Estate of Sisk v. Manzanares, 00-4088-JPO.

Citation262 F.Supp.2d 1162
Decision Date03 October 2002
Docket NumberNo. 00-4088-JPO.,00-4088-JPO.
PartiesThe ESTATE OF Scotty Ray SISK, deceased, and The Survivors of Scotty Ray Sisk, Dan and Sharon Sisk, Plaintiffs, v. Joel MANZANARES, Russell Green, Shawn King, Brian Cole, Mike Tolbert, Ryan Redd, and Andrew Johnson, as individuals and as officials of Shawnee County, Kansas, and the Shawnee County Department of Corrections, and The Shawnee County Department Of Corrections,<SMALL><SUP>1</SUP></SMALL> Defendants.
CourtUnited States District Courts. 10th Circuit. United States District Courts. 10th Circuit. District of Kansas

Lee R. Barnett, Keith E. Renner, Barnett & Renner, PA, Auburn, KS, Kenneth D. Winford, Tenth Judicial District Public Defender, Olathe, KS, for Plaintiffs.

Craig C. Blumreich, William A. Larson, Gehrt & Roberts, Chartered, Timothy A. Shultz, Parker & Hay, LLP, Topeka, KS, for Defendants.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

O'HARA, United States Magistrate Judge.

I. Introduction.

This action arises from the suicide of Scotty Ray Sisk ("Sisk") while incarcerated at the Shawnee County Department of Corrections (the "DOC"2) in Topeka, Kansas. The plaintiffs, Sisk's estate and survivors, allege that defendants violated Sisk's constitutional rights by being deliberately indifferent to his medical needs. They further assert common law negligence claims.

Defendants have moved for summary judgment (doc. 115). The court has reviewed defendants' joint motion and supporting memorandum, plaintiffs' response (docs.122-126), and defendants' reply (doc. 132). As explained below, defendants' motion is granted in part and denied in part. Specifically, it is granted with respect to plaintiffs' constitutional claims against Cole, King, Green, and the DOC, as well as plaintiffs' negligence claims against Cole and King. However, defendants' motion is denied with respect to plaintiffs' constitutional claims against Manzanares, Redd, and Johnson, as well as plaintiffs' negligence claims against Manzanares, Redd, Johnson, Green, and the DOC.

II. Facts.

The following facts are taken from the summary judgment record and are either uncontroverted or viewed in the light most favorable to plaintiffs' case. Immaterial facts and facts not properly supported by the record are omitted.3

A. Identification of Sisk as a Suicidal Inmate.

On July 2, 1999, Sisk was sentenced to one year in jail for violating a protective order and was incarcerated at the DOC. On July 6, 1999, Sisk's mother, Sharon Sisk, called defendant Joel Manzanares, a sergeant with the DOC who was the second-shift supervisor that day. She advised Manzanares that she was concerned that Sisk would hurt himself "because he had made threats to her that he would kill himself and insinuated that he had already written a suicide note." Manzanares assured Ms. Sisk that the DOC had a stateof-the-art facility and nothing would happen to her son. He was aware that the third shift is the most likely time for a person to attempt to commit suicide.

Manzanares directed Karen Jennings, a corrections officer with the DOC, to look for a note in Sisk's cell. Officer Jennings found one, and Manzanares considered it to be a suicide note. Manzanares called Mary Ellen Brown, a corrections officer with the DOC, to his office and showed officer Brown the tear-stained note written by Sisk. In the note, Sisk expressed love to his parents and he had traced the outline of his hand on it. Manzanares directed officer Brown to copy the note and distribute it to the jail psychiatrist and to other supervisors and departments.

Manzanares then interviewed Sisk. At first, he found Sisk to be convincing that he would not harm himself. However, he became concerned enough to order Sisk to be moved to the medical module in order to "be on the safe side." Once Sisk was determined to be "Signal 4" (ie., suicidal), Manzanares took a number of precautions. He placed Sisk on suicide watch, ordered Sisk to be placed on a list for medical and/or psychiatric evaluation, and ordered the corrections officers to dress Sisk in paper clothing that is specially designed to tear so that it cannot be used as an aid to commit suicide.

B. Sisk's Move to a Hard Lockdown Cell.

In addition, Manzanares ordered the corrections officers to place Sisk in a socalled "hard lockdown" cell located in the jail's medical module. The DOC's written suicide prevention procedures call for suicidal inmates to be placed in "protrusionfree" rooms. There are two types of rooms in the medical module. One type is known as a "rubber room." These rooms have walls, ceilings, and floors that have been' treated with rubber coating. They do not contain any fixtures on the walls such as hooks or light switches, or any other protrusions from which an inmate could hang a blanket or a rope. The other type is called a "hard lockdown" room. It is constructed of concrete or cinder block walls with a concrete floor and a hole in the floor for inmate personal needs. The written procedures do not distinguish between rubber rooms and hard lockdown rooms.

Manzanares testified that he considers both rubber rooms and hard lockdown rooms to be protrusion-free rooms. However, other corrections officers testified that they were trained to and/or that it was the practice within the DOC to place suicidal inmates in rubber rooms and only in hard lockdown rooms if rubber rooms were unavailable. None of the rubber rooms were in use the evening of July 6, 1999. Manzanares did not attempt to determine whether a rubber room was available for Sisk.

The hard lockdown cell in which Manzanares ordered Sisk to be placed had a metal plate attached to the wall just to the left of the door. The plate was shaped like a switch-plate cover with a slit in the center. It covered the cell's thermostat. Manzanares did not consider this plate to be a protrusion. On the other hand, Lindsey Hayes, plaintiffs' expert, has opined that Sisk was not placed in a "protrusionfree" cell (as required by [DOC] policy) because he was able to "utilize a metal wall plate as an anchoring device in his suicide." 4

Dana McKnight, a corrections officer with the DOC, testified in her deposition that if Sisk had been placed in a rubber room, he would not have had anything attached to the wall of his cell that he could have used as an anchoring device to commit suicide.

C. The Blanket That Sisk Was Issued.

Manzanares also ordered the corrections officers to provide Sisk with a standardissue heavy woolen blanket and a mattress. The DOC's written procedures call for a suicidal inmate to be given, whenever possible, a blanket. Defendant Russell Green, a captain with the DOC, testified that he knew of six suicide attempts at the DOC, and none used a blanket for hanging. However, Pat Jones, a corrections officer with the DOC, testified that the DOC stopped giving suicidal inmates blankets years ago because he thought the DOC had "a few close calls. I'm not quite sure." Hayes has opined that "an inmate at high risk for suicide who has been issued a paper gown and placed in a stripped cell should not be issued a blanket that could be torn into strips."

Regardless of the written policy, however, corrections officers at the DOC such as officer Brown and Bridget McCall-Norton testified that they were trained and/or that it was the practice within the DOC to give suicidal inmates a blanket only if the blanket was a suicide preventative blanket. Suicide preventative blankets were available at the DOC prior to July 6, 1999.5 However, the DOC did not maintain a consistent supply of the suicide preventative blankets. At times, the DOC stocked paper shrouds for suicidal inmates to use.

Green was responsible for procuring items such as the suicide preventative blankets. He testified in his deposition that he had found no suppliers that could supply suicide preventative blankets by July of 1999. He first became aware of a "quilted" blanket that is difficult to tear that could be used for suicidal inmates in October of 1998 when he attended a seminar in Nebraska. While at this conference, Green attempted to purchase the quilted blanket from a vendor, Bob Barker, but he was told that the blanket at the seminar was merely a prototype and that the blankets would be available for sale in Barker's spring 1999 catalog. Green attempted to order the quilted blankets in the spring of 1999 and contacted the supplier, Bob Barker, by telephone a number of times to inquire about the availability of the quilted blanket. Green was advised that the quilted blankets were not available, and the supplier would not accept the DOC's order for the quilted blankets. Green was not aware of any other company other than Bob Barker that produced suicide preventative blankets before Sisk's suicide.

However, officer Brown recalled hearing Green complain, before July 6, 1999, of the cost of the suicide preventative blankets. He allegedly stated in a joking manner that the blankets "were too expensive" to order and "just one less inmate we'd have to worry about."

By July 6, 1999, the DOC had been out of the suicide preventative blankets for quite some time. In fact, it had become an issue at the DOC. Brown testified:

We [meaning the corrections officers] wanted clarification on the suicide procedure. We all knew that they needed to have suicide blankets, but we had been out. We had told our supervisors we needed them. And some of the supervisors would tell us just to leave them in there without a blanket if we were out of suicide blankets. Others would tell us to go ahead and let them have the wool. It really depended on which supervisor was in charge of the shift at the time.

It is undisputed that the DOC did not have any suicide preventative blankets in stock the evening of July 6, 1999, and Manzanares was aware of this fact.

On July 6, 1999, officer Brown delivered Sisk's personal belongings to the medical module. At that time, she did a quick health and well-being check on Sisk. She noticed two things: ...

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11 cases
  • Thomas v. the County Commissioners of Shawnee County
    • United States
    • Kansas Supreme Court
    • September 23, 2011
    ...would apply this duty of care to prison suicide cases. Thomas, 40 Kan.App.2d at 955, 198 P.3d 182 (citing Estate of Sisk v. Manzanares, 262 F.Supp.2d 1162, 1185–87 [D.Kan.2002]; Griffin v. United States, 2000 WL 33200259 [D.Kan.2000] [unpublished opinion] ). The Court of Appeals placed no r......
  • Estate of Sisk v. Manzanares
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — District of Kansas
    • June 23, 2003
    ...in favor of the DOC and Green, as well as defendants Brian Cole and Shawn King, on plaintiffs' § 1983 claims. Sisk v. Manzanares, 262 F.Supp.2d 1162, at 1186-87 (D.Kan.2002). The court also granted summary judgment in favor of Cole and King on plaintiffs' state law negligence claims. Id. 2.......
  • Thomas v. County Com'Rs of Shawnee County
    • United States
    • Kansas Court of Appeals
    • December 12, 2008
    ...(Second) of Torts § 314A(4) to hold that prison officials owed inmates the duty to prevent self-harm. Estate of Sisk v. Manzanares, 262 F.Supp.2d 1162, 1185-87 (D.Kan.2002) (holding DOC and its personnel had independent legal duty to prevent prisoner from committing suicide); Griffin v. Uni......
  • Bell v. City of Topeka, Kansas, 06-4026 JAR.
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — District of Kansas
    • July 9, 2007
    ...would exist as a result of the employment of the alleged tort feasor" and "such harm is within the risk." Estate of Sisk v. Manzanares, 262 F.Supp.2d 1162, 1187 (D.Kan.2002). As explained above, plaintiff has failed to provide evidence that defendant knew or should have known of a risk of h......
  • Request a trial to view additional results
1 books & journal articles
  • Estate of Sisk v. Manzanares.
    • United States
    • Corrections Caselaw Quarterly No. 28, November 2003
    • November 1, 2003
    ...District Court PRISONER SUICIDE Estate of Sisk v. Manzanares, 262 F.Supp.2d 1162 (D.Kan. 2002). The estate and survivors of a deceased prisoner brought a civil rights action against a county corrections department, alleging deliberate indifference to the prisoner's medical needs. The distri......

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