Doss v. Gilkey
| Decision Date | 28 July 2009 |
| Docket Number | Case No. 06-cv-216-JPG. |
| Citation | 649 F.Supp.2d 905 |
| Parties | Thedell DOSS and Judy Ann McCarroll Doss, Plaintiffs, v. Charles R. GILKEY, Francisco Quintana, Norvell Meadors, Pete Pottios, Keith Chambers, Darlene Veltri, Sara M. Revell and Amber Nelson, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of Illinois |
Thedell Doss, St. Louis, MO, pro se.
Judy Ann McCarroll Doss, Waseca, MN, pro se.
Nathan E. Wyatt, Assistant U.S. Attorney, Fairview Heights, IL, for Defendants.
This matter comes before the Court on the motion for summary judgment filed by defendants Charles Gilkey, Francisco Quintana, Norvell Meadors, Pete Pottios, Keith Chambers, Darlene Veltri, Sara M. Revell and Amber L. Nelson (Doc. 48). Plaintiff Thedell Doss has filed a response (Doc. 50), to which the defendants have replied (Doc. 51). Plaintiff Judy Ann McCarroll Doss has not responded to the subject motion.
During the relevant time period, from May 1, 2002, through July 20, 2005, plaintiff Thedell Doss and his putative wife, plaintiff Judy Ann McCarroll Doss were both inmates at the federal detention facilities in Greenville, Illinois. Mr. Doss was housed in the correctional institution—the prison—until February 2006, when he was released. Mrs. Doss was housed in the prison camp but is now imprisoned at FCI Waseca, in Minnesota.
The plaintiffs allege that the defendant prison officials failed to recognize their Cook County, Illinois, May 1991 Islamic marriage, as well as a subsequent 2002 Islamic marriage performed while they were incarcerated at Greenville, in Bond County, Illinois. The plaintiffs were permitted to correspond for a period of time prior to 2002, until prison officials questioned whether the plaintiffs were actually and/or legally married. Certificate or no certificate, the fact of the marriage was called into question, and defendants perceived Mrs. Doss may have been a bigamist. Prison officials determined that the plaintiffs' marriages were not "legal." Therefore, the defendant prison officials did not afford Mr. and Mrs. Doss the "spousal exemption" to the rule that inmates are not permitted to correspond with one another. See 28 C.F.R. § 540.17. Mrs. Doss apparently divorced her then-husband and the plaintiffs were permitted to correspond for a few months, until November 2005, when their communications were again restricted, but purportedly for content-based reasons.
The plaintiffs filed this lawsuit in February 2006. Count 1 of the complaint alleges that the defendants discriminated against the plaintiffs in violation of the Equal Protection Clause. Count 2 alleges the defendants denied plaintiffs due process, in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment.
The defendants make the following arguments for summary judgment:
1. Mrs. Doss failed to exhaust administrative remedies as required by 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a); therefore her claims should be dismissed without prejudice; and
2. The defendants are entitled to qualified immunity relative to Mr and Mrs. Doss's claims for damages because:
a. Their conduct did not violate a constitutional right:
1. Correspondence was denied based on a rule of general applicability, not due to religious or other impermissible animus, so there can be no viable equal protection claim; and
2. There is no liberty or property interest in inmate-to-inmate correspondence, so there can be no due process violation; and
b. Any right that was violated was not clearly established.
As noted above, Mrs. Doss has not responded to the subject motion. Mr. Doss counters that:
1. His grievances, which were fully exhausted, should suffice for Mrs. Doss; and
2. The defendants are not entitled to qualified immunity because:
a. The plaintiffs were married in 1991, as confirmed by the opinion of the Bond County Clerk, and again married in 2002, in a ceremony witnessed by Greenville prison officials and as documented by a second Islamic marriage certificate;
b. There was no bigamy by Mrs. Doss because her previous marriage was invalid because it was bigamous (on the part of the husband); and
c. The defendants substantively and procedurally misapplied the applicable prison regulations, thereby evincing the defendants' discriminatory intent and denial of due process.
At this juncture, the relevant evidence is as follows:
1. The defendants do not dispute that plaintiff produced a 1991 Islamic marriage certificate (Doc. 48, pp. 3-4).
2. On October 19, 1992, the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri sentenced Mr. Doss to 200 months on a drug charge (Doc. 48-2, pp. 14-17).
3. Mr. Doss's Pre-Sentence Report indicates Mr. Doss was divorced from Patricia Parram; and he and Kathleen Dorsey had been living together in Kansas City, MO, and described themselves as non-blood related cousins, with no sexual relationship; however, the investigator noted that "there may be more to this relationship" (Doc. 48-4, p. 8).
4. In February 1993, prison officials in Tennessee authorized Mr. Doss to correspond with inmate Lelon Robb, who was housed at the Chillocothe Correctional Center in Missouri, based on their common law marriage, which the prison officials indicated had been "verified;" the Missouri officials concurred (Doc. 48-3, pp. 31-32).
5. Kathy Dorsey, described as Mr. Doss's common law wife, was an approved visitor for Mr. Doss in 1994 (Doc. 48-4, p. 3).
6. On July 23, 1996, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois sentenced Mrs. Doss to 328 months on multiple drug, fraud and money laundering charges (Doc. 48-2, pp. 25-28).
7. Mrs. Doss's Pre-Sentence Report indicates she was divorced from Lawrence McCarroll, Michael Blackwell, Mr. McCarroll (a second time) and was engaged to co-defendant Samir Hameen, who she had been seeing for 4 years (Doc. 48-4, pp. 8-9).
8. It appears that on June 19, 2001, Mr. Doss's Unit Manager, B. Jefferson, called the Clerk of Bond County, Illinois, Randy Rietz, and was told that a marriage is recognized in Illinois regardless of whether it is recorded with the County or State (Doc. 2-2, p. 11).
9. In September 2001, Mrs. Doss's correctional counselor, defendant Keith Chambers, contacted Cook County Office of Vital Statistics and was informed that Mrs. Doss (Judy McCarroll) had been married to William Mimms. He also learned that Cook County Circuit Court had no record of a divorce and that an Imam at the St. Louis Islamic Center (listed on the Dosses' marriage certificate) did not recognize the name "Muhammad Mateen" (the signature on the certificate) (Doc. 48-4, pp. 9-10 (Chambers' affidavit)).
10. A "Certificate of Islamic Marriage" dated September 8, 2002, exists, reflecting the plaintiffs were married at FCI Greenville, IL (Doc. 2-2, p. 16).
The applicable regulations governing "correspondence between confined inmates" can be found at 28 C.F.R. § 540.17, which states in pertinent part:
An inmate may be permitted to correspond with an inmate confined in any other penal or correctional institution if the other inmate is either a member of the immediate family, or is a party or witness in a legal action in which both inmates are involved. Such correspondence may be approved in other exceptional circumstances, with particular regard to the security level of the institution, the nature of the relationship between the two inmates, and whether the inmate has other regular correspondence. The following additional limitations apply:
* * *
(b) (1) The appropriate unit manager at each institution must approve of the correspondence if both inmates are housed in Federal institutions and both inmates are members of the same immediate family or are a party or witness in a legal action in which both inmates are involved.
28 C.F.R. § 540.17; accord Federal Bureau of Prisons ("BOP") Program Statement 5265.11 ¶ 14 (Doc. 48-3, p. 16). The Program Statement 5265.11 ¶ 12(d) further provides:
The word "spouse" includes a commonlaw relationship which has previously been established in a state which recognizes this status. In states that do not, common-law relationship is not considered "immediate family." For determination of applicable state laws, the Regional Counsel is to be consulted.
Under Illinois law, where both of the Dosses' alleged marriages occurred, a marriage must be "licensed, solemnized and registered as provided in [the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act, 750 ILCS 5/201 et seq.]". 750 ILCS 5/201. The clerk of the county where the marriage is to be solemnized issues a marriage license and marriage certificate form, see 750 ILCS 5/203 and 5/207, and after the marriage is solemnized the certificate form is to be forwarded to the clerk within 10 days after the solemnization, and then registered with the County and the Department of Public Health, see 750 ILCS 5/209(a) and 210. "Spouse" status is conferred even when one of the statutory—or "directory"—requirements has not been met. In re Estate of Hall, 302 Ill.App.3d 829, 236 Ill.Dec. 356, 707 N.E.2d 201, 205 (1998) (collecting cases); see 750 ILCS 5/305 (). Of course, a marriage entered into before a prior marriage is dissolved is prohibited. See 750 ILCS 5/212. Common law marriages contracted in Illinois after 1905 are invalid. See 750 ILCS 5/214.
Under Illinois law, there is a strong presumption that a marriage is valid, and the challenger must prove invalidity by a preponderance of the evidence. See Pape v. Byrd, 145 Ill.2d 13, 163 Ill.Dec. 898, 582 N.E.2d 164, 172 (1991), (citing In re...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Hardy v. Rauner
...he is a member of a protected class or that those outside of the protected class were treated differently from him. Doss v. Gilkey, 649 F.Supp.2d 905, 915 (S.D. Ill. 2009). Plaintiff's claim about nightyard is not cognizable under the Eighth Amendment, and to the extent that Plaintiff is al......
-
Tran v. Ill. Dep't Of Corr.
...hearing" in a "situation [where] there are no disputed facts regarding exhaustion, only a legal question." Doss v. Gilkey, 649 F. Supp. 2d 905, 912 (S.D. Ill. 2009). With respect to the grievance that Tran sought to file on October 12, 2008, it is the case that, because Tran was incarcerate......
-
Smith v. Schwartz
...hearing" in a "situation [where] there are no disputed facts regarding exhaustion, only a legal question." Doss v. Gilkey, 649 F. Supp. 2d 905, 912 (S.D. Ill. 2009). Here it is undisputed that Gale and Hull properly asserted the affirmative defense of failure to exhaust administrative remed......
-
Daniels v. Lawrence
...necessary, when, like here, exhaustion or the lack of 2 exhaustion, is apparent. Wagoner, 778 F.3d at 588; see e.g., Doss v. Gilkey, 649 F.Supp.2d 905, 912 (S.D. Ill. 2009); Walker v. Harris, 2021 WL 3287832 * 1 (S.D. Ill. 2021); Miller v. Wexford Health Source, Inc., 2017 WL 951399 *2 (S.D......