Background
Brian A. Veals, an inmate at the B.B. Rayburn Correctional Center in Louisiana, appealed the dismissal of his civil rights complaint under Section nineteen hundred eighty-three of Title forty-two of the United States Code. He alleged deliberate indifference to his serious medical needs and the opening of his legal mail outside his presence. Veals moved for leave to proceed in forma pauperis on this appeal.
The court’s reasoning
The court concluded that the deliberate indifference claims were prescribed because the suit was filed more than one year after Veals became aware of his claims, exceeding the applicable prescriptive period. Regarding the mail-opening claims, Veals did not challenge the district court’s conclusion that they failed to raise a cognizable constitutional issue, effectively abandoning any such challenge. The court found Veals had not shown a nonfrivolous issue for appeal, rendering the appeal lacking arguable merit.
What it means going forward
The dismissal of this appeal as frivolous counts as a strike under Section one thousand nine hundred fifteen of Title twenty-eight of the United States Code. If Veals accumulates three strikes, he will be barred from proceeding in forma pauperis in any future civil action or appeal while incarcerated unless he is under imminent danger of serious physical injury.