Bell v. Luna, 3:10cv8 (MRK).

• Decision Date: 01 March 2012
• Docket Number: No. 3:10cv8 (MRK).,3:10cv8 (MRK).
• Citation: 856 F.Supp.2d 388
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Connecticut
• Parties: Harold R. BELL, Plaintiff, v. Norberto LUNA, Timothy Silvas, Carol Chapdelaine, James Vadnais, Colin Wilson, and Peter Murphy, Defendants.

856 F.Supp.2d 388

Harold R. BELL, Plaintiff,

v.Norberto LUNA, Timothy Silvas, Carol Chapdelaine, James Vadnais, Colin Wilson, and Peter Murphy, Defendants.

No. 3:10cv8 (MRK).

United States District Court,

D. Connecticut.

March 1, 2012.

Harold R. Bell, Enfield, CT, pro se.

Lynn D. Wittenbrink, Attorney General's Office, Hartford, CT, for Defendants.

RULING AND ORDER

MARK R. KRAVITZ, District Judge.

Plaintiff Harold R. Bell claims that officials at the MacDougall–Walker Correctional Institution subjected him to unconstitutional conditions of confinement and showed deliberate indifference to his serious medical needs, in violation of the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. Mr. Bell's claims, brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, stem from a nearly seven-month period from June 2008 to January 2009 in which his prison mattress was, in his description, “defective,” “unhygienic,” and “grossly inadequate.” Compl. [doc. # 2] ¶ 1. The condition of the mattress resulted in pains and ailments which, Mr. Bell alleges, were inadequately treated by a prison doctor, Defendant Timothy Silvas.

Dr. Silvas and his co-defendants—Peter Murphy, the Warden; Carol Chapdelaine, the Deputy Warden of Administrative Services; James Vadnais, Inmate Remedies Coordinator; Colin Wilson, Unit Counselor; and Norberto Luna, the Unit Manager and Correctional Captain—have responded with the currently-pending Motion to Dismiss [doc. # 22]. They claim that Mr. Bell's allegations do not rise to the level of cruel and unusual punishment, that none of the Defendants had enough personal involvement to be liable for damages under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and that they should in any case be granted qualified immunity, as Mr. Bell's allegedly infringed rights were not ones clearly established at the time the actions took place.

The Court disagrees, at least in part. Whether or not the factual record, when developed more fully, will ultimately show that the Eighth Amendment was violated, the factual allegations in Mr. Bell's Complaint must be taken as true at this stage, and they plausibly describe an unconstitutional condition of confinement. Further, the need to provide an inmate with a hygienic mattress was clearly established at the time of the alleged deprivation; qualified immunity is therefore inappropriate. On the other hand, Mr. Bell's pleadings fail to establish sufficient personal involvement in this situation by four of the named defendants: Mr. Murphy, Ms. Chapdelaine, Mr. Vadnais, and Mr. Wilson. Nor do Mr. Bell's pleadings suggest that he received constitutionally deficient medical care from Dr. Silvas. For the reasons that follow, Mr. Bell's claims are dismissed as to those five defendants. The Court will allow Mr. Bell's claim against Mr. Luna to proceed and will await a further development of the factual record regarding the violations Mr. Bell has alleged.

I.

The function of a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6) is to determine whether the plaintiff has stated a legally-cognizable claim that, if proven, would entitle him to relief. In making that determination, the Court accepts as true all factual allegations in the complaint and draws all reasonable inferences from those allegations in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. See Harris v. Mills, 572 F.3d 66, 71–72 (2d Cir.2009). To survive a motion to dismiss, “a complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to ‘state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.’ ” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 1949, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009) ( quoting Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007)); see also Selevan v. N.Y. Thruway Auth., 584 F.3d 82, 95 (2d Cir.2009). When filed by a pro se plaintiff, a complaint is to be “liberally construed” and “held to less stringent standards than formal pleadings drafted by lawyers.” Erickson v. Pardus, 551 U.S. 89, 94, 127 S.Ct. 2197, 167 L.Ed.2d 1081 (2007); Harris, 572 F.3d at 72.

The factual allegations stated by Mr. Bell in his Complaint are as follows. On or about June 26, 2008, Mr. Bell submitted a detailed request to Unit Manager Luna, pursuant to institutional policies, complaining that his mattress:

had been slashed into and ‘slit’ down its center the full length of the mattress exposing it's [sic] internal insulation materials, of which a substantial amount had been missing, rendering the mattress intolerable, and uselessly defective, unhygienic, and substantially shortened with an odorous smell of mildew which contributed to the other defective conditions....

Compl. [doc. # 2] ¶ 2. After he followed up with Mr. Luna in person on July 14, Mr. Bell was told that his request for a new mattress had been forwarded to Deputy Warden Chapdelaine. Mr. Bell submitted an additional, detailed complaint to Ms. Chapdelaine on August 4, claiming that his defective and unsanitary mattress was causing him “substantial pain and a loss of restful sleep.” Id. ¶ 5. Two days later, Ms. Chapdelaine denied Mr. Bell's request for a new mattress, informing him that the Unit Manager, not she, handled mattress exchanges. On August 10, Mr. Bell again petitioned Mr. Luna for a new mattress but received no reply. On August 18, Mr. Bell had another conversation with Mr. Luna about whether he could get an adequate mattress, and Mr. Luna told him: “I don't have mattresses like that.” Id. ¶ 9.

Mr. Bell claims that he suffers from several chronic ailments, some of which were exacerbated by the condition of his mattress. Mr. Bell's degenerative glaucoma was aggravated, causing him eye pain, severe tension headaches, and a risk of elevated intraocular pressure; he experienced pain, stiffness, and reduced mobility in his joints, limbs, lower back, hips, knees, and right elbow; he has asthma, and worried that the exposed mattress insulation would make it worse; and he suffers from a variety of mental health illnesses, includingdepression and Intermittent Explosive Disorder, which were worsened by the sleeplessness caused by his defective mattress. Mr. Bell submitted requests to the medical unit on August 19 and 26, and on August 24, 25, and 28 he spoke to staff members in the medical unit about getting his mattress replaced. A nurse told Mr. Bell that mattresses were a custody, rather than medical, issue.

On August 29, Mr. Bell submitted a grievance which was marked as received on September 10, and to which Warden Murphy responded on September 23. See Compl. [doc. # 2] Ex. 79. In his response, Mr. Murphy wrote that “it has been confirmed that this mattress seems to meet conditions for replacement.” Id. Ex. 80. Mr. Murphy instructed Mr. Bell to present the disposition of his grievance to his unit staff, though it is unclear whether Mr. Bell immediately did so. Mr. Bell claims that no corrective measures were taken in response to his grievance.

Mr. Bell met with Dr. Silvas on September 22 to discuss his joint pain; Dr. Silvas examined him, ordered x-rays and blood tests, and prescribed an increased dosage of motrin. After submitting further requests to the medical unit, Mr. Bell met with a mental health staff member on October 19. He made further requests in November and December for diagnoses of his aches, as well as for an MRI. His X-rays showed no fractures or dislocations. See id. Ex. 65.

On October 27, Warden Murphy and members of his administrative staff inspected Mr. Bell's unit for violations. Mr. Bell again spoke with Mr. Luna about replacing his mattress and was told to “write a request and if you get it, you get it.” Id. ¶ 33; see also id. Ex. 67 (Almeida Aff.). On December 1, Mr. Bell filed further requests with two other Defendants, Mr. Vadnais and Mr. Wilson. Mr. Wilson did not respond. Mr. Vadnais wrote to Mr. Bell the following day to say that the unit staff should handle his request and that Mr. Bell could contact him again if that did not happen. See id. Ex. 58. When Mr. Bell wrote to a property officer on December 29, he received another response instructing him to go through his unit manager (Mr. Luna), which Mr. Bell did yet again. Mr. Bell reports that he saw mattresses in better condition than his own stacked against a wall in the prison, going unused.

A lockdown occurred on January 14, 2009, during which inmates had to place their mattresses outside their cells. Upon completion of the lock down, Mr. Bell was told that he had been given a new mattress.

On January 23, 2009, Mr. Bell filed a new grievance, complaining of the seven months he had gone without an adequate mattress. The Administrative Remedy Form was returned with a request that his grievance be “stated simply and coherently.” Id. Ex. 35. On February 6, Mr. Bell filed a revised grievance stating that his replaced mattress was not thick enough to support his hip joints. See id. Ex. 30. Ms. Chapdelaine responded on March 4, denying Mr. Bell's request and informing him that a thicker mattress would only be provided based on documented medical need. She also noted that Mr. Bell's previous complaints had centered on the rip in his mattress, not its thickness, and that “[a]lthough it did take much time, [his] mattress was eventually replaced.” See id. After unsuccessfully appealing and exhausting his administrative remedies, Mr. Bell on March 15 filed another Inmate Request Form with Warden Murphy, describing all that had happened regarding his mattress. The form was returned on March 27 with a note, written by Mr. Luna rather than Mr. Murphy, observing merely that Mr. Bell had been issued a new mattress. See id. Ex. 24.

Meanwhile, in January and February 2009, Mr. Bell had written to Dr. Silvas requesting analgesic cream. Dr. Silvas did not respond. In September 2009, Mr. Bell asked to be seen by the medical unit for lower back pain, which he claimed had been caused by Defendants' slow response in replacing his inadequate mattress.

II.

As the briefing [docs. # 22, 26] on the pending Motion...