Jonathan Walker v. Arkansas Department of Correction, Division of Correction; And Dexter Payne, in His Official Capacity as Director

── Jonathan Walker v. Arkansas Department of Correction, Division of Correction; And Dexter Payne, in His Official Capacity as Director ── Court: Supreme Court of Arkansas Date: May 07, 2026 Category: General Cite as 2026 Ark. 95 SUPREME COURT OF ARKANSAS No. CV-25-1 Opinion Delivered: May 7, 2026 JONATHAN WALKER APPELLANT APPEAL FROM THE PULASKI COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT, [NO. 60CV-24-4960] V. HONORABLE TIMOTHY DAVIS ARKANSAS DEPARTMENT OF FOX, JUDGE CORRECTION, DIVISION OF CORRECTION; AND DEXTER AFFIRMED. PAYNE, IN HIS OFFICIAL CAPACITY AS DIRECTOR APPELLEES BARBARA W. WEBB, Justice Jonathan Walker appeals from an order of the Pulaski County Circuit Court dismissing his petition for declaratory judgment and injunctive relief. He had sought, via a writ of mandamus, to force the Arkansas Department of Correction (ADC) to allow him to correspond with his husband, another inmate serving a life sentence in Idaho. On appeal, he argues that the circuit court abused its discretion by granting the appellees’ motion to dismiss and permitting appellees to illegally deny contact between Walker and his husband because: (A) his complaint stated facts upon which relief can be granted; (B) Arkansas must recognize his valid Oregon marriage;.(C) appellees’ conduct violates 28 U.S.C. § 1738C(a), which requires Arkansas to acknowledge his valid Oregon marriage; (D) ADC’s policy only proscribes interunit correspondence within the ADC; it does not apply to correspondence with incarcerated people in other jail or prison systems. We affirm.  I. Facts and Procedural History On October 6, 2018, while living in Portland, Oregon, appellant married Dewayne Allen Walker, Jr. At the time, Dewayne was serving a life sentence for lewd conduct with a child under the age of sixteen and was incarcerated at a correctional facility in Karnes City, Texas. Subsequently, appellant was convicted in Clark County, Arkansas, of thirty counts of violating Arkansas Code Annotated section 5-27-602, Distributing, Possessing, or Viewing Matter Depicting Sexually Explicit Conduct Involving a Child.1 He is currently serving a 450-year sentence in the ADC. On June 19, 2024, appellant filed a petition for declaratory judgment and injunctive relief against the Arkansas Department of Correction, the Arkansas Division of Correction, and Dexter Payne, in his official capacity along with a petition to proceed in forma pauperis (IFP) and affidavit in support thereof. The circuit court granted his IFP petition. Appellant’s declaratory judgment petition invoked Arkansas Code Annotated sections 16-111-101 et seq., Arkansas’s general declaratory-judgment statute and sections 25-15-207 and 25-15-214 of the Arkansas Administrative Procedure Act. He asserted that he was asking the circuit court to “declare the rights, states, [sic] and legal relations between the parties and to remove any uncertainty about the application of ADC Rule 004.00.01- 002—AR 860 (herein after, Rule 860) . . . regarding inmate correspondence and contact.” Appellant averred that the ADC has denied him contact with his husband, who is presently incarcerated in the Idaho State Correctional Institution in Kuma, Idaho. Appellant 1 State v. Walker, No. 10CR-20-107 2 acknowledges that generally, ADC policy proscribes inmate correspondence between correctional facilities but asserts that an exception exists in Rule 860 that allows mail to be passed between “family members” who are incarcerated, and spouses qualify as family members under the ADC policy. Attached to the petition are copies of documents purporting to prove that appellant was married to De