"Shoebomber" Richard Reid Loses Court Bid to Ease Restrictions

By Jeralyn, Section Terror Trials
Posted on Wed Jan 27, 2010 at 08:19:00 AM EST
Tags: Richard Reid, Supermax (all tags)

Share This: Digg!

A federal judge yesterday dismissed "Shoebomber" Richard Reid's civil lawsuit challenging the conditions of his confinement at Supermax.

(Note: This is an extremely long post because while I don't want to post all the pleadings directly, I think many people who are curious about what life is like at Supermax will be interested in reading the description contained in affidavits by BOP officials in this lawsuit.)

Back in June, I wrote about Richard Reid's lawsuit challenging SAMS's restrictions and noted the Government in a pleading stated the SAMS would not be renewed.

In December, I noted the SAMS had been lifted, Reid had been moved to general population at Supermax, but was still fighting to be able to take Arabic correspondence courses and have greater media access. Reuters has more here. [More...]

For the first 6 1/2 years of his sentence, Reid was confined 23 hours a day in Supermax to a 75.5-square-foot (7-square meter) cell and had virtually no contact with the outside world beyond his lawyers and immediate family members.

Now he can talk with other inmates without monitoring, order books and magazines with prison approval, receive non-family visits and speak with the media.

Reid's lawsuit was filed while he was still subject to SAMS. The Government, in later pleadings, argued his lawsuit should be dismissed as moot because he's no longer subject to SAMS.

Some other benefits of not being subject to Sams:

... increased cell space with an in-cell shower; increased access to recreation and commissary items; and the opportunity to complete Step-Down Unit program directed to eventual transfer to a different institution

Reid has filed all of his pleadings pro se, they are handwritten.

Yesterday the court agreed with the Government. But it dismissed the suit without prejudice, allowing him to refile based on grounds unrelated to SAMS. The Court's opinion is here (pdf). Magistrate Judge Tafoya writes: