Sosa v. Robinson

Citations

• 200 Conn. App. 264

Syllabus

The plaintiff inmate appealed to this court from the summary judgment rendered by the trial court in favor of the defendant D, a commissary operator at the correctional facility in which the plaintiff was incarcer- ated. The plaintiff brought an action against D in his individual and official capacities, claiming under federal law (42 U.S.C. § 1983) that D violated his rights under the first amendment by denying his application to work in the prison commissary in retaliation for claims the plaintiff previously had filed against other Department of Correction employees. The plaintiff further alleged that D discriminated against him on the basis of race in employment assignments and violated the takings clause of the fifth amendment by misappropriating from inmate trust accounts the interest earned on inmates' Social Security benefits. The plaintiff had been employed in the prison commissary in 2006 until he was given a disciplinary citation and his employment was terminated, which he did not dispute. More than seven years later, he applied for an assignment in the commissary, but was denied by D because of the prior termination. At the time the plaintiff's application was denied, the prison had a written policy that provided that, for an inmate to be eligible to work in the commissary, he must have not been previously terminated from a com- missary position. The trial court dismissed the first two counts of the plaintiff's complaint, in which he sought money damages and injunctive and declaratory relief against D in his individual capacity. The court concluded that it lacked subject matter jurisdiction because sovereign immunity barred those claims. The court rendered summary judgment on the plaintiff's remaining claims because he failed to exhaust his administrative remedies under the Prison Litigation Reform Act (42 U.S.C. § 1997e (a)) or to seek permission from the Claims Commissioner, pursuant to statute (§§ 4-141 through 4-165) to sue the state. On appeal, the p