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Nebraska Prisoner's Transfer to Another Prison Was Lawful

Robert Hunt, a Nebraska state prisoner, is a Seventh Day Adventist. After nearly 20 years at the Nebraska State Penitentiary (NSP), he was transferred to the Tecumseh State Correctional Institute (TSCI) against his will. As a result he lost his job and single cell at NSP and suffered discomfort from shy bladder syndrome because he couldn't urinate with a cellmate present. It also cost more to telephone his family from TSCI, and he could not access Seventh Day Adventist religious services on T.V., as he had at NSP.

He filed suit in federal district court under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, claiming cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. He was subsequently transferred back to NSP, but wasn't given a single cell because he had to work his way up a lengthy list to get one.

The District Court recognized that Hunt hadn't provided expert testimony regarding his claimed shy bladder problems. Relying upon Rhodes v. Chapman, 452 U.S. 337, 101 S.Ct, 2392, 69 L.Ed.2d E9 (1991), the Court found that the U.S. Constitution doesn't "mandate comfortable prisons," and dismissed the case. See: Hunt v. Hopkins, USDC Neb., Case No. 4:05cv3113 (2006 WL 1877107) (unpublished).

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Related legal case

Hunt v. Hopkins