UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
Filed 7/29/96
TENTH CIRCUIT
VIRGIL BROOKS,
Plaintiff - Appellant, No. 95-6046
v. W.D. Oklahoma
STATE OF OKLAHOMA; LARRY (D.C. No. CIV-93-1679-A)
FIELDS, Director, Oklahoma Department
of Corrections; and LOUIS BULLOCK,
Defendants - Appellees.
ORDER AND JUDGMENT*
Before ANDERSON, BARRETT, and MURPHY, Circuit Judges.
After examining the briefs and appellate record, this panel has determined
unanimously that oral argument would not materially assist the determination of this
appeal. See Fed. R. App. P. 34 (a); 10th Cir. R. 34.1.9. This cause is therefore ordered
submitted without oral argument.
*
This order and judgment is not binding precedent, except under the doctrines of
law of the case, res judicata, and collateral estoppel. The court generally disfavors the
citation of orders and judgments; nevertheless, an order and judgment may be cited under
the terms and conditions of 10th Cir. R. 36.3.
Virgil Brooks, an inmate incarcerated by the Oklahoma Department of Corrections
(“DOC”), brings this pro se action seeking relief for alleged constitutional violations and
related wrongs based on his conditions of confinement. Brooks names as defendants the
state of Oklahoma, DOC director Larry Fields, and Louis Bullock, class counsel for state
inmates in Battle v. Fields, No. 72-95-C (E.D. Okla.). The district court granted summary
judgment to each defendant. We affirm.
Brooks’ complaint alleges that the defendants have kept him from “benefiting
equally” under state law, subjected him to multiple health hazards, refused to comply with
and conspired to prevent compliance with the orders in Battle, denied him adequate legal
help, interfered with his mail and denied him phone privileges, and provided ineffective
assistance of class counsel -- all in violation of the First, Fifth, Eighth, and Fourteenth
Amendments and in contravention of court orders in Battle. A liberal reading of his
complaint shows that he also challenges as unconstitutional Oklahoma statutory law
governing prison overcrowding. Okla. Stat. Ann. tit. 57, §§ 570-576, 610-613.
Pursuant to an order from the district court, the state defendants submitted a report
reviewing the factual bases of Brooks’ claims. See R. Vol I, Tab 20. The report included
information about Brooks, directives and an affidavit from DOC personnel, copies of
DOC policies and procedures, inspection and maintenance reports, and similar materials.
Based on that report and two subsequent Reports and Recommendations from the
magistrate judge, the district court granted summary judgment for the state defendants on
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all claims. The court then granted summary judgment in favor of defendant Bullock,
again on recommendation from the magistrate judge.
On appeal, Brooks does not provide argument or authorities as to why the district
court erred in any of its determinations. See Brownlee v. Lear Siegler Management
Servs. Corp., 15 F.3d 976, 977-78 (10th Cir.), cert. denied, 114 S. Ct. 2743 (1994).
Rather, he refers us to the “records of case,” submits that the defendants confessed to his
allegations, and lists the citation for Farmer v. Brennan, 114 S. Ct. 1970 (1994). We have
carefully reviewed the record in this case, including the DOC report, Brooks’ sundry
responses thereto, the various Reports and Recommendations, and all other pleadings
below, as well as all relevant statutory and case law -- including Farmer v. Brennan. Our
de novo review convinces us that the district court properly granted summary judgment
against Brooks on all claims. Brooks’ responses to the government’s thorough,
documented factual showing consist of bare, general, conclusional allegations that fail to
raise a genuine issue of material fact on any claim. We agree with the district court and
the magistrate judge that the law entitles each of the defendants to a judgment, for
substantially the reasons set forth in the Reports and Recommendations of the magistrate
judge. See R. Vol. II, Tabs 27, 43, 57.
AFFIRMED.
ENTERED FOR THE COURT
Stephen H. Anderson
Circuit Judge
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