Richard Blaisdell v. C. Frappiea

We must decide whether an inmate engaged in constitutionally protected activity when he served a prison official with a summons and complaint on another inmate’s behalf.

I

A

The State of Hawaii contracts with the Corrections Corporation of America (“CCA”) to house some of its prisoners within the Saguaro Correctional Center, a privately operated prison in Eloy, Arizona. Richard Blaisdell is one of those inmates. On April 23, 2008, Blaisdell visited Christina Frappiea—the prison’s Classification Supervisor—to ask her to notarize a document for a new lawsuit he planned to file against the prison. This was not Blaisdell’s first attempt at litigation. He had filed at least three lawsuits against the prison and its officers since 2007. Frappiea notarized the document.

As soon as Frappiea had finished, Blais-dell announced that she had been “served” and handed her a summons and complaint in a federal civil Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO”) suit prepared by another prisoner: Anthony Gouveia. Blaisdell had agreed to serve process as a favor to Gouveia and was not a party to his lawsuit. The suit against Frappiea concerned her apparent unwillingness…