Ware v. Jackson County, Mo.
| Citation | 150 F.3d 873 |
| Decision Date | 11 September 1998 |
| Docket Number | No. 97-1800,97-1800 |
| Parties | Sylvia WARE, Appellee, v. JACKSON COUNTY, MISSOURI, Appellant. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (8th Circuit) |
J. Earlene Farr, Kansas City, MO, argued (Sandra L. Schermerhorn, Jackson County Counselor, on the brief), for Appellant.
Christopher P. Sweeney, Kansas City, MO, argued (John E. Turner, Kansas City, MO, on the brief), for Appellee.
Before RICHARD S. ARNOLD, Chief Judge, 1 and McMILLIAN and WOLLMAN, Circuit Judges.
Jackson County, Missouri (the County), appeals from a final order entered in the United States District Court 2 for the Western District of Missouri in favor of inmate Sylvia Ware (Ware), following a jury verdict of $50,000 on her 42 U.S.C. § 1983 claim. 3 Ware v. Jackson County, No. 95-0477-CV-W-BD (W.D.Mo. Feb. 19, 1997) (hereinafter "slip op."). For reversal, the County argues that the evidence was insufficient as a matter of law to establish (1) a continuing, widespread, persistent pattern of unconstitutional conduct by county employees; (2) deliberate indifference by the County to a substantial risk of harm to Ware; and (3) a causal link between the County's conduct and Ware's injury. In addition, the County contends that the district court erred in omitting the words "continuing," "widespread," and "persistent" from the jury instruction on "pattern of unconstitutional conduct" and in instructing the jury that the Director of the Jackson County Department of Corrections (JCDC or "the jail") is a final policymaker for the County. For the reasons discussed below, we affirm the order of the district court.
The district court had subject matter jurisdiction over this civil rights action under 28 U.S.C. § 1343. Jurisdiction on appeal is proper based upon 28 U.S.C. § 1291, and the notice of appeal was timely filed under Rule 4(a) of the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure.
This case arises out of the rampant sexual misconduct of employees at the JCDC toward female inmates. Ware was an inmate at the JCDC in August 1993. At all relevant times, Megerman served as the director of the JCDC. In 1995 Ware brought a § 1983 action against the County, alleging that JCDC Corrections Officer (CO) John Toomer raped her in violation of the Eighth Amendment while she was a JCDC inmate. A jury returned a verdict of $50,000 in favor of Ware and against the County on May 10, 1996. The following underlying facts are stated in the light most favorable to the verdict and are largely derived from the order of the district court denying the County's post-trial motion for judgment as a matter of law or, in the alternative, for a new trial. See slip op. at 4-6, 10-15, 18-20.
CO Toomer began working at the JCDC on or about March 20, 1993. Less than one month later, inmate Jacqueline Dela Cruz alleged that Toomer ordered another inmate, Mary Hylton, to expose her genitalia to him. According to Dela Cruz, on at least two separate occasions, she overheard CO Toomer tell Hylton, who occupied a cell across from Dela Cruz, that Hylton would have to raise her nightshirt and pull down her pants in order to obtain a candy bar. In addition, CO Toomer would frequently open Hylton's cell, make obscene sexual gestures to Hylton, and talk to Hylton about oral sex. On one occasion, CO Toomer allowed a male inmate to look in on Dela Cruz while she used the toilet. Dela Cruz also observed CO Toomer and three male trustees having sex with female inmates in the showers.
At trial, Hylton corroborated Dela Cruz's allegations and testified to other incidents in which CO Toomer performed oral sex on her and had her perform oral sex on him, allowed a male inmate to observe her use the toilet, asked her for her telephone number and address, engaged in sexual intercourse with her, and threatened her not to tell anyone about these incidents. At all relevant times, Hylton was in remedial classes and was described as "mentally slow."
Dela Cruz and Hylton reported some of these incidents to CO Keisling, who then relayed their complaints to the Manager of Detention, James McCoy, in a memorandum dated April 9, 1993. Joint Appendix (J.A.) at 1107. CO Keisling wrote the following postscript in the memorandum: "I do think there might be something to this." Id. Also on April 9, 1993, Pat Byler, the GED teacher at the jail, sent a memorandum to Jon Barth, Administrative Assistant to the Manager of Detention, advising him of Dela Cruz's allegations. Id. After receiving Byler's memorandum of April 9, 1993, Barth conducted an investigation of CO Toomer. He spoke to inmates Dela Cruz and Hylton and had CO Toomer take a polygraph test. On May 11, 1993, based on his investigation, Barth recommended to the Director of the JCDC, Charles Megerman, that CO Toomer be terminated. Barth was concerned about what CO Toomer would do to prisoners and believed that CO Toomer could not be trusted. Barth wrote: Id. at 1111.
Despite Barth's recommendation, no disciplinary action was taken against CO Toomer. Instead, Megerman sent CO Toomer a memorandum stating that he (Megerman) expected exemplary behavior of him. Furthermore, McCoy, Barth, and Terri O'Neill, one of CO Toomer's direct supervisors, all testified that no one asked or directed them to keep a close watch on CO Toomer following Megerman's decision not to terminate him. 4 CO Toomer remained stationed on the same floor where Hylton and other female inmates were housed.
On July 22, 1993, Byler sent McCoy a second memorandum regarding CO Toomer's misconduct, this time stating that Hylton had reported that she and CO Toomer were having sexual intercourse and oral sex and that she consented to such activity. Several days later, Byler received a memorandum from Jon Morefield, "investigative specialist" for the JCDC, in response to Byler's second memorandum. Morefield's memorandum stated in pertinent part: "Concerning remarks made to you by inmate Hylton on 07-21-93, the allegations have been investigated and the case is now closed." Id. at 1109. According to the County, Morefield mistakenly assumed that Byler's memorandum pertained to Hylton's first set of allegations and failed to recognize that these were, in fact, new allegations. Morefield's memorandum to Byler was the only document generated from Byler's second memorandum. Neither McCoy, Morefield, nor anyone else at the jail interviewed Byler about what Hylton had told him. Morefield later testified that he never conducted an investigation of these allegations. Megerman testified that knew of the second set of allegations and expected the incident to be investigated. However, he did not follow up with any of his subordinates to verify that an investigation took place; nor did he talk to CO Toomer about the allegations.
On the night of August 29, 1993, Ware reported to Terri O'Neill, the acting Corrections Supervisor (CS), that she had been raped in her cell by CO Toomer. Upon receiving Ware's complaint, CS O'Neill reported the incident to her supervisor, Norman Dennison, who was the acting Shift Administrator (SA). SA Dennison responded immediately to CS O'Neill's report and went to speak to Ware directly. Pursuant to JCDC policy, Ware's cell was sealed, and the Jackson County Sheriff's Department was called and advised of Ware's allegation. Ware was then taken to the JCDC medical clinic and later transported to Truman Medical Center where vaginal swabs were taken from her. A forensic chemist for the Regional Crime Lab tested the swabs and detected the presence of seminal fluid. At trial, the jury found that CO Toomer had raped Ware on the night of August 29, 1993.
Inmate Jean Stone testified that she was sexually assaulted by JCDC guards on several occasions. The assaults began soon after her arrest and arrival at the medical housing unit of the JCDC in or around March 1990. While being transported in the infirmary, CO Johnson touched her breast. Later, she had sexual intercourse with CO Johnson and, on a separate occasion, she had oral sex with CO Michael Williams. On May 18, 1990, CO Williams came into her cell in the medical housing unit and had sexual intercourse with her, and then let an inmate, Donald Noble, into the cell to have sex with her. CO Williams then reentered the cell after Noble and had sex with Stone again. Stone reported the May 18 incident to a nursing student and also spoke to several other JCDC personnel about it. Soon thereafter, Stone was taken to Truman Medical Center. Stone's medical examination indicated the presence of hairs and seminal fluid that were racially consistent with those of inmate Noble and CO Williams. 5 Also, Noble's cup was later found in Stone's cell. Both inmates Stone and Noble were in locked cells to which only the JCDC guards had keys. CO Williams was suspended pending the outcome of the County's investigation of the May 18 incident. The County later determined that CO Williams had not had sexual contact with inmate Stone, and thus, no disciplinary action was taken against him. Nor was any disciplinary action taken against CO Johnson.
Similar allegations were made by inmate Shalana Jackson in 1989 against CO Jeffrey Burgett. Jackson alleged that Burgett had sexual intercourse with her. During the investigation of this incident, CO Burgett gave conflicting statements about what happened and was not forthcoming with information. A polygraph test of CO Burgett revealed that he had not truthfully answered questions pertaining to his sexual conduct toward Jackson. As a...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Sagehorn v. Indep. Sch. Dist. No. 728, Civil No. 14–1930 (JRT/BRT).
...among non-policymaking employees of the municipality as to constitute a custom or usage with the force of law." Ware v. Jackson Cnty., Mo., 150 F.3d 873, 880 (8th Cir.1998) (internal quotation marks omitted). Sagehorn is alleging a "custom or usage," which a plaintiff can establish in one o......
-
Shannon v. Koehler
...proof that the custom was the moving force behind the constitutional violation. Mettler, 165 F.3d at 1204 (citing Ware v. Jackson County, 150 F.3d 873, 880 (8th Cir.1998), in turn quoting Jane Doe A, 901 F.2d at a. Pattern of unconstitutional misconduct Shannon claims that the City and Chie......
-
Mercer v. City of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, C 98-0143-MWB.
...`official policy' or from actions that are so pervasive that they become `custom or usage' with the force of law." Ware v. Jackson County, 150 F.3d 873, 885 (8th Cir.1998). However, it is equally well-settled that municipal liability also attaches "where the decisionmaker possesses final au......
-
Donnell v. City of Cedar Rapaid, Iowa
...by an official who is determined by state law to have the final authority to establish governmental policy." Ware v. Jackson County, Mo., 150 F.3d 873, 880 (8th Cir.1998) (quoting Jane Doe A ex rel. Jane Doe B. v. Special Sch. Dist. of St. Louis County, 901 F.2d 642, 645 (8th Cir.1990)). To......
-
Forecasting sexual abuse in prison: the prison subculture of masculinity as a backdrop for "deliberate indifference".
...help to show that a municipality's actual policies were different from the ones that had been announced."); Ware v. Jackson Cty., 150 F.3d 873, 882 (8th Cir. 1998); Roland v. Johnson, 856 F.2d 764, 770 (6th Cir. 1988). Prisoner rape victims often cannot identify responsible prison officials......