Jail library includes sets of the Virginia Code, the United States Code, and Corpus Juris Secundum. Additionally, it is undisputed that “[fjurther research materials, including state and federal reporters[,] may be made available to inmates from the Portsmouth Circuit Court library upon request.” J.A. at 61. Strick-ler maintains, however, that “[t]he absence of any case reporters in the Portsmouth Jail law library should, without more, compel reversal of the district court’s grant of summary judgment.” Appellant’s Br. at 23. We disagree.

¶34The Supreme Court has never directly addressed whether the right of access to the courts applies at all to inmates in local jails. Thus, it may be that a local jail designed to accommodate inmates for relatively short periods is under no obligation *1386to provide access to the courts. See Williams v. Leeke, 584 F.2d 1336, 1344 n. 1 (4th Cir.1978) (Hall, J., concurring 'in part and dissenting in part) (“I would not impose any institutional duty upon jail facilities which are not primarily used for the long-term incarceration of persons who are otherwise without counsel”), cert. denied, 442 U.S. 911, 99 S.Ct. 2825, 61 L.Ed.2d 276 (1979); see also Penland v. Warren County Jail, 797 F.2d 332, 335 (6th Cir.1986) (With respect to the rights of visitation and access to the courts, “the measures that are achievable in larger institutions may not be reasonable in the smallest of local jails.”); Cruz v. Hauck, 515 F.2d 322, 333 (5th Cir.1975) (“[I]n determining whether all inmates have adequate access to the courts, the district court need not consider those inmates whose confinement is of a very temporary nature or for purposes of transfer to other institutions”), cert. denied, 424 U.S. 917, 96 S.Ct. 1118, 47 L.Ed.2d 322 (1976). We have held, however, that at least jail inmates serving substantial sentences in local facilities must be afforded access to the courts. Williams v. Leeke, 584 F.2d at 1340-41. But even assuming that Strickler was confined for a period of sufficient length that he had a vested right of access to the courts, we do not believe that he was deprived of that right.

¶35A local facility need not provide the same resources, much less the same quality or extent of resources, as must a state facility, because the expectation is that its occupants will be confined there only briefly and‘that they will have access to more extensive resources upon arrival at a state correctional facility. See Williams v. Leeke, 584 F.2d at 1340 (“We should not be understood to say that every small jail must have a law library_”); Morrow v. Harwell, 768 F.2d 619, 624 (5th Cir.1985) (“Of course, the number of inmates at a given facility who are there long enough to have Bounds rights is important to what the defendant must do to remedy the violation. With only a few nontransient inmates, for example, judicial access can be met with much less than otherwise.”).17 Whether or not it is true therefore that, to pass constitutional muster, a law library at a state prison must include at least some case reporters, we are satisfied that no such constitutional requirement exists with respect to local jails.

¶36Through Corpus Juris Secundum, a prisoner can obtain a general overview of the law and of specific areas of law relevant to him as a prisoner, as well as knowledge of the elements of and facts necessary to plead particular causes of action. By studying the United States Code and Virginia Code, he can learn of the specific federal and state statutes and constitutional provisions on the authority of which he might be able to secure relief. And by canvassing the various annotations and comments in these volumes, he can glean the theories upon which relief has actually been granted or denied in the federal and state courts and identify by name and citation the authorities that might support his expected causes of action. These resources are more than adequate to permit an inmate to explore possible theories of relief, determine the facts that must be present to make out claims under any available theories, and to frame pleadings before the federal or state courts should he wish to do so. Certainly when coupled with the meaningful access to additional materials that was available upon request through the Portsmouth library call system, there can be no question that the resources available to Strickler were sufficient, see Bounds, 430 U.S. at 832, 97 S.Ct. at 1500 (“[A] legal access program need not include any particular element we have discussed, and we encourage local experimentation. Any plan, however, must be evaluated as a whole_”), especially giv*1387en the liberal pleading rules and the solicitude with which pro se pleadings are considered, see, e.g., Eakins v. Reed, 710 F.2d 184, 186 (4th Cir.1983); Gordon v. Leeke, 574 F.2d 1147, 1152-53 (4th Cir.), cert. denied, 439 U.S. 970, 99 S.Ct. 464, 58 L.Ed.2d 431 (1978); see also infra Part IV.B.18

¶37Finally, Strickler maintains that his access to the library was unconstitutionally “restricted to once a week at best for an hour and at times once in five weeks for an hour.” J.A. at 18. In Magee, we left little doubt as to our view that access to a library of one hour a week for a temporary occupant of a city jail who, like Strickler was awaiting transfer to a state facility, satisfied constitutional requirements, see 810 F.2d at 452, and we have no reason to reconsider that judgment here. Moreover, we are unwilling to conclude that Strickler’s inability on a few occasions to have access to the library more frequently than once in five weeks deprived him of his right of access to the courts. “[T]he adequacy of access cannot be measured by mere calculation, ... [T]he question to be decided is whether a particular plan insures meaningful access to the courts.” Williams v. Leeke, 584 F.2d at 1340 n. 2. Here, during periods when he was unable directly to gain access to the library, Strickler was able to receive legal materials from the Portsmouth Circuit Court library upon request, which he could review in his cell or elsewhere at his own convenience and for as long as he wished. This continuous ability to obtain legal materials ensured that in the interim between library visits Strickler was afforded meaningful access to the courts.19

¶38IV.

¶39Strickler makes three additional claims, all of which we reject.

¶40A.

¶41Strickler claims first that his involuntary exposure before female penal officers violated his constitutional rights. Though convicted prisoners necessarily forfeit many of their constitutional rights by virtue of their confinement, see Wolfish, 441 U.S. at 545, 99 S.Ct. at 1877, we have held that, when not reasonably necessary, exposure of a prisoner’s genitals to members of the opposite sex violates his constitutional rights, see Lee v. Downs, 641 F.2d 1117, 1119 (4th Cir.1981). Because Sheriff Waters cannot be held vicariously liable for any conduct of his subordinates, see, e.g., Fisher v. Washington Metro. Area Transit Auth., 690 F.2d 1133, 1142 (4th Cir.1982), Strickler must show “that conduct directly causing the deprivation was done to effectuate an official policy or custom for which [the Sheriff] was responsible,” id. at 1143. The evidence proffered by Strickler does not satisfy this requirement.

¶42Strickler maintains that he was exposed to female officers in the “back office” area, where prisoners housed in the basement shower and where those entering and leaving the jail are strip searched, dress, and use the toilet. In addition, he claims that he was routinely exposed to female officers who patrolled the cellblock. It is conceded by defendants that female officers work in the back room and patrol the cellblock. However, it is undisputed that curtains conceal the male prisoners while they shower, J.A. at 137, and that the female guards *1388cannot observe the male prisoners from the waist down during strip searches because of a counter in the back room that obscures their view, id. (Strip searches are conducted by members of the same sex only.) Nor did Strickler contest below that prison officials make efforts to ensure that female officers walk the cellblock only at regular intervals so that their appearance may be to some extent anticipated. Id. at 136; see also id. at 15 ("[Fjemale deputies walk thru [sic] the male cellblocks to deliver mail or escort medical personal [sic] or maintenance persons.").20

¶43Strickler cannot on these facts make out •a claim that his exposure was "done to effectuate an official policy or custom for which [the Sheriff] was responsible." It is clear not only that Strickler has not been unreasonably exposed to persons of the opposite sex, Hudson v. Goodlander, 494 F.Supp. 890, 891 (D.Md.1980) ("[N]either an inadvertent encounter nor a regularly scheduled visit by a female employee at an announced time ... rise{s] to the level of a constitutional deprivation."), but also that Portsmouth officials have taken measured precautions to prevent the unreasonable exposure of prisoners' genitals to members of the opposite sex.

¶44B.

¶45Strickler next contends that the district court erred in dismissing his complaint against the State of Virginia. Strickler had claimed that the differing conditions at state and local jails violated his Fourteenth Amendment right to equal protection.21 As neither the Commonwealth of Virginia nor its Department of Corrections is a proper party to a section 1983 suit, however, see Will v. Michigan Dep't of State Police, 491 U.S. 58, 71 (1989) ("We hold that neither a State nor its officials acting in their official capacities are `persons' under § 1983."), the district court granted the state's motion to dismiss.

¶46 Strickler first argues that the district court abused its discretion in denying Strickler's motion to add the Director of the Virginia Department of Corrections as a defendant. Shortly after filing his original complaint, Strickler amended it by adding as a defendant the "State of Virginia and the Dept [sic] of Corrections in particular." J.A. at 18. Much later, about fifteen months after the original complaint was filed-after he had already once amended his complaint and six days before the district court filed its memorandum opinion-Strickler filed a "Motion to Show Special Injury," which the district court construed as a motion to amend the complaint to include the Director. In its memorandum opinion, the district court denied this motion because the "case ha[d] matured to the point that granting the motion would result in needless delay." Id. at 126 n. 2. We cannot conclude that under the circumstances the district court abused its discretion in denying Strickler's motion. In the interests of fairness to parties whose joinder is sought and the expeditious resolution of disputes, district courts must be given increasing latitude as the proceedings before them progress to deny motions seeking to add parties.

¶47Alternatively, Strickler argues that the district court erred in not directing the addition of the Director as a defendant. In Gordon v. Leeke, 574 F.2d at 1152-53, we held that:

*1389A district court is not required to act as an advocate for a pro se, litigant; but when such a litigant .has alleged a cause of action which may be meritorious •against a person or persons unknown, the district court should afford him a reasonable opportunity to determine the ■ correct person or persons against whom, the claim is asserted, advise him how to proceed and direct or permit amendments of the pleadings to bring that person or persons before the court.

¶48We subsequently explained that included in the Gordon v. Leeke responsibility “to ensure that technical problems of pleading, and practice and joinder” do not prevent prosecution of pro se suits “is the duty, when it becomes apparent to the district court that a governmental official not named in the complaint is legally responsible for the challenged decision, to inform the pro se complainant of his right to join that official as a defendant....” Eakins, 710 F.2d at 186. We of course remain cautious not to “transform the district court from its legitimate advisory role to the improper role of an advocate seeking out the strongest arguments and most successful strategies for a party.” Beaudett v. Hampton, 775 F.2d 1274, 1278 (4th Cir.1985), cert. denied, 475 U.S. 1088, 106 S.Ct. 1475, 89 L.Ed.2d 729 (1986); see also id. at 1276 (“Though {pro se] litigants cannot, of course, be expected to frame legal issues with the clarity and precision ideally evident in the work of those trained in law, neither can district courts be required to conjure up and decide issues never fairly presented to them.”).

¶49Given that there were at least facially three independent defects in Strickler’s claim that he had been denied equal protection, we cannot conclude that it should have been apparent to the district court that the Director was a proper party defendant, or that, even had it been apparent, the district court was under a duty to name the Director as a defendant. First, absent a right to have been housed in a state facility during the time he was confined at Portsmouth, a right that Strickler did not and almost surely could not allege (and one that the State of Virginia does not believe he has, see Va.Code Ann. § 53.1-20), he was not similarly situated for equal protection purposes with state prisoners in state facilities, and therefore his claim necessarily would have failed.

¶50Second, even had he been similarly situated, it is highly improbable at best that Strickler could have shown that the difference in treatment of state prisoners such as Strickler with pending local charges and those without such charges serving their sentences in state correctional facilities was not rationally related to a legitimate state purpose. See, e.g., Moss v. Clark, 886 F.2d 686, 689-90. (4th Cir.1989) (no equal protection violation where District of Columbia statute governing award of good time credits applied only to D.C: prisoners held in D.C: facilities) (citing McGinnis v. Royster, 410 U.S. 263, 93 S.Ct. 1055, 35 L.Ed.2d 282 (1973), in which the Court rejected an equal protection challenge to New York’s practice of awarding good time credits based on presentence incarceration in county jails); Kersh v. Bounds, 501 F.2d 585, 588 (4th Cir.1974) (no equal protection violation where, unlike state prisoners held in state facilities, prisoners convicted of state offenses but temporarily held in county facilities were denied unnecessary medical care), cert. denied, 420 U.S. 925, 95 S.Ct. 1120, 43 L.Ed.2d 394 (1975); Hill v. Hutto, 537 F.Supp. 1185, 1189 (E.D.Va.1982) (finding equal protection violation where state prisoners were held in local jail because of lack of space at state facilities but cautioning that “this holding does not limit in any way the [Virginia Department of Correction’s] power to vary conditions of confinement on the basis of a rational classification system”). Indeed, “Strickler does not dispute the state’s interest in retaining the option to keep prisoners in local facilities pending resolution of local charges,” Reply Br. at 14, a concession of rational purpose for differential treatment that would appear fatal to Strickler’s equal protection claim.

¶51Finally, the Director, who was not amenable to suit in his official capacity, see Will, supra, almost surely would have effectively mounted a qualified immunity defense in his personal capacity. See Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 815-19, 102 *1390S.Ct. 2727, 2736-39, 73 L.Ed.2d 396 (1982). In light of authority such as Moss and Kersh, and Strickler’s concession of a rational basis for housing him at Portsmouth, we cannot conclude that he alleged a violation of clearly established law of which a reasonable official would have known.

¶52G.

¶53Finally, Strickler challenges the district court’s dismissal of his complaint against the City of Portsmouth on the grounds that under Virginia law, the Sheriff has been granted independent authority to establish policies and procedures for the Sheriff’s department. See Himple v. Moore, 673 F.Supp. 758, 759 (E.D.Va.1987) (“Under Virginia law, the Sheriff has been granted the authority to make policy for the Sheriff’s Department, not for the County. Thus, while local governmental entities may be held liable under § 1983, the County is not the proper party here.”); Sherman v. City of Richmond, 543 F.Supp. 447, 449 (E.D.Va.1982) (“Neither the City of Richmond nor the Commonwealth of Virginia is responsible for the actions of the Sheriff of the City of Richmond.... As a [state] constitutional officer, the Sheriff serves independent of the municipal or county government and independent of the State government.”). . Strickler concedes that it may be “generally true that a Sheriff under Virginia law is granted independent authority to establish policies and procedures for the Sheriff’s Department.” Appellant’s Br. at 34. He argues nonetheless that Va.Code Ann. § 15.1-257 (imposing upon City of Portsmouth “costs [of a jail] and of the land on which [it] may be, and of keeping the same in good order”), exposes the city to municipal liability under Monell v. Department of Social Servs., 436 U.S. 658, 98 S.Ct. 2018, 56 L.Ed.2d 611 (1978). We do not agree.

¶54Under Monell, a municipality may be liable for the acts of its employees “when execution of a government’s policy or custom, whether made by its lawmakers or by those whose edicts or acts may fairly be said to represent official policy, inflicts the injury.” Id. at 694, 98 S.Ct. at 2037; see also Pembaur v. City of Cincinnati, 475 U.S. 469, 483, 106 S.Ct. 1292, 1300, 89 L.Ed.2d 452 (1986) (“[Wjhether an official had final policymaking authority is a question of state law.”). The City. of Portsmouth is not liable under section 1983 for the actions of its Sheriff in the administration of its jail, because under the law of Virginia those actions do not embody an official policy of the City of Portsmouth. That the city apparently is charged with keeping the jail “in good order” in no way alters this conclusion. The cited statute at most obligates the city to provide for the jail’s physical plant, not to oversee the activities within. ■ Accordingly, the district court properly . dismissed Strickler’s complaint against the . City of Portsmouth.

¶55CONCLUSION

¶56For the reasons stated, the judgment of the district court is affirmed.

¶57AFFIRMED.