Brooks v. CDOC ( 2019 )


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  •                                                                                 FILED
    United States Court of Appeals
    UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS                        Tenth Circuit
    FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT                       February 5, 2019
    _________________________________
    Elisabeth A. Shumaker
    Clerk of Court
    JASON BROOKS,
    Plaintiff - Appellant,
    v.                                                         No. 18-1266
    (D.C. No. 1:17-CV-02190-CMA)
    COLORADO DEPARTMENT OF                                      (D. Colo.)
    CORRECTIONS; RICK RAEMISCH,
    CDOC Executive Director; TERESA
    REYNOLDS, CDOC Legal access
    program and litigation manager; LEEANN
    PUGA, FCF Law Librarian, and DOES 1-
    50; YVETTE BROWN, FCF Law
    Librarian; RICK RAEMISCH, Executive
    Director; JOEL STRICKLER, Hearings
    Officer and Lieutenant; MS. PRIETO, FCF
    Hearings Officer and Lieutenant; JAY
    HUDSON, Major at the FCF and ADA
    Inmate Coordinator; LEWIS T.
    BABCOCK, United States District Judge
    for the District of Colorado; GORDON P.
    GALLAGHER, United States Magistrate
    Judge for the District of Colorado; DOES
    11-50,
    Defendants - Appellees.
    _________________________________
    ORDER AND JUDGMENT*
    *
    After examining the briefs and appellate record, this panel has determined
    unanimously that oral argument would not materially assist in the determination of
    this appeal. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2); 10th Cir. R. 34.1(G). The case 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 This order and judgment is not binding
    precedent, except under the doctrines of law of the case, res judicata, and collateral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. It may be cited, however, for its persuasive value consistent with
    Fed. R. App. P. 32.1 and 10th Cir. R. 32.1.
    _________________________________
    Before McHUGH, BALDOCK, and O’BRIEN, Circuit Judges.
    _________________________________
    Jason Brooks, a state prisoner proceeding pro se, filed this action under
    
    42 U.S.C. § 1983
     alleging the Colorado Department of Corrections (CDOC) and various
    State and CDOC officials violated his constitutional rights by obstructing his access to
    the courts and taking other actions against him. The district court dismissed his claims
    under 
    28 U.S.C. § 1915
    (e) as legally frivolous and Brooks appealed. Exercising
    jurisdiction pursuant to 
    28 U.S.C. § 1291
    , we agree with the district court’s conclusion
    and dismiss this appeal as frivolous. Because the appeal is frivolous, we also deny
    Brooks’ motion to proceed in forma pauperis (IFP) on appeal and assess a “strike” under
    
    28 U.S.C. § 1915
    (g).
    BACKGROUND
    Brooks was a prisoner at the CDOC’s Fremont Correctional Facility (FCF)
    when he brought this action. He is an active pro se litigator who also assists fellow
    inmates with legal work. This is his ninth appeal to this court and his second appeal
    in this action.
    Brooks filed this action in September 2017, alleging in a four-page complaint
    that the CDOC, its executive director and legal access coordinator, an FCF law
    librarian, and 50 unidentified “John Does” were violating his and a fellow inmate’s
    First Amendment rights by obstructing their access to the courts and were retaliating
    2
    against Brooks for engaging in protected litigation activities.1 In a simultaneously
    filed motion for preliminary injunction, Brooks described the alleged obstruction and
    retaliation, asserted the FCF did not provide inmates with adequate access to the law
    library, and sought to enjoin enforcement of CDOC legal access and assistance
    policies he claimed were obstructing inmates’ constitutional right to access the
    courts.2 Brooks also requested that the district court order the defendants to vacate the
    discipline he received for violating CDOC policy by performing legal work for a fellow
    inmate without that inmate being present with him in the law library and to restore files
    the FCF librarian had deleted from his digital folder on the law library computer based on
    the challenged policies. The district court denied Brooks’ motion, initially and on
    reconsideration. Brooks appealed this denial, and we affirmed. See Brooks v. Colo.
    Dep’t of Corr., 730 F. App’x 628 (10th Cir. 2018).
    While Brooks’ motion for preliminary injunction was pending, the district court
    ordered Brooks to cure deficiencies in his complaint. It also granted Brooks’ request to
    proceed IFP, that is, without prepayment of the district court’s filing fees, under
    
    28 U.S.C. § 1915
    .
    1
    The complaint also identified Jamie Valdiviezo-Perea, an inmate Brooks was
    helping on a legal matter, as a co-plaintiff, but the district court dismissed him from
    the suit shortly after it was filed for failing to respond to the court’s orders. For ease
    of reference, we refer to Brooks as the plaintiff in this action from its inception.
    2
    According to Brooks, the challenged policies require inmates to be present in
    the law library together if they wish to collaborate on legal work, require them to consent
    to have librarians read their legal documents if they wish to use the library’s
    word-processing software, and place restrictions on the type and length of documents
    inmates can copy or print in the law library.
    3
    After receiving several extensions of time, Brooks filed a 30-page amended
    complaint that named a dozen additional defendants, including two state court judges, but
    was incomplete on its face because, among other things, it did not include any claims for
    relief. In a simultaneously filed second motion for preliminary injunction, Brooks
    explained his amended complaint was incomplete because FCF library staff, per CDOC
    policy, had only permitted him to print 30 pages of his 70-page complaint.3 He requested
    that the district court order the CDOC to allow him to print and file his complete
    amended complaint, and detailed the twelve claims it included.
    After reviewing the incomplete amended complaint and Brooks’ intended claims
    as set forth in his preliminary injunction motion, the district court ordered Brooks to file a
    second amended complaint that complied with federal pleading requirements, was on the
    proper court-approved form and, per the court’s instructions on that form, was no longer
    than 30 pages in length. It also denied Brooks’ preliminary injunction motion and
    overruled his subsequent objection to the 30-page limit on his complaint.
    Brooks filed a second amended complaint that complied with the 30-page
    requirement. In it, he asserted eight claims relating to legal access issues against the
    CDOC, eight individual State, CDOC, and FCF officials (collectively, “individual
    State defendants”), and John Does, as well as a claim against the federal magistrate
    and district court judges alleging they had unconstitutionally deprived him of court
    access and equal protection by limiting the length of his complaint. Brooks sought
    3
    Brooks later reported his intended complaint was 72 pages.
    4
    compensatory and punitive damages and declaratory and injunctive relief on his
    claims.
    Because it had granted Brooks IFP status, the district court reviewed Brooks’
    complaint to determine if it was frivolous or otherwise required dismissal under
    
    28 U.S.C. § 1915
    (e)(2)(B). Based on this review, the district court dismissed Brooks’
    seven federal claims because they were legally frivolous and, in some cases, were
    also barred by Eleventh Amendment immunity. It further declined to exercise
    supplemental jurisdiction over Brooks’ two state law conspiracy claims and therefore
    dismissed his complaint. The district court also denied Brooks leave to proceed IFP
    on appeal and certified under § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal would not be taken in good
    faith. Brooks timely appealed and also seeks leave to proceed IFP on appeal.4
    DISCUSSION
    On appeal, Brooks challenges the district court’s orders limiting his second
    amended complaint to 30 pages and its dismissal of certain of his claims. We address
    each issue in turn.
    A. Page Limitation
    Brooks argues the district court improperly enforced CDOC’s 30-page printing
    limitation against him and violated his constitutional right to access the courts when it
    directed him to file a second amended complaint of no more than 30 pages. He asserts
    4
    Because the district court dismissed Brooks’ second amended complaint
    before it was served, the defendants did not participate in the district court
    proceedings and are not participants in this appeal.
    5
    there is no rule or authority supporting a page limit on a complaint and that he was
    prejudiced because the court-ordered page limit forced him to drop several of his
    intended claims and omit allegations that would have prevented the court from dismissing
    his remaining claims.
    We review a court-ordered page limitation for abuse of discretion, see Timmerman
    v. U.S. Bank, N.A., 
    483 F.3d 1106
    , 1112 (10th Cir. 2007), and conclude the district court
    acted well within its discretion in ordering Brooks to limit his second amended complaint
    to 30 pages. The basis for its order was the court’s local rules governing the format and
    length of complaints filed by unrepresented prisoners asserting claims under § 1983. See
    D. Colo. Civ. R. 5.1(c) (ordering unrepresented prisoners to use “the procedures, forms,
    and instructions posted on the court’s website” in formatting and filing pleadings). As
    the district court advised Brooks, see R. Vol. I at 43, the instructions to the form
    complaint on the district court’s website provide that “[a]bsent prior order of the court,
    the total length of the Prisoner Complaint, including the form and all additional pages,
    may not exceed thirty pages.” Information and Instructions for Filing a Prisoner
    Complaint, http://www.cod.uscourts.gov/CourtOperations/RulesProcedures/Forms.aspx#
    PrisonerDetainee (link to “Prisoner Complaint 1983 Instructions”) (last visited
    February 1, 2019).
    The district court further found Brooks had failed to demonstrate good cause for
    an exception to the 30-page limitation. The district court based this conclusion on its
    findings that: (1) Brooks’ detailed statement of his intended claims in his preliminary
    injunction motion did not satisfy Rule 8’s requirement that he provide a short and plain
    6
    statement of each claim showing he was entitled to relief, see Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a); and
    (2) these claims, which addressed such disparate subjects as prison law library policies
    and procedures, prison disciplinary proceedings, state court postconviction proceedings,
    medical care, and a prison job assignment, were not properly joined in a single lawsuit
    against all of the named defendants, see Fed. R. Civ. P. 20(a)(2) (limiting circumstances
    in which multiple defendants can be joined in a single action). Based on our review of
    Brooks’ intended claims, we find no abuse of discretion in this determination and the
    district court’s consequent order requiring Brooks to comply with the 30-page limitation
    per the court’s local rules.
    We also reject Brooks’ constitutional challenge to the 30-page limitation ordered
    by the district court. First, Brooks cites no authority for the proposition that this page
    limit violated his constitutional rights and we are aware of none. Second, we are not
    persuaded by Brooks’ argument that the page limitation violated his right to access the
    courts because it prevented him from alleging specific facts sufficient to show that his
    claims stated a claim. Brooks’ 30-page second amended complaint still contains many
    repetitive and/or unnecessary allegations that could have been omitted to make room for
    other, more relevant factual allegations. Further, Brooks fails to identify the specific
    allegations he would have included but for the 30-page limit and how they would have
    cured the deficiencies that led the district court to dismiss his complaint. And, as
    discussed in more detail below, Brooks must show he was prejudiced by the 30-page
    limitation to demonstrate a violation of his right to access the courts. He has not done so.
    7
    Accordingly, Brooks’ constitutional challenge to the district court’s page limitation is
    meritless.
    B. Dismissal under § 1915(e)
    Brooks argues the district court erred in dismissing his claims that the
    defendants violated his constitutional right to access the courts and retaliated against
    him for engaging in protected activities.5 The district court dismissed these claims as
    legally frivolous for a variety of reasons, including that Brooks failed to allege
    essential elements of some claims, asserted non-existent rights in others, and in some
    instances asserted claims barred by Eleventh Amendment immunity.
    A claim is frivolous “where it lacks an arguable basis either in law or in facts.”
    Neitzke v. Williams, 
    490 U.S. 319
    , 325 (1989). This standard is met where the
    plaintiff asserts facts that do not support an arguable claim, asserts the violation of a
    legal interest that clearly does not exist, or asserts claims against which the
    defendants are clearly immune from suit. See 
    id. at 327-28
    . We review dismissals for
    frivolousness for abuse of discretion, but where, as here, the district court’s frivolousness
    5
    Brooks does not offer argument challenging the district court’s dismissal of
    Claim Four, a Fourteenth Amendment failure to train and supervise claim against
    certain individual State defendants and unidentified John Does, and Claim Eight, in
    which he alleged the magistrate judge and district court judge violated his
    constitutional rights. He also did not challenge the district court’s decision declining
    to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over the conspiracy claims asserted in Claims
    Six and Seven. Accordingly, Brooks has forfeited appellate review of the district
    court’s dismissal of these claims. See Bronson v. Swensen, 
    500 F.3d 1099
    , 1104
    (10th Cir. 2007) (“[T]he omission of an issue in an opening brief generally forfeits
    appellate consideration of that issue.”).
    8
    determinations turn on legal issues, we review those decisions de novo. See Conkle v.
    Potter, 
    352 F.3d 1333
    , 1335 n.4 (10th Cir. 2003); see also El Encanto, Inc. v. Hatch
    Chile Co., 
    825 F.3d 1161
    , 1162 (10th Cir. 2016) (“[A] district court always abuses its
    discretion when it errs on a legal question, and we decide the presence or absence of legal
    error de novo.”). We construe Brooks’ filings liberally in our review because he is acting
    pro se, but we will not act as his advocate. See Hall v. Bellmon, 
    935 F.2d 1106
    , 1110
    (10th Cir. 1991).
    1. Eleventh Amendment immunity
    Brooks disputes the district court’s holding that some of his claims are barred by
    the Eleventh Amendment, which grants the States and their agencies immunity from suit
    in federal courts unless the State has waived this immunity or Congress has abrogated it.
    See Ellis v. Univ. of Kan. Med. Ctr., 
    163 F.3d 1186
    , 1195-96 (10th Cir. 1998). This
    immunity extends to damage claims asserted against state officials acting in their official
    capacity. See 
    id. at 1196
    . Brooks’ second amended complaint names eight individual
    State defendants, all of whom are sued in their official capacity, with six sued in their
    individual capacities as well. Brooks seeks damages in the eight claims he asserts against
    all or some of these defendants.
    The district court dismissed Brooks’ claims for damages against the CDOC and
    the individual State defendants in their official capacities on grounds of Eleventh
    Amendment immunity, as it has done in other § 1983 actions brought by Brooks. See,
    e.g., Brooks v. Colo. Dep’t of Corr., No. 13-CV-02894-CBS, 
    2014 WL 5315000
    , at *6
    (D. Colo. Oct. 17, 2014). Although Brooks challenges this decision, he offers no
    9
    supporting argument other than to declare that Eleventh Amendment immunity may be
    waived by a state or abrogated by Congress. But Colorado has not waived its immunity
    from prisoner civil rights actions, see Griess v. Colorado, 
    841 F.2d 1042
    , 1044-45
    (10th Cir. 1988) (per curiam), and Congress did not abrogate states’ Eleventh
    Amendment immunity in enacting § 1983, see Ellis, 163 F.3d at 1196. Brooks also
    declares he did not sue the individual State defendants for damages in their official
    capacities, but his complaint is not so limited. The district court properly determined the
    damages claims against the CDOC and individual State defendants in their official
    capacities are barred by Eleventh Amendment immunity and legally frivolous.
    2. Dismissal of court access and retaliation claims
    The district court concluded the remainder of Brooks’ court access and retaliation
    claims were legally frivolous and therefore subject to dismissal for a number of reasons.
    To affirm dismissal of these claims, we need only consider one of these reasons: the
    district court’s finding that Brooks failed to assert facts that state an arguable claim either
    because he failed to include essential allegations or asserted constitutional rights that do
    not exist.
    a. Standard of review
    In reviewing whether Brooks stated an arguable claim for denial of court access or
    retaliation we consider whether he has alleged facts sufficient to “state a claim to relief
    that is plausible on its face,” taking all of Brooks’ well-pleaded facts, but not conclusory
    10
    allegations, as true and construing them in the light most favorable to him.6 Ashcroft v.
    Iqbal, 
    556 U.S. 662
    , 678 (2009) (internal quotation marks omitted); Acosta v. Jani-King
    of Okla., Inc., 
    905 F.3d 1156
    , 1158 (10th Cir. 2018). “A claim has facial plausibility
    when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable
    inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” Iqbal, 
    556 U.S. at 678
    .
    A failure to state a claim is legally frivolous if the claim lacks an arguable basis in law.
    See Neitzke, 
    490 U.S. at 328
    .
    Brooks begins his challenge to the district court’s dismissal of these claims by
    arguing that the court improperly held him to a heightened pleading standard, pointing to
    the court’s direction that he needed to “make clear exactly who is alleged to have done
    what to whom, . . . as distinguished from collective allegations” for his § 1983 claims to
    pass muster. R. Vol. 1 at 45 (quoting Pahls v. Thomas, 
    718 F.3d 1210
    , 1225-26
    (10th Cir. 2013) (internal quotation marks omitted)). Brooks contends this is a summary
    judgment standard but in fact it is the standard by which we review complaints asserting
    § 1983 claims against multiple defendants, based on the Supreme Court’s guidance in
    Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 
    550 U.S. 544
     (2007). See, e.g., Kan. Penn Gaming, LLC
    v. Collins, 
    656 F.3d 1210
    , 1215 (10th Cir. 2011); Robbins v. Okla. ex rel. Dep’t of
    6
    Brooks asserts that our recitation of this standard of review in other appeals
    in which we reviewed Brooks’ pleadings indicates that we believe his complaints are
    well-pleaded and that he has mastered the federal pleading rules. Opening Br. at 17.
    He is mistaken. This is the standard of review we apply to determine the sufficiency
    of all pleadings and our statement of it does not connote that the pleadings in
    question are sufficient and otherwise comply with the federal rules.
    11
    Human Servs., 
    519 F.3d 1242
    , 1249-50 (10th Cir. 2008). The district court did not err in
    advising Brooks of this standard or applying it to his claims.
    b. Court access claims
    Brooks asserted four claims in which he alleged all or some of the defendants
    violated his constitutional right to access the courts in various ways. In the first and
    broadest of these claims, Brooks alleges CDOC’s legal access policies violate his First
    Amendment right to access the courts because they allow FCF to maintain an inadequate
    law library, limit inmate access to the library and to word processing, printing and
    copying equipment there, allow library staff to review inmate documents, and do not
    provide inmates with a reasonable means of helping each other with legal work. But as
    Brooks knows from our decision in his previous appeal in this case, see Brooks,
    730 F. App’x at 631-32, to state a claim for denial of the constitutional right of access to
    the courts he was required to allege more than that the prison library or legal access
    policies are “subpar in some theoretical sense.” Lewis v. Casey, 
    518 U.S. 343
    , 351
    (1996). To state this claim Brooks was required to allege “actual injury” to his right to
    access the courts, that is, to allege facts showing how the allegedly deficient law
    library and challenged CDOC policies impaired his ability to pursue a nonfrivolous
    claim. 
    Id. at 349, 351
    , 353 & n.3 (requiring that “the alleged shortcomings” actually
    hinder a prisoner’s “efforts to pursue a legal claim” that is not frivolous); Trujillo v.
    Williams, 
    465 F.3d 1210
    , 1226 (10th Cir. 2006) (holding prisoner must “show that any
    denial or delay of access to the court prejudiced him in pursuing litigation” (internal
    quotation marks omitted)).
    12
    Brooks did not sufficiently allege actual injury. His general allegations that he
    failed to prevail in his collateral attacks on his conviction and restitution order as a
    result of the challenged policies and their implementation by FCF staff are too vague
    and conclusory to state an arguable claim. He further suggested in his complaint that
    CDOC’s policies prevented him from timely challenging his criminal conviction, but
    not only did he fail to explain how the policies interfered with his ability to timely
    bring such claims, our review indicates that his federal habeas actions were actually
    denied on the merits or because Brooks failed to exhaust his remedies in state court.
    See, e.g., Brooks v. Archuleta, 621 F. App’x 921, 925-28 (10th Cir. 2015); Brooks v.
    Archuleta, 681 F. App’x 705, 706 (10th Cir.), cert. denied, 
    138 S. Ct. 132
     (2017).7
    Brooks’ allegation that he was unable to file “at least three different U.S. Supreme
    Court Certiorari briefs,” R. Vol. I at 54, also fails to allege actual injury because he
    again did not explain how the challenged policies and actions prevented him from
    filing these briefs or that the claims he wished to bring before the Supreme Court
    were nonfrivolous. See McBride v. Deer, 
    240 F.3d 1287
    , 1290 (10th Cir. 2001)
    (holding plaintiff failed to allege actual injury on similar grounds). Brooks contends the
    required specific allegations were included in his 72-page amended complaint, but we
    7
    To the extent Brooks is asserting that CDOC’s legal access policies
    prevented him from exhausting his claims in state court, he fails to explain in his
    second amended complaint or his other filings in the district court how this is so. We
    also observe, as we did in affirming the district court’s denial of Brooks’ motion for
    preliminary injunction, see Brooks, 730 F. App’x at 632, that the challenged CDOC
    policies have not prevented Brooks from presenting this court and the district court
    with lengthy and detailed arguments on the issues presented.
    13
    see the same failings in the incomplete version of his first amended complaint and the
    detailed account of the omitted portion of this complaint he provided in his second
    preliminary injunction motion. For these reasons, the district court properly found
    Brooks’ first court access claim was legally frivolous.
    Brooks also included two claims in his second amended complaint in which he
    alleged various defendants violated his First Amendment rights because FCF law
    librarians allegedly read legal documents he created and stored on FCF’s law library
    computers and deleted or required Brooks to delete some of these documents. The
    district court construed these claims as alleging interference with Brooks’ right to access
    the courts, and held they were frivolous because he again failed to allege specific facts
    describing any nonfrivolous legal claim he was unable to pursue as a result of the named
    defendants’ alleged actions. We agree.8
    Brooks’ final court access claim alleges certain defendants interfered with his
    constitutional right to work as a “jailhouse lawyer” for other inmates. The district court
    properly dismissed this claim as legally frivolous because our precedent establishes that
    Brooks has no such constitutional right. See Smith v. Maschner, 
    899 F.2d 940
    , 950
    (10th Cir. 1990); cf. Shaw v. Murphy, 
    532 U.S. 223
    , 231 (2001) (declining “to cloak the
    provision of legal assistance [by prisoners] with any First Amendment protection above
    8
    Brooks also asserted in one of these claims that the librarians’ actions violated
    his Fourth Amendment rights. The district court dismissed this claim for failure to state a
    claim, holding that prisoners do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in files
    contained on a prison library computer and hence cannot invoke the Fourth Amendment’s
    protection against unreasonable searches and seizures. Brooks does not challenge this
    decision on appeal and hence we do not address it. See Bronson, 
    500 F.3d at 1104
    .
    14
    and beyond the protection normally accorded prisoners’ speech” because “it is
    indisputable that inmate law clerks are sometimes a menace to prison discipline” (internal
    quotations omitted)).9
    Brooks also cites several Supreme Court decisions in support of his alleged
    constitutional right to provide legal assistance to other inmates but his reliance on these
    cases is misplaced. In Johnson v. Avery, 
    393 U.S. 483
     (1969), the Supreme Court did not
    address whether an inmate has a constitutional right to provide legal assistance to other
    inmates but rather whether a prison could absolutely bar inmates from providing this
    assistance. See 
    id. at 490
     (holding a prison may place reasonable restrictions on jailhouse
    lawyering but may not prevent an inmate from receiving assistance from other inmates in
    preparing petitions for post-conviction relief unless it provides reasonable alternatives to
    assist them). Similarly, in Bounds v. Smith, 
    430 U.S. 817
     (1977), the Court held only that
    a prison must assist inmates in the preparation and filing of meaningful legal papers in
    order not to infringe on each inmate’s constitutional right of access to the courts, while
    also recognizing that this assistance may take many forms. See 
    id. at 828, 830-32
    . The
    Court expanded on the limited nature of this holding in Lewis, 
    518 U.S. at 350-51
    ,
    leading us to inform Brooks in his previous appeal in this action:
    The right to access the courts does not . . . guarantee inmates “the right to a
    law library or to legal assistance,” but merely to “the means for ensuring a
    reasonably adequate opportunity to present claimed violations of
    fundamental constitutional rights to the courts.” . . . The right “guarantees
    no particular methodology but rather the conferral of a capability—the
    9
    To the extent Scott v. Coughlin, 
    344 F.3d 282
    , 288 (2d Cir. 2003), cited by
    Brooks, supports this proposition, it is contrary to the governing law in this circuit.
    See Smith, 
    899 F.2d at 950
    .
    15
    capability of bringing contemplated challenges to sentences or conditions
    of confinement before the courts.”
    Brooks, 730 F. App’x at 631 (quoting Lewis, 
    518 U.S. at 350-51, 356
     (internal quotation
    marks omitted)). Nothing in these decisions suggests a jailhouse lawyer such as Brooks
    has a constitutional right to provide the assistance these cases describe.
    c. Retaliation claim
    Brooks asserts the named defendants retaliated against him for acting as a
    jailhouse lawyer on behalf of another inmate, in violation of the First and Fourteenth
    Amendments.10 To state such a claim, Brooks was required to allege, among other
    things, that the defendants retaliated against him for engaging in a constitutionally
    protected activity. See Shero v. City of Grove, 
    510 F.3d 1196
    , 1203 (10th Cir. 2007).
    Brooks failed to state an arguable retaliation claim because, as just described, acting as a
    jailhouse lawyer is not a constitutionally protected activity. See Smith, 
    899 F.2d at 950
    .
    CONCLUSION
    We conclude the district court properly dismissed Brooks’ claims as frivolous and
    as a result this dismissal counts as a “strike” under 
    28 U.S.C. § 1915
    (g). See Jennings
    v. Natrona Cty. Det. Ctr. Med. Facility, 
    175 F.3d 775
    , 780 (10th Cir. 1999),
    overruled on other grounds by Coleman v. Tollefson, 
    135 S. Ct. 1759
    , 1763 (2015).
    We further conclude Brooks’ appeal is frivolous under § 1915(e)(2)(B)(i) and therefore
    dismiss this appeal and assess another strike. We remind Brooks that if he accrues
    10
    In his brief, Brooks also alleges the defendants retaliated against him for
    bringing this action, but this is not what he alleged in his complaint.
    16
    three strikes, he may not proceed IFP in civil actions before federal courts unless he
    is under imminent danger of serious physical injury. See 
    28 U.S.C. § 1915
    (g).
    Because his appeal is frivolous, we also deny Brooks’ motion to proceed IFP on appeal.
    See DeBardeleben v. Quinlan, 
    937 F.2d 502
    , 505 (10th Cir. 1991). Brooks is
    directed to make immediate payment of the unpaid balance of his filing fee.
    Entered for the Court
    Bobby R. Baldock
    Circuit Judge
    17