United States Second Circuit

In a 42 U.S.C. section 1983 action claiming that plaintiff-inmate was improperly labeled as a sex offender in violation of the Due Process Clause, summary judgment for plaintiff is reversed where: 1) while it may be the case that, in certain circumstances, misclassification as a sex offender results in "stigma plus," this possibility was of no particular assistance to plaintiff because he did not establish a threshold requirement -- the existence of a reputation-tarnishing statement that was false; and 2) because current regulations did not prohibit prison officials from considering acquitted conduct when assigning a needs score, they did not support the existence of a liberty interest.

Appellate Information

• Decided 03/02/2010
• Published 03/02/2010

Judges

Court

• United States Second Circuit

Counsel