Williams v. Morton ( 2003 )


Menu:
  •                                                                                                                            Opinions of the United
    2003 Decisions                                                                                                             States Court of Appeals
    for the Third Circuit
    9-9-2003
    Williams v. Morton
    Precedential or Non-Precedential: Precedential
    Docket No. 02-3653
    Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.law.villanova.edu/thirdcircuit_2003
    Recommended Citation
    "Williams v. Morton" (2003). 2003 Decisions. Paper 236.
    http://digitalcommons.law.villanova.edu/thirdcircuit_2003/236
    This decision is brought to you for free and open access by the Opinions of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit at Villanova
    University School of Law Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in 2003 Decisions by an authorized administrator of Villanova
    University School of Law Digital Repository. For more information, please contact Benjamin.Carlson@law.villanova.edu.
    PRECEDENTIAL
    Filed September 9, 2003
    UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
    FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT
    No. 02-3653
    JAMES WILLIAMS;
    ISHMON STALLWORTH,
    Appellants
    v.
    WILLIS E. MORTON; J. BLACKSTONE;
    F. JONES; ROY L. HENDRICKS;
    WALTER WISE; FRANK GRAVES
    On Appeal from the United States District Court
    for the District of New Jersey
    (D.C. No. 98-cv-04310)
    District Judge: Hon. Garrett E. Brown, Jr.
    Argued June 26, 2003
    Before: SLOVITER, AMBRO, Circuit Judges, and
    TUCKER,* District Judge
    (Filed: September 9, 2003)
    Christopher J. Michie
    John Bellwoar (Argued)
    Dechert, Price & Rhoads
    Princeton, N.J. 08543
    Attorneys for Appellants
    * Hon. Petrese B. Tucker, United States District Court for the Eastern
    District of Pennsylvania, sitting by designation.
    2
    David Samson
    Attorney General of New Jersey
    David M. Ragonese (Argued)
    Deputy Attorney General of
    New Jersey
    Patrick DeAlmeida
    Deputy Attorney General of
    New Jersey
    Trenton, N.J. 08625
    Attorneys for Appellees
    OPINION OF THE COURT
    SLOVITER, Circuit Judge.
    Before us is the appeal by prisoners from the order of the
    District Court granting summary judgment to prison
    officials and employees as to the prisoners’ claims that their
    constitutional rights to the free exercise of religion and
    equal protection have been violated by the prison’s failure
    to provide them with meals they contend are required by
    their religious beliefs. We further consider whether the
    District Court abused its discretion by admitting the
    declaration and deposition testimony of a witness into the
    summary judgment record.
    I.
    BACKGROUND
    Plaintiffs Ishmon Stallworth and James Williams
    (“Prisoners”), inmates at the New Jersey State Prison
    (“NJSP”), filed suit against Willis E. Morton, Roy Hendricks,
    Walter Wise, and Frank Graves (“Prison Officials”), all of
    whom are either former or current NJSP officials, in the
    United States District Court for the District of New Jersey
    pursuant to 
    42 U.S.C. § 1983
    . The crux of Prisoners’ claims
    is that the Prison Officials violated their constitutional
    rights by failing to provide them with Halal meat meals in
    conformity with their religious beliefs. A Halal, or lawful,
    3
    diet includes fruits, vegetables, seafood, and meat from
    herbivorous animals such as cows and chickens that are
    properly slaughtered. The opposite of Halal food is Haram
    food, which is prohibited or unlawful and includes pork
    and meat from carnivorous animals. Halal foods can
    become contaminated if they are commingled with Haram
    items.
    Currently, the different diets provided by the NJSP fall
    into four general categories: (1) a regular meal which is
    served to approximately 600 inmates; (2) a series of health-
    related diets with low sodium, low cholesterol, and reduced
    calories which are served to about 350 inmates; (3) a
    Kosher diet that is provided to 4 Jewish inmates; and (4) a
    religious vegetarian diet served to approximately 225
    inmates who cannot eat the regular prison diet for religious
    reasons.1 The regulation creating the religious vegetarian
    meal reads:
    An inmate who cannot eat the food served to the
    general population because of the inmate’s religious
    beliefs may request a religious vegetarian diet. Upon
    review and approval of the request by the Chaplain of
    the correctional facility in accordance with this
    subchapter, nutritionally balanced vegetarian meals
    shall be provided to the inmate in place of the food
    served to the general population.
    N.J.A.C. § 10A:17-5.9
    On behalf of themselves and other Muslim inmates,
    Prisoners contend that, as applied, this regulation violates
    their sincerely held religious belief that they are required to
    consume Halal meat in their diet. Their complaint alleges
    that the Prison Officials violated their rights under the Free
    Exercise Clause of the First Amendment2 by not providing
    them with Halal meat and the Equal Protection Clause of
    1. The description of the various diets offered at NJSP comes from the
    deposition testimony of Lorenza Graves, the prison’s food service
    supervisor.
    2. The First Amendment provides that “Congress shall make no law
    respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise
    thereof . . .” U.S. Const. amend. I.
    4
    the Fourteenth Amendment3 by providing Kosher meals
    with meat to Jewish prisoners without providing Halal meat
    to Muslim inmates. They further claim that the Prison
    Officials violated their rights under the New Jersey
    Constitution    and    the     New    Jersey Law    Against
    Discrimination, 
    N.J. Stat. Ann. § 10:5-1
     et seq. Prisoners
    requested an injunction that would require the NJSP to
    include Halal meat in their diet and damages for the alleged
    violations of their constitutional rights.4
    Analyzing Prisoners’ constitutional claims under the four-
    part test enunciated by the Supreme Court in Turner v.
    Safley, 
    482 U.S. 78
     (1987), the District Court granted the
    Prison Officials’ motion for summary judgment.5 Prisoners
    timely appealed.
    II.
    DISCUSSION
    A.   Jurisdiction and Standard of Review
    We have jurisdiction to hear this appeal pursuant to 
    28 U.S.C. § 1291
    . We exercise plenary review over the District
    Court’s decision to grant summary judgment. DeHart v.
    Horn, 
    227 F.3d 47
    , 50 (3d Cir. 2000) (en banc). Summary
    judgment is appropriate only if there is no genuine issue of
    material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment
    as a matter of law. 
    Id.
     We must view all evidence and draw
    3. The Fourteenth Amendment reads in relevant part: “[N]or shall any
    State . . . deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection
    of the laws.” U.S. Const. amend. XIV.
    4. In their appellate brief, Prisoners refine their request as seeking “to
    compel NJSP to include Halal meat in at least some of the Halal meals
    provided Muslim prisoners.” Br. of Appellants at 8.
    5. It should be noted that the District Court denied the Prison Officials’
    summary judgment motion as to Prisoners’ claims that their First
    Amendment rights were violated by several past instances of
    contamination of their current vegetarian diet. However, Prisoners
    dismissed this claim in order to expedite their appeal of the claims
    denied by the District Court. Accordingly, this issue is not before us.
    5
    all inferences therefrom in the light most favorable to the
    nonmoving party, here Prisoners. 
    Id.
    B.   Free Exercise Claim
    As to their free exercise claim, Prisoners concede that the
    District Court applied the correct test as enunciated in
    Turner but argue that it incorrectly applied that test to the
    facts in the record. According to Prisoners, there is
    sufficient evidence creating a genuine issue of material fact
    as to whether the Turner factors weigh in favor of the Prison
    Officials, thereby making summary judgment inappropriate.
    In Turner, the Supreme Court considered the proper
    standard under which courts are to review prison
    regulations that are challenged on constitutional grounds.
    The Court considered two somewhat competing principles,
    the first of which is that federal courts “must take
    cognizance of the valid constitutional claims” of inmates.
    Turner, 
    482 U.S. at 84
    . This judicial cognizance
    notwithstanding, courts must remember that they are “ill
    equipped to deal with the increasingly urgent problems of
    prison administration and reform.” 
    Id.
     (citation omitted).
    Bearing these dual principles in mind, the Court concluded
    that “when a prison regulation impinges on inmates’
    constitutional rights, the regulation is valid if it is
    reasonably related to legitimate penological interests.” 
    Id. at 89
    .
    Thereafter, the Turner Court provided the following four
    factors to consider when applying its newly enunciated
    reasonableness standard:
    First, there must be a valid, rational connection
    between the prison regulation and the legitimate
    governmental interest put forward to justify it. . . . A
    second    factor    relevant     in   determining    the
    reasonableness of a prison restriction . . . is whether
    there are alternative means of exercising the right that
    remain open to prison inmates. . . . A third
    consideration is the impact accommodation of the
    asserted constitutional right will have on guards and
    other inmates, and on the allocation of prison
    resources generally. . . . Finally, the absence of ready
    6
    alternatives is evidence of the reasonableness of a
    prison regulation.
    
    Id. at 89-90
    .
    Furthermore, the burden is not on the state to prove the
    validity of the challenged prison regulation but instead is
    on the inmate to disprove it. Overton v. Bazzetta, 
    123 S. Ct. 2162
     (2003) (applying Turner and upholding prison
    regulations limiting prisoner visitation rights).
    We have held that a prerequisite to the application of
    Turner is the assertion of “only those beliefs which are both
    sincerely held and religious in nature are entitled to
    constitutional protection.” DeHart, 
    227 F.3d at 51
    . The
    Constitution does not protect “mere assertion[s] of . . .
    religious beliefs.” 
    Id.
     The Prison Officials argue that it is
    also a prerequisite for the inmate to establish that the
    challenged prison policy “substantially burdens” his or her
    religious beliefs. Br. of Defendants at 24. There is no
    support for that assertion. Because the Prison Officials fail
    to provide us with any reason to doubt that Prisoners
    sincerely believe that Islam requires them to eat Halal
    meat, it follows that we must determine whether the
    prison’s practice of not providing Halal meat meals is
    reasonable under Turner.
    1.   Legitimate Penological Interests
    The District Court held that NJSP’s decision to provide a
    vegetarian meal, rather than one with Halal meat, is
    rationally related to legitimate penological interests, namely
    simplified food service, prison security, and budgetary
    constraints. According to the District Court, if the prison
    were required to provide Halal meat, prison officials would
    have to coordinate a new program for food service that
    would require more kitchen help and could potentially
    cause problems between prisoners. It further found “no
    evidence of record” showing that Halal meat could be
    provided to the more than 200 inmates who currently
    receive the religious diet in a cost efficient manner or within
    the prison’s budget. App. at 21.
    Prisoners do not dispute that simplified food service,
    security, and budget constraints are legitimate penological
    7
    interests. Indeed, our prior decisions preclude such an
    argument. See Fraise v. Terhune, 
    283 F.3d 506
    , 517-18 (3d
    Cir. 2002) (finding security to be a legitimate penological
    interest); DeHart, 
    227 F.3d at 53
     (finding simplified food
    service to be a legitimate penological interest). Instead,
    Prisoners contend that the evidence raises an issue of fact
    for the jury regarding whether these interests would be
    adversely affected by the addition of Halal meat meals.
    With respect to simplified food service, Prisoners argue
    that the District Court overlooked the testimony of Lorenza
    Graves. They point to Graves’ statement that it “would be
    no great problem” to serve Halal meat received from an
    outside vendor to the inmates who now receive vegetarian
    meals or to serve Halal meat to the general prison
    population if it came from the distribution center in place
    of non-Halal meat. App. at 140, 145. Prisoners further
    argue that the testimony of various NJSP officials does not
    support the Prison Officials’ contention that providing Halal
    meals with meat would raise security concerns.
    Finally, Prisoners claim that the District Court
    misapplied the summary judgment standard as to
    budgetary concerns, arguing that they have submitted
    sufficient evidence to show that the NJSP could provide
    Halal meat in a cost-efficient manner. Pointing to evidence
    that a Halal meal with meat would cost about $1.80 more
    per meal than the cost of a regular meal, they argue that
    the prison spends $3,650 a year per individual to meet its
    four Jewish prisoners’ dietary needs but will not spend
    $280 a year per individual to meet its 225 Muslim
    prisoners’ needs.
    According to Prisoners, based on the above evidence,
    there is at least an issue of material fact as to whether the
    policy of denying Halal meals with meat is rationally related
    to a legitimate penological interest. We disagree.
    We have no reason to doubt that the District Court
    carefully considered all of the evidence in the record. It
    noted that Howard Beyer, former Assistant Commissioner
    for Operations of the New Jersey Department of
    Corrections, testified that due to the large Muslim
    population at NJSP, the addition of Halal meals with meat
    8
    would cause a considerable disruption to the prison’s daily
    operation. Beyer further testified that the prison does not
    experience similar disruptions by providing Kosher meals
    because they provide so few of them. According to Beyer,
    each Halal meat meal would have to pass through an X-ray
    machine, one at a time, which would be prohibitively time
    consuming. Furthermore, as with all things entering the
    prison, Beyer noted that the Halal meat meals would create
    additional security concerns.
    As to budgetary concerns, Prisoners concede that
    providing a Halal meal with meat would cost more per
    prisoner than the vegetarian meal. Furthermore, according
    to Graves, the vegetarian meals and other special diets cost
    approximately the same for each prisoner. Graves explained
    that to stay within the budget, he and other administrators
    must control “what [they] prepare, cook and serve.” App. at
    149.
    Although Prisoners have pointed to issues of fact in the
    record regarding these matters, they are not material issues
    of fact under the applicable legal standard. As noted above,
    Prisoners have the burden of disproving the validity of the
    regulation. It is not enough to show there are different
    views as to the relevant issues and underlying facts. Based
    on the record evidence, we agree with the District Court
    that providing vegetarian meals, rather than Halal meals
    with meat, is rationally related to the legitimate penological
    interests in simplified food service, security, and staying
    within the prison’s budget.
    In so concluding, we keep in mind the substantial
    deference we owe to prison administrators who bear a
    “significant responsibility for defining the legitimate goals of
    a corrections system and for determining the most
    appropriate means to accomplish them.” Overton, 
    123 S. Ct. at 2167
    . Furthermore, this court has noted that when
    a challenged regulation implicates security, as it does here,
    judicial deference is “especially appropriate.” Fraise, 
    283 F.3d at 516
     (affirming district court’s grant of summary
    judgment to prison officials against claims that policy
    allowing officials to designate “security threat groups” and
    transfer members of group to special unit violated
    9
    prisoners’ free exercise, equal protection, and due process
    rights).
    2.   Alternative Means of Expressing Religious Belief
    The next Turner factor requires us to determine if the
    prison has provided inmates with alternative avenues
    through which they can express their religious beliefs.
    Where a prison affords the inmate alternative means of
    expressing his or her religious beliefs, that fact tends to
    support the conclusion that the regulation — here
    providing a vegetarian meal rather than one with meat — is
    reasonable. DeHart, 
    227 F.3d at 57
    .
    The District Court concluded that Muslim prisoners have
    various ways in which to practice their religion. In addition
    to the pork-free, vegetarian diet, the Court pointed to a
    weekly congregational prayer service known as the
    Jumu’ah, the opportunity to study Arabic and to observe
    Ramadan by providing a special meal enabling Muslims to
    comply with the holiday’s fasting requirement, the
    opportunity to pray five times during each day, and the
    chance to observe the five pillars of the Islam faith. The
    Court further noted that the NJSP accommodates prisoners
    who celebrate Eid, another Muslim holiday, by allowing
    them to cook their own meals containing Halal meat.
    Prisoners concede they have “some alternative means” of
    practicing their religion, pointing out the existence of an
    onsite Imam, the ability to observe religious Holidays, and
    the weekly prayer service. Instead, they argue that these
    accommodations cannot be attributed to the NJSP. The
    District Court rejected these arguments, noting that
    Prisoners were unable to provide another instance, aside
    from the lack of Halal meat meals, in which their religious
    expression was not being accommodated. We agree.
    Based on the record and Prisoners’ own admissions, it is
    undisputed that the prison provides Muslim inmates with
    the opportunity to pray daily, attend special weekly
    services, and observe religious holidays. Thus, the second
    Turner factor weighs in favor of the Prison Officials.
    3.   Impact of Accommodation on Guards and Other
    Inmates
    Under the third Turner factor, we focus on the specific
    religious practice at issue to determine how accommodating
    10
    the inmate would impact guards and other inmates. The
    District Court concluded that it would be difficult for prison
    administrators and security personnel to accommodate by
    changing the religious vegetarian meal policy. In response
    to Prisoners’ argument that administrative concerns would
    dissipate if Halal meat meals were provided to the entire
    prison population, rather than just Muslims, the Court
    found that Prisoners failed to present evidence showing the
    feasibility of providing the meals to the general population.
    Furthermore, it believed that such an act could be viewed
    as imposing Islam on the whole prison community. The
    District Court also pointed to security and budgetary
    concerns that importing 200 Halal meals would create.
    Prisoners argue that the evidence provides a factual issue
    as to whether the provision of Halal meat meals would
    affect security, prison administration, or the budget. They
    rely on their arguments as to the first Turner factor, which
    we have already rejected. They further point out that in his
    deposition Scott Faunce, the Deputy Commissioner of the
    New Jersey Department of Corrections, testified that most
    of the food that comes into NJSP is not scanned. According
    to Prisoners, if unscanned food comes into the prison
    without security problems, there is no reason why the NJSP
    would have to scan Halal meals. Prisoners overlook or
    ignore Faunce’s qualifying statement that while much of the
    food is not scanned, it is searched. It would be
    unreasonable for us to conclude that the need to search,
    rather than scan, hundreds of additional Halal meat meals
    could not produce security concerns and administrative
    burdens. The Supreme Court’s admonition that we should
    defer to administrative decisions of prison officials is
    applicable here.
    Prisoners also argue that this case is analogous to our
    decision in DeHart, where we considered claims by an
    inmate that prison officials had violated his free exercise
    and equal protection rights by not providing him with a
    vegetarian diet consistent with his Buddhist beliefs. In that
    case, we reversed the district court’s summary judgment to
    the prison defendants and remanded so that the district
    court could more fully develop the record as to the
    consequences of accommodating the inmate for guards,
    11
    other inmates, and the allocation of prison resources. 
    227 F.3d at 59-60
    .
    In DeHart, we concluded that the first and second Turner
    factors weighed in favor of the defendants, noting that
    denying the inmate’s request for a religious vegetarian diet
    “bears some rational relation” to the penological interests in
    a simplified food service and in avoiding jealousy among
    inmates, 
    id. at 53
    , and that the inmate had alternative
    means of expressing his religious beliefs, 
    id. at 57
    .
    However, we found the third and fourth factors to be less
    clear. The crux of our problem with the district court’s
    reasoning as to these factors was its conclusion that the
    third Turner factor proved “neutral” in the face of “no
    undisputed     evidence”     concerning      the  impact    of
    accommodation. 
    Id. at 57-58
    . In such circumstances, we
    concluded that Turner requires a “more thorough analysis
    of the reasonableness” of the prison regulation when
    imposed on the plaintiff ’s religion. 
    Id. at 59
    . We noted that
    there was already a process in the prison for serving
    individually prepared therapeutic meals and that the
    plaintiff had made a prima facie showing that this process
    could accommodate his religious needs by adding a cup of
    soy milk. 
    Id. at 59
    .
    Prisoners argue that the same reasoning applies in the
    case at hand. They contend that because there is an
    existing administrative process under which the Prison
    Officials can accommodate their desire for Halal meat
    meals, whatever slight burden the prison must bear is
    minimal in comparison to that entailed by providing Kosher
    meals to the Jewish inmates.
    Prisoners’ arguments are unpersuasive as this case is
    decisively different from DeHart. There are at least two
    significant distinctions. First, the DeHart plaintiff requested
    only a cup of soy milk to be added to food already
    purchased by the prison. 
    Id. at 57
    . Here, Prisoners request
    full Halal meals with meat. Second, the plaintiff in DeHart
    was one person. Here, Prisoners are bringing suit on behalf
    of more than 200 hundred Muslim prisoners.
    The Prison Officials repeatedly return to this latter fact,
    arguing that the sheer number of prisoners who would be
    12
    receiving Halal meat meals would be overwhelming across
    the spectrum, creating administrative, budgetary, and
    security issues. They point not only to Beyer’s testimony
    but also to that of Roy Hendricks, the Administrator of New
    Jersey State Prison, who stated:
    From my point of view you are talking about 200
    meals, feeding three times a day, additional storage,
    freezer space for the meals. You are talking about
    additional officers to check the meals. You are also
    talking about a cost factor. So I think that’s quite a bit.
    Normally, this institution feeds over 200 — about
    200,000 meals a month, so it would be a problem.
    App. at 176.
    Contrary to Prisoners’ contentions, the record provides us
    with sufficient evidence supporting the Prison Officials’
    argument that providing Halal meat meals to hundreds of
    prisoners would have a marked effect on the prison
    community. Thus, the third Turner factor is far from
    “neutral” but instead favors the Prison Officials.
    4.   The Absence of Ready Alternatives
    As to the fourth and final Turner factor, we look to
    whether there is an absence of “ready alternatives” to the
    challenged prison regulation, as “the existence of obvious,
    easy alternatives may be evidence that the regulation is not
    reasonable, but is an ‘exaggerated response’ to prison
    concerns.” 
    482 U.S. at 90
    . To be sure, this is not a “least
    restrictive test” in that prison officials do not “have to set
    up and shoot down every conceivable alternative method” of
    accommodation. 
    Id.
     If an inmate can point to an alternative
    that would fully accommodate his or her rights at a “de
    minimis” cost, we can consider that as evidence that the
    challenged regulation is unreasonable. 
    Id. at 90-91
    .
    The District Court found that the prison could not fully
    accommodate Prisoners’ request for Halal meat meals at a
    de minimis cost and therefore that the fourth Turner factor
    also favored the Prison Officials. As to this factor, Prisoners
    rely on their previous arguments that the record shows that
    the provision of the Halal meat meals would not create
    staffing, security, or budgetary problems. However, as
    13
    explained above, we fail to find such support in the record.
    Contrary to Prisoner’s contention, there is sufficient
    evidence supporting the Prison Officials’ argument and the
    District Court’s conclusion that providing Halal meat meals
    cannot be provided at a de minimis cost.
    We thus reject Prisoners’ free exercise claim.
    C.     Equal Protection Claim
    We next consider Prisoners’ claim that the failure to
    provide them with Halal meat while providing Kosher meals
    with meat to Jewish inmates violates their rights under the
    Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. To
    prevail on an equal protection claim, a plaintiff must
    present evidence that s/he has been treated differently from
    persons who are similarly situated. See City of Cleburne v.
    Cleburne Living Center, 
    473 U.S. 432
    , 439 (1985). Turner is
    equally applicable to Prisoners’ equal protection claims. See
    DeHart, 
    227 F.3d at 61
    .
    The District Court rejected Prisoners’ equal protection
    claims, finding that they had provided no evidence that
    Jewish prisoners received meat in their Kosher meals. It
    noted that the record showed that all inmates in need of a
    religious diet are provided vegetarian meals.
    Prisoners argue that in reaching its conclusion, the
    District Court “had to ignore or misconstrue” the evidence.
    Br. of Prisoners at 49. For support, they point to a
    statement from Graves’ 1999 certification in which he says,
    “[i]nmates that require Kosher meals for religious reasons
    do receive meals that contain meat.” App. at 160. However,
    they fail to acknowledge that during Graves’ deposition in
    2001, he explicitly retracted that statement:
    I oversighted on the meals, the type of meal . . . Jewish
    prepared meat. There is no meat. I oversighted on that.
    There is no meat. These are meatless meals being
    prepared by the Jewish BT Management. The company
    supplies the kosher meals. It’s meatless.
    App. at 128.
    Graves’ corrective statement corroborates the testimony
    of others. Specifically, both Hendricks and Beyer testified
    14
    that the Kosher meals provided to Jewish prisoners do not
    contain meat.
    The record is devoid of any evidence supporting
    Prisoners’ contention that the Kosher meals contain meat.
    Because all religious meals at NJSP are vegetarian, we
    reject Prisoners’ equal protection claim that the prison
    treats Jewish and Muslim prisoners in a “disparate and
    unequal” manner. Br. of Prisoners at 48.
    D.   Motion to Exclude Testimony of Scott Faunce
    In their final claim, Prisoners argue that the District
    Court erred by denying their motion to exclude Faunce’s
    testimony. We review a district court’s admission of
    evidence or ruling on a discovery dispute for abuse of
    discretion. Stecyk v. Bell Helicopter Textron, Inc., 
    295 F.3d 408
    , 412 (3d Cir. 2002).
    Prisoners argue that the Prison Officials identified Faunce
    as a witness almost six months after the close of discovery
    by attaching Faunce’s affidavit to their summary judgment
    reply brief. This, according to Prisoners, was especially
    egregious as they had made repeated efforts before the end
    of discovery to identify persons with knowledge related to
    their complaint. The District Court denied Prisoners’ motion
    to exclude Faunce’s testimony but allowed them to depose
    Faunce themselves and to amend their previously-filed
    summary judgment brief. Furthermore, the Prison Officials
    were ordered to pay Prisoners’ costs and counsel fees in
    connection with the deposition.
    Prisoners argue that the submission of Faunce’s
    testimony violates Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 26 and
    37. Under Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(e)(2), a party is required to
    supplement its discovery responses if it learns that its
    initial response is incomplete in a material way and the
    opposing party does not have the new information. Fed. R.
    Civ. P. 37(c)(1) provides that if a party without substantial
    justification fails to amend a prior discovery response, it
    may not use that evidence unless the failure is harmless.
    Prisoners contend that the Prison Officials provided no
    justification for their failure to disclose Faunce and they
    argue that they suffered harm and prejudice because of the
    15
    Prison Officials’ “complete disregard for their discovery
    obligations.” Br. of Prisoners at 55-56. Also, they claim that
    the Prison Officials benefitted from reading Prisoners’ brief
    on summary judgment which was prepared before Faunce’s
    testimony was introduced. Lastly, Prisoners argue that
    Faunce gave an expert opinion and the Prison Officials
    should have identified him as an expert and provided a
    report.
    The Prison Officials rebut any suggestion of bad faith by
    explaining Faunce was named Deputy Commissioner of the
    New Jersey Department of Corrections two days after they
    filed their summary judgment motion and after the close of
    discovery. Therefore, they could not have identified Faunce
    as an expert during discovery. They argue that Prisoners
    were not harmed by the admission of Faunce’s testimony as
    they were permitted to depose Faunce, at the Prison
    Officials’ expense, and were allowed to supplement the
    record with his deposition testimony and additional briefs.
    We are persuaded by the Prison Officials’ arguments and
    conclude that the District Court did not abuse its discretion
    in allowing Faunce’s testimony. Prisoners were given
    adequate opportunity to depose Faunce and supplement
    the record themselves. In such a situation, we fail to see
    how Prisoners suffered harm from the admission of
    Faunce’s testimony.
    III.
    CONCLUSION
    For the foregoing reasons, we will affirm the District
    Court’s grant of summary judgment to the Prison Officials.
    A True Copy:
    Teste:
    Clerk of the United States Court of Appeals
    for the Third Circuit