UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT ___________

No. 14-4194 ___________

THOMAS WISNIEWSKI, Appellant v. JON D. FISHER; R. SUE HANNAH; JAY B. WHITESEL; LISA HOLLIBAUGH; CHARLES MITCHELL; MANDY BISER; BRIAN LIGHTNER; MARY ANNE MORDER; FRANK CAMPOPIANO; ROBIN RUTTER; DANIEL MYERS; JOSEPH EICHENLAUB; JEFFREY OAKS; F. SHOOP; DOUG LOY; M. SHEETZ; J. DELINE; KEVIN SMITH; GREGORY BARNETT; MARK HARLAN; RENEE LUBERT; TITUS MOOLATHARA; BETH MCCREARY; WILLIAM DREIBELBIS; JULIE COWLER; JOSH MAHUTE; DORINA VARNER ____________________________________

On Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania (D.C. Civil Action No. 3-13-cv-02642) District Judge: Honorable Malachy E. Mannion ____________________________________

Argued January 17, 2017 ____________________________________

Before: AMBRO, VANASKIE AND SCIRICA, Circuit Judges

(Filed: May 16, 2017) Richard L. Heppner, Jr., Esq. [ARGUED] Reed Smith 225 Fifth Avenue Suite 1200 Pittsburgh, PA 15222 Michael P. Yingling, Esq. Reed Smith 10 South Wacker Drive 40th Floor Chicago, IL 60606 Counsel for Appellant Debra S. Rand, Esq. [ARGUED] Pennsylvania Department of Corrections Office of Chief Counsel 1920 Technology Parkway Mechanicsburg, PA 17050 Counsel for Appellee

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OPINION OF THE COURT

__________________ VANASKIE, Circuit Judge.

Appellant Thomas Wisniewski, appeals from an order of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania dismissing his amended complaint for failure to state a claim. For the reasons set forth below, we will reverse in part the District Court’s order and will remand for further proceedings.

I.

In 2013, Wisniewski filed a civil rights action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, naming as defendants officials and employees of the State Correctional Institution at Smithfield (“SCI-Smithfield”) in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, where he is confined. In a sprawling amended complaint, Wisniewski asserted claims of First Amendment retaliation and violations of his Fourth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights.

Wisniewski’s amended complaint alleged that he worked as an Inmate Legal Reference Aide in the prison’s law library. Perceiving staffing shortages and believing that other library policy decisions were harming the ability of inmates to access the courts, he registered complaints with prison officials and filed inmate requests about the issues. He asserted that, in turn, he was subject to additional scrutiny when, in his library position, he provided legal assistance to qualified inmates who had been assigned to his caseload by

3 prison officials. An inmate specifically assigned to Wisniewski’s caseload based on his mental health diagnosis sought assistance in preparing a grievance challenging a yard policy. In order to assist the inmate, Wisniewski obtained a draft grievance from another inmate regarding the same topic to use as a template. Prison officials discovered the draft grievance in Wisniewski’s possession and confiscated it based on their suspicions that it was from a notoriously litigious inmate and was similar or identical to multiple other grievances that had been filed. A questionnaire originating from the attorney for the same litigious inmate was also discovered during a subsequent search of Wisniewski’s cell. Based on his possession of these documents, Wisniewski was charged with, and found guilty of, engaging in or encouragin