Pelfrey v. Chambers
Decision Date | 05 January 1995 |
Docket Number | No. 93-3278,93-3278 |
Citation | 43 F.3d 1034 |
Parties | P David L. PELFREY, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Sean CHAMBERS; Larry Closser, Correction Officers, Individually and in their Official Capacities, Defendants-Appellees. |
Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit |
David L. Pelfrey (briefed), Dayton, OH and Phyllis E. Brown (briefed), Copeland & Brown, Cincinnati, OH, for plaintiff-appellant.
Donald A. Cataldi, Asst. Atty. Gen. (briefed), Office of the Atty. Gen. of Ohio, Columbus, OH, for defendants-appellees.
Before: JONES and BATCHELDER, Circuit Judges; and GILMORE, District Judge. *
GILMORE, D.J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which JONES, J., joined. BATCHELDER, J. (pp. 1038-1040), delivered a separate dissenting opinion.
This case presents the question of whether the isolated and unauthorized use of force by a prison guard on an inmate constitutes "punishment" within the meaning of the Eighth Amendment. The district court concluded that a spontaneous assault does not state a cognizable claim under the Eighth Amendment. For the reasons set forth below, we reverse.
Appellant David L. Pelfrey filed this action under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983. In his complaint, Mr. Pelfrey alleged that on January 2, 1992, while incarcerated at the London Correctional Institution (LCI), he was assaulted by correctional officers Sean Chambers and Larry Closser. Pelfrey's complaint set forth the following facts in support of his request for damages and injunctive relief:
On January 2, 1992, after returning from my job assignment, I went to the Upstairs Office at the London Correctional Camp ... to obtain my mail. Correction Officers (and Defendants) Chambers and Closser were in the office. I asked Officer Closser for my mail. I was responding to a question from Officer Closser when he started walking around from where he had been standing behind the desk. He (Officer Closser) pulled out his knife as he walked toward me. When he got within reach of me, Officer Closser put one hand on my shoulder and the other one on top of my head. I instinctively put my hands on top of my head, and at that time, Officer Chambers pulled his knife out and grabbed my hands, forcing them down to my side. Officer Closser then proceeded to cut my hair with his knife. After cutting off a great portion of my hair, Officer Chambers then let me go, and he (Officer Chambers) stood there grinning and smiling, while Officer Closser was laughing and dropping my hair on the floor. These officers had me scared, intimidated, and threatened.
(J.A. at 7).
After the incident, Mr. Pelfrey filed an Informal Grievance and contacted both the Institution Inspector and the Warden. A "use of force" committee was appointed, and after an investigation, both correctional officers were given four days of administrative leave.
Shortly thereafter, Mr. Pelfrey filed the complaint that is the subject of this appeal, in which he alleged that Officers Chambers and Closser had inflicted cruel and inhumane punishment on him in violation of the Eighth Amendment. Pelfrey's complaint sought money damages and further requested that the defendant officers either forfeit their jobs or be required to undergo treatment for their "abusive behavior."
Defendants Chambers and Closser filed a Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(c). The defendants asserted that Mr. Pelfrey's complaint did not state a cognizable claim because, even accepting his factual allegations as true, the complaint stated, at most, a claim for common law assault rather than a violation of the Eighth Amendment's proscription against cruel and unusual punishment. The defendants argued that, even if they had cut off Mr. Pelfrey's hair without provocation or justification, their actions did not constitute "punishment" because it was not administered for penological or disciplinary purposes.
The district court issued an Opinion and Order, granting defendants' Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings. The court held that Mr. Pelfrey's complaint failed to state a cause of action arising under Sec. 1983 because "a spontaneous, isolated assault by a prison guard on an inmate is not punishment within the Eighth Amendment." The court further held that, in order for an action to constitute punishment, it must be imposed for penal or disciplinary purposes.
In reaching its conclusion, the district court relied on the Second Circuit's decision in Johnson v. Glick, 481 F.2d 1028 (2nd Cir.), cert. denied, 414 U.S. 1033, 94 S.Ct. 462, 38 L.Ed.2d 324 (1973) and the Fifth Circuit's decision in George v. Evans, 633 F.2d 413 (5th Cir.1980). However, we believe these cases are inapposite given the slate on which we currently write.
When Johnson v. Glick and George v. Evans were decided, the circuits were split on the issue of whether the Eighth Amendment's proscription against "excessive force" was coextensive with the Fourteenth Amendment's protection against deprivations of liberty. The Second and Fifth Circuits resolved the issue by holding that a spontaneous, unauthorized assault on a prisoner by a prison guard was cognizable under the Fourteenth Amendment rather than the Eighth Amendment. Significantly, neither circuit intended to deprive prisoners of a federal forum and a federal remedy when prison officials are charged with the intentional use of excessive force. See Johnson v. Glick, 481 F.2d at 1032 ( ) and George v. Evans, 633 F.2d at 416 ().
In 1989, the Supreme Court, in an often cited footnote, suggested that all post-conviction excessive force claims were to be raised under the Eighth Amendment rather than the Fourteenth Amendment:
[T]he Due Process Clause protects a pretrial detainee from the use of excessive force that amounts to punishment. After conviction, the Eighth Amendment "serves as the primary source of substantive protection ... in cases ... where the deliberate use of force is challenged as excessive and unjustified." Any protection that "substantive due process" affords convicted prisoners against excessive force is, we have held, at best redundant of that provided by the Eighth Amendment.
Graham v. Connor, 490 U.S. 386, 395, n. 10, 109 S.Ct. 1865, 1871, n. 10, 104 L.Ed.2d 443 (1989), (quoting Whitley v. Albers, 475 U.S. 312, 327, 106 S.Ct. 1078, 1088, 89 L.Ed.2d 251 (1979)).
Following the Supreme Court's directive, this circuit recently held that all post-conviction excessive force claims are to be raised "exclusively under the Eighth Amendment's cruel and unusual punishment clause." Cornwell v. Dahlberg, 963 F.2d 912, 915 (6th Cir.1992). Accordingly, based on the legal landscape in which we currently write, we reject the district court's reliance on Johnson v. Glick and George v. Evans.
The Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides as follows:
Excessive Bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted.
In Hudson v. McMillian, 503 U.S. 1, 112 S.Ct. 995, 117 L.Ed.2d 156 (1992), the Supreme Court clarified the standard to be used in analyzing "excessive force" claims under the Eighth Amendment:
[W]henever prison officials stand accused of using excessive physical force in violation of the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause, the core judicial inquiry is that set out in Whitley [v. Albers, 475 U.S. 312, 106 S.Ct. 1078, 89 L.Ed.2d 251 (1986) ]: whether force was applied in a good-faith effort to maintain or restore discipline, or maliciously and sadistically to cause harm.
Id. ----, 112 S.Ct. at 999, 117 L.Ed.2d at 165-66.
Although the maintenance of prison security and discipline may often require that prisoners be subjected to physical contact which at common law would be actionable as an assault, see Parrish v. Johnson, 800 F.2d 600 (6th Cir.1986), a violation of the Eighth Amendment will nevertheless occur if "the offending conduct [ ] reflect[s] an 'unnecessary and wanton infliction of pain.' " Moore v. Holbrook, 2 F.3d 697, 700 (6th Cir.1993) (quoting Ingraham v. Wright, 430 U.S. 651, 97 S.Ct. 1401, 51 L.Ed.2d 711 (1977) (other citations omitted). Accord Duckworth v. Franzen, 780 F.2d 645, 652 (7th Cir.1985) ()
In this case, defendants have not asserted that the assault on Pelfrey occurred as a result of a "good-faith effort to maintain or restore discipline." Nor can it be said that defendants' conduct furthered any other legitimate penological or institutional objective. Instead, it would certainly appear that defendants' actions (assuming arguendo that defendants committed the acts alleged in plaintiff's complaint) were designed to frighten and degrade Pelfrey by reinforcing the fact that his continued well-being was entirely dependent on the good humor of his armed guards. To us, given the closed nature of the prison environment, this constitutes a totally unwarranted, malicious and sadistic use of force to cause harm. See Parrish, 800 F.2d at 605 ( ).
We categorically reject defendants' argument that "an unprovoked attack is not punishment." To hold otherwise would ignore the power arrangements that exist within the prison environment and lead to the...
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