Gholson v. Murry

• Citation: 953 F.Supp. 709
• Decision Date: 07 January 1997
• Docket Number: Civil Action No. 2:95cv442.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Virginia
• Parties: Lonnie GHOLSON, Robert Taylor, Nathaniel Scott, James Logan, Ali Salaam, T. Nguyen, and E. Forbes, Plaintiffs, v. Ed MURRY,<SMALL><SUP>1</SUP></SMALL> C.E. Thompson, Ms. Dunn, Ron Angelone, Carl Hester, and Jim Bruce, Defendants.

953 F.Supp. 709

Lonnie GHOLSON, Robert Taylor, Nathaniel Scott, James Logan, Ali Salaam, T. Nguyen, and E. Forbes, Plaintiffs, v. Ed MURRY,¹ C.E. Thompson, Ms. Dunn, Ron Angelone, Carl Hester, and Jim Bruce, Defendants.

Civil Action No. 2:95cv442.

United States District Court, E.D. Virginia, Norfolk Division.

January 7, 1997.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Lonnie M. Gholson, Craigsville, VA, pro se.

Nathaniel Scott, Boydton, VA, pro se.

Pamela Anne Sargent, Office of the Attorney General, Richmond, VA, for Defendants.

OPINION AND FINAL ORDER

REBECCA BEACH SMITH, District Judge.

Plaintiffs Lonnie M. Gholson and Nathaniel Scott, both Virginia inmates, brought this pro se action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, to redress alleged violations of their constitutional rights. For the reasons stated below, the court grants defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment.

I. Factual and Procedural History

Mecklenburg Correctional Center ("Mecklenburg") is one of three maximum security facilities housing male prisoners within the Virginia Department of Corrections. Maximum security housing units such as Mecklenburg equip themselves to supervise and control inmates who pose a security threat. Disruptive, aggressive, and violent inmates, or inmates needing protective custody, are housed in single cell segregation assignments. In segregation housing, the movement of inmates is stringently controlled and heightened security measures are used. Hester Aff. ¶ 5. Building Two at Mecklenburg is currently closed for renovations, but it used to house high security inmates, such as plaintiffs, who were assigned to long-term segregation, such as those inmates with a history of escape, hostage-taking, assaults on staff members, and other hostile behavior. Id. ¶ 10.

According to institutional records, plaintiff Gholson was incarcerated in segregation housing at Mecklenburg from January 26, 1994, until April 3, 1996, when he was transferred to the Augusta Correctional Center. Plaintiff Scott is currently incarcerated in segregation housing at Mecklenburg, and has been there since April 5, 1994. Id. ¶ 4. Both plaintiffs have a history of assaultive, disruptive, and hostile behavior. Gholson's institutional record reflects that he has received major infractions for incidents that occurred while he was housed at Mecklenburg, including threatening bodily harm to the staff, flooding his cell, destroying state property, and disobeying orders given by the staff. Id. ¶ 7, Ex.B. According to Scott's institutional record, he has incurred at least thirty-seven (37) disciplinary infractions in Building Two at Mecklenburg for assaulting staff and other inmates with unknown substances, threatening bodily harm to the staff, setting fires, flooding his cell on numerous occasions, and disobeying staff orders. Id. ¶ 6, Ex.A. This list of infractions does not include any incidents occurring while Scott was incarcerated in other areas of Mecklenburg. Id. ¶ 6.

Plaintiffs' original Complaint, which was filed May 15, 1995, included seven named plaintiffs confined at Mecklenburg Correctional Center at the time the Complaint was filed: Lonnie M. Gholson, Robert Taylor, Nathaniel Scott, James Logan, Ali Salaam, T. Nguyen, and E. Forbes. The Complaint also included three named defendants: Ed Murray (former Head of the Department of Corrections), C.E. Thompson (former Warden), and Ms. Dunn (Head of Food Service).

On May 15, 1995, plaintiffs were instructed to complete a questionnaire designed to elaborate on the claims stated in their original filing. In response to that questionnaire, plaintiffs named three additional defendants to the action and omitted two defendants named in the original Complaint. Since the questionnaire was proffered as an amendment to the original Complaint, on September 22, 1995, the court added defendants Ron Angelone (present Head of the Department of Corrections), Carl Hester (Assistant Warden of Programs), and Jim Bruce (former Head of Treatment), and dismissed defendants Dunn and Thompson from this action.

When plaintiffs Taylor, Logan, Salaam, and Nguyen failed to sign the Complaint and other pleadings as directed by court Order, the court dismissed them from the action without prejudice. On December 22, 1995, the court granted the three remaining plaintiffs, Gholson, Scott, and Forbes, permission to proceed in forma pauperis, and ordered their Complaint filed. The court also continued the case for ninety (90) days to permit plaintiffs to exhaust the state prison's internal grievance procedures, and directed plaintiffs to file proof of exhaustion by April 1, 1996. Plaintiff Gholson submitted proof of his individual grievances on February 23, 1996. On March 1, 1996, the court advised the remaining two plaintiffs, Forbes and Scott, that they must submit their own documentation proving they individually pursued the grievance procedures. Such proof was eventually submitted by Scott. Forbes, however, failed to submit proof of his individual grievances. Accordingly, on June 13, 1996, the court dismissed Forbes from this action. The court also ordered the remaining defendants, Murray, Angelone, Hester, and Bruce, to file responsive pleadings or appropriate motions to plaintiffs' Complaint.

Defendants filed a Motion for Summary Judgment on October 4, 1996, with supporting memoranda, exhibits, and the affidavit of defendant Carl Hester. In accordance with Roseboro v. Garrison, 528 F.2d 309 (4th Cir. 1975), defendants gave plaintiffs Gholson and Scott notice of their opportunity to respond to defendants' motion with any material they wished to offer in rebuttal. Defendants also instructed plaintiffs that failure to submit any materials could result in an adverse judgment based on defendants' motion and accompanying exhibits and affidavit. Plaintiffs failed to respond to defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment. This matter is now ripe for determination.

II. Standard of Review

Summary judgment under Rule 56 is appropriate only when the court, viewing the record as a whole and in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, determines that there exists no genuine issue of material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. See, e.g., Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322-24, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2552-53, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986); Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248-50, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2510-11, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986); Terry's Floor Fashions v. Burlington Indus., 763 F.2d 604, 610 (4th Cir.1985). Once a party has properly filed evidence supporting the motion for summary judgment, the nonmoving party may not rest upon mere allegations in the pleadings, but must instead set forth specific facts illustrating genuine issues for trial. Celotex Corp., 477 U.S. at 322-24, 106 S.Ct. at 2552-53. Such facts must be presented in the form of exhibits and sworn affidavits. Failure by plaintiffs to rebut defendants' motion with such evidence on their behalf will result in summary judgment when appropriate. "[T]he plain language of Rule 56(c) mandates the entry of summary judgment ... against a party who fails to make a showing sufficient to establish the existence of an element essential to that party's case, and on which that party will bear the burden of proof at trial." Id. at 322, 106 S.Ct. at 2552.

Section 1983 imposes civil liability on a state official who, under color of state law, deprives any citizen of the United States, or other person under the jurisdiction thereof, of any right secured by the Constitution or laws of the United States. 42 U.S.C. § 1983. To hold a defendant liable under § 1983, the court must first determine whether that defendant acted under color of state law, and "whether the plaintiff has been deprived of a right `secured' by the Constitution and its laws." Baker v. McCollan, 443 U.S. 137, 140, 99 S.Ct. 2689, 2692, 61 L.Ed.2d 433 (1979). If the answer to either inquiry is "no," the § 1983 action fails. See id.; McDonald v. Dunning, 760 F.Supp. 1156, 1160 (E.D.Va. 1991).

III. Analysis

Although plaintiffs' Complaint is often confusing and their claims of constitutional violations difficult to discern, pro se complaints, however unskillfully pleaded, are to be liberally construed. Vinnedge v. Gibbs, 550 F.2d 926, 928 (4th Cir.1977). In their original Complaint and in the amendment to the Complaint, plaintiffs allege that: (1) defendants unlawfully denied them an opportunity to work and to obtain an education; (2) they have been served food in a manner that violates their First Amendment right of religious freedom, including their right to practice the pork-free Nation of Islam diet; (3) defendants denied their requests for a transfer to Buckingham Correctional Center, where they could get a proper religious diet; (4) the new outdoor recreational facilities are inadequate because they are too small, and lack water or restrooms; (5) defendants failed to protect the health and safety of inmates by exposing them to water contaminated with lead; (6) defendants denied plaintiffs' requests to leave open the tray slots in the cell doors, and did not provide adequate ventilation; and (7) defendants improperly reinstated the phase program. In addition to declaratory and injunctive relief, plaintiffs seek $100,000.00 in compensatory damages, and $100,000.00 in punitive damages. The court will not address any of Gholson's claims for declaratory or injunctive relief because they are moot. See Williams v. Griffin, 952 F.2d 820, 823 (4th Cir.1991) (inmate's transfer rendered moot his claims for injunctive and declaratory relief). Gholson was transferred to Augusta Correctional Center on April 3, 1996, and is no longer subjected to the conditions complained of at Mecklenburg.

Within defendants' brief in support of their Motion for Summary Judgment, pursuant to Local Rule 10(F)(2), defendants included the following statement of undisputed facts:

1. Gholson and Scott are inmates confined...