Brown v. Cumberland Cnty.

• Docket Number: Docket No. 2:20-cv-00478-NT
• Decision Date: 16 August 2023
• Citation: 687 F.Supp.3d 150
• Parties: Jaden BROWN, Plaintiff, v. CUMBERLAND COUNTY, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Maine

687 F.Supp.3d 150

Jaden BROWN, Plaintiff, v. CUMBERLAND COUNTY, et al., Defendants.

Docket No. 2:20-cv-00478-NT

United States District Court, D. Maine

Signed August 16, 2023

Jeremy W. Dean, Law Office of Jeremy W. Dean, Portland, ME, for Plaintiff.

Peter T. Marchesi, Michael D. Lichtenstein, Wheeler & Arey, P.A., Waterville, ME, for Defendants Cumberland County, Kevin Joyce, Timothy Kortes.

John J. Wall, III, Monaghan Leahy, LLP, Portland, ME, for DefendantsSam Dickey, Deputy Haskell.

ORDER ON MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

Nancy Torresen, United States District Judge

Before me are the motions for summary judgment of Cumberland County, Kevin Joyce, and Timothy Kortes(the "County Defendants' Motion")(ECF No. 76) and Sam Dickey, Carrie Brady, and Daniel Haskell(the "Officer Defendants' Motion")(ECF No. 81).For the reasons stated below, the County Defendants' Motion is DENIED; the Officer Defendants' Motion is GRANTED as to Defendant Brady and DENIED as to Defendants Dickey and Haskell.

BACKGROUND¹

I.Labor and Delivery

The Plaintiff, Jaden Brown, was pregnant in July of 2018 when she began a fifteen-month sentence at the Cumberland County Jail(the "Jail").Consolidated Statement of Material Facts Including Defs.' Reply Statement of Material Facts in Supp. of Defs.' Mot. for Summ. J.("CSMF")¶¶ 1-2 (ECF No. 105).Brown started having contractions on the morning of February 10, 2019, and she was transported to Maine Medical Center at around 11:00 a.m. CSMF ¶¶ 33-34.DefendantKevin Joyce, the Sheriff of Cumberland County, had planned to release Brown from custody with an ankle bracelet for monitoring as soon as she went into labor, but this did not happen because of a miscommunication between Joyce and DefendantTimothy Kortes, Jail Administrator for the Jail.CSMF ¶¶ 11, 21, 85.Brown was not considered to be a security or escape risk while in the hospital.CSMF ¶ 83.

As a result of the miscommunication about releasing Brown when labor commenced, corrections officers from the Jail were present at the hospital throughout Brown's labor and delivery.Corrections Officer Angel Dufour was assigned to Brown's guard detail the first day that Brown was in the hospital.CSMF ¶¶ 4, 35, 88.Dufour asked Brown whether she wanted her to remain in the room during Brown's labor, and Brown told her she would like her to stay.CSMF ¶¶ 4, 96.Then, at approximately 10:45 p.m., DefendantsDaniel Haskell, Carrie Brady, and Sam Dickey(together, the "Officer Defendants")—corrections officers with the Jail—arrived at the hospital for a shift change.CSMF ¶¶ 4-5.

Defendant Brady was fairly new to the job, with only about six months of experience.CSMF ¶ 17;DeanDecl. Ex. 7("Butts Memo") 1 (ECFNo. 94-2).By contrast, Defendant Dickey had nearly two decades of experience as a corrections officer and had participated in hundreds of hospital details during his tenure.CSMF ¶¶ 18, 42.And Defendant Haskell, who worked in a supervisory capacity, seems to have had at least several years of experience.CSMF ¶ 36.²Both Haskell and Dickey had troubling histories involving inappropriate relationships with inmates.Dickey, for example, had been demoted from Sergeant to Corrections Officer around 2014 after a complaint of an inappropriate relationship with a female inmate.Def. Sam Dickey's Objs. and Resps. to Pl.'s First Set of Interrogs.5-6 (ECFNo. 78-11).And Brown had personally witnessed at least one female inmate strip for Haskell.CSMF ¶ 99.³

Brown testified that she asked Dufour to tell the Officer Defendants to stay out of the hospital room.CSMF ¶ 132.In an incident report,⁴ Dufour reported that she told Dickey, "I know you may already be aware but the policy has changed and we are not allowed to be in the delivery room when she is giving birth," to which Dickey responded, "OK."DeanDecl. Ex. 9("Dufour Incident Report")(ECFNo. 94-2).

Despite Dufour's warning, Defendants Dickey and Brady sat in Brown's birthing room until early the next morning and were present while Brown was in labor and giving birth.CSMF ¶ 93.A photograph of the Plaintiff's hospital room shows a large, mostly empty room with a hospital bed in the corner immediately next to a bench:

Image materials not available for display.

DeanDecl. Ex. 20("Photograph")(ECFNo. 94-2).⁵

While in the birthing room, Dickey sat to the left on the bench at the side of Brown's hospital bed, approximately one and a half to two feet from where she lay, next to Brown's legs.CSMF ¶¶ 139, 143, 208.During his shift, Dickey watched TV, napped, and laughed at jokes that Defendant Haskell made.CSMF ¶ 155.For the most part, Brady, a female officer, sat on the right side of the bench, about four feet away from Brown, but she moved to the foot of Brown's hospital bed when Brown began pushing.CSMF ¶¶ 71, 145, 160, 207.Both Defendants Brady and Dickey were in a position to see, hear, and smell everything that was happening during Brown's labor and delivery.⁶

Defendant Haskell stood and roamed in and out of the room, though it is not clear whether he was present at the time of actual delivery.CSMF ¶¶ 8-9, 209.At one point, Haskell joked that Brown and her baby were "one and a half inmates" and told Brown that she should name her daughter after the Jail.CSMF ¶¶ 187-88.At another point, Haskell spoke to Brown about an accusation made by a female inmate at the Jail, who had accused Haskell of having sex with her.CSMF ¶¶ 189-90.Defendant Haskell mocked the woman's appearance and told Brown he had not had sex with her because she was not his type, asking Brown, "Can you believe it?You know my type.Is she my type?"CSMF ¶ 191.Brown understood this question to refer to the "type" of female inmates she had previously witnessed stripping and flashing for Defendant Haskell in the Jail, who tended to be young, petite, blonde women.CSMF ¶ 192.⁷

During the course of Brown's labor, medical staff conducted multiple examinations to see how dilated her cervix was.CSMF ¶ 198.During each of these examinations, medical staff inserted gloved fingers into Brown's vagina to manually check the dilation of her cervix, which required her to have her legs wide open.CSMF ¶ 199.At one such cervical dilation exam, while Brown's legs were open, Defendant Brady stood or sat near the end of Brown's bed with a hand mirror and asked Brown if she would like to see her baby being born—an offer that Brown refused and later described as "horrif[ying] and dehumaniz[ing]."CSMF ¶¶ 156-59.In addition to cervical exams, medical staff administered an epidural to Brown and inserted a urinary catheter.CSMF ¶ 201.Medical staff would also periodically monitor the baby's heartbeat, which required them to expose Brown's belly and breasts.CSMF ¶ 202.When it came time for Brown to push, medical staff held up her legs for her because she could not hold them high enough.CSMF ¶ 205.

The Plaintiff testified that between examinations she was usually covered with a johnny and a sheet, and that the medical staff "tried their best" to keep her body covered during examinations to preserve her privacy.Brown.Dep. 102:3-102:12; 103:24-104:2 (ECFNo. 78-1).Despite those efforts, there were times when Brown's breasts and genitals were exposed.CSMF ¶¶ 202-03, 206.For example, Brown's genitals were completely exposed during delivery because it was not possible to keep a sheet over her while her legs were held up in the air by hospital staff.CSMF ¶ 206.For their part, the Defendants maintain that Brady, Dickey, and Haskell did not place themselves in a position to observe Brown's naked body; that they"never observed" or "viewed" Brown's naked body; and that, in particular, they never observed Brown's exposed breasts or genitals.CSMF ¶¶ 60-70, 206.

The Plaintiff testified that the Officer Defendants' presence in her hospital room made her feel "embarrassed" and "numb."CSMF ¶ 211.⁸Brown also testified that, after giving birth, she had planned to have immediate skin-to-skin contact with her baby and breastfeed her, but that she did not do those things because she did not want to have such "an intimate moment" in front of the guards.CSMF ¶ 213;BrownDep. 123:1-123:5.

Jail staff never informed Brown of her right to privacy while in labor and delivery.CSMF ¶ 82.Brown did not ask the Officer Defendants to leave the room.CSMF ¶ 210.She testified that she"probably would have asked them to leave the room had [she] felt comfortable to do so," but "when you're naked and your legs are spread open it's just like—it's over.Let's just get it done with."BrownDep. 120:13-120:19.

A member of the medical staff did approach Defendant Dickey after Brown gave birth, when he left Brown's hospital room for a bathroom break, and the staff member told Defendant Dickey that he should not have been in Brown's hospital room while she gave birth because it violated her privacy.CSMF ¶ 162.Defendant Dickey recounted this conversation when he got back into the hospital room, and asked Brown, "Did I fucking make you feel uncomfortable in any way?"CSMF ¶¶ 163-65.Brown's response to Defendant Dickey's comment is disputed.Brown states that she was intimidated and did not respond, while the Defendants contend that Brown responded "absolutely not."CSMF ¶¶ 165-66.

II.Consequences

After Brown gave birth, she filed a complaint about the Officer Defendants being present in her room and an investigation was initiated.CSMF ¶ 14.As a result of the investigation into Brown's complaint, Defendant Joyce determined that Brady and Dickey had both violated Maine state law and Cumberland County policy by being present in Brown's birthing room during her labor and the delivery of her child.CSMF ¶ 15.Defendant Brady was given a "verbal counseling" for her actions, and Defendant Dickey's employment was terminated, though it was later reinstated following his filing of a union grievance.CSMF ¶¶ 17-19.

III.Jail Policies, Training, and Practices

The Jail...