Hayes v. New York City Dept. of Corrections, 1169
| Decision Date | 24 May 1996 |
| Docket Number | No. 1169,D,1169 |
| Citation | 84 F.3d 614 |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit |
| Parties | Ronald HAYES, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, Captain James M. Grillo, Captain Deborah Sutton, Assistant Deputy Warden Howard Robertson, in their personal and professional capacities as employees of the New York City Department of Corrections, Defendants-Appellees. ocket 95-2625. |
Jeffrey G. Bullwinkel, New York City (Joseph F. Tringali, and Karla A. Cohen, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, New York City, of counsel), for Appellant.
Helen P. Brown, Office of the Corporation Counsel of the City of New York, New York City (Paul A. Crotty, Corporation Counsel of the City of New York, and Kristin M. Helmers, Office of the Corporation Counsel, New York City, of counsel), for Appellees.
Before VAN GRAAFEILAND, MESKILL and WINTER, Circuit Judges.
Plaintiff-appellant Ronald Hayes appeals from a decision of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Martin, J., granting the defendants' motion for summary judgment and dismissing appellant's Eighth Amendment claims as to all defendants. We conclude that the district court erred in excluding portions of appellant's deposition testimony and in concluding that the protective measures undertaken by prison officials were reasonable as a matter of law. We reverse the decision of the district court and remand the cause for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
On June 25, 1991, appellant Ronald Hayes commenced this action pro se. Pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, Hayes sought compensatory and punitive damages as redress for defendants' alleged deliberate indifference to his safety during his incarceration at the House of Detention for Men (HDM), a high security facility on Rikers Island (Rikers) for approximately 1,200 men. He alleged that he suffered injury in connection with three attacks by other inmates at HDM on February 19, 1989, March 10, 1989, and April 2, 1989. Unless otherwise indicated, the following facts are undisputed. 1
Hayes arrived at Rikers in 1988. During the fall of 1988, he allegedly informed various Department of Corrections (DOC) personnel that he was in danger in HDM, that he was concerned about his safety and that he wished to be transferred. The DOC personnel did not ask Hayes to identify his enemies or take any other action to protect Hayes.
On or about February 12, 1989, Defendant Grillo, the HDM security captain with principal responsibility for security at Rikers, summoned Hayes to a meeting in his office with Gary Tillman, another inmate. The substance of their conversation is hotly contested and forms the crux of this appeal. The defendants do not refute Hayes' general allegation that he told Grillo that his life was in danger in HDM and requested a transfer. According to Hayes, however, he and Grillo specifically discussed Hayes' "[p]roblems with G [Gary Tillman] and his whole crew." Grillo refused Hayes' request for a transfer and, according to Hayes, he was warned that he would be held responsible if "anything [went] on" because Tillman had worked for Grillo for a long time and was a personal friend of his.
On February 15, 1989, Tillman and two other inmates, Terrence Campbell and Tasker Spruill, attacked Hayes, stabbing him in the back of the head, the temple, the right shoulder and the arm. Although Hayes refused to name his assailants to the investigating officer, Tillman, Campbell and Spruill were identified as "involved" in the investigating officer's "Unusual Incident Report." After this attack, the DOC issued separation orders for all of these inmates. The DOC also transferred Hayes, Tillman and Campbell out of HDM, and relocated Spruill to another block within HDM.
However, following an altercation during visitation with his wife on March 6, 1989, Hayes was transferred back to HDM to serve punitive segregation time within the Central Punitive Segregation Unit (CPSU). Upon his return to HDM, Hayes informed several DOC officials that he feared for his safety there. Several third persons, including another inmate, also expressed concerns for Hayes' safety to DOC officials. Mental health services workers also met with Hayes and documented that he was extremely frightened, was threatening suicide, and appeared to be a security problem.
On March 8, 1989, while under escort to religious services, Hayes attacked Shawn Grams, another inmate, with a razor. Neither Hayes nor Grams cooperated with the investigation of the incident. HDM officials did not issue a separation order or take any other protective measures.
On that same day, Hayes again met with Captain Grillo to discuss his safety concerns and request a transfer. Grillo declined to transfer Hayes, but warned him not to attend the Muslim services scheduled for the common area of HDM on March 10, 1989. According to Hayes, he indicated that he would attend the religious services.
On March 9, 1989, inmate Campbell was transferred back to HDM to serve time in CPSU. Pursuant to the separation order and DOC policy, Hayes and Campbell were housed in separate cell blocks of CPSU.
On March 10, 1989, Hayes attended religious services. When he left the services to use the restroom, Grams and Campbell assaulted him, stabbing him in the back, hip and face. Following this incident, a separation order was issued for Hayes, Grams and Campbell. Grams was transferred out of HDM, and Campbell was transferred to another block of CPSU where he was under 23-hour lockdown. Nevertheless, Hayes continued to complain about threats to his safety and to request a transfer.
On April 2, 1989, Hayes and Campbell encountered one another as Campbell was concluding a visit and Hayes was beginning one. Campbell ran at Hayes, slashing his face with a razor. Nine DOC officers sustained injuries while restraining Campbell. Following this incident, a new separation order was issued and a handcuff order was issued for Campbell. Eventually, Hayes was transferred to another facility.
Acting pro se, Hayes engaged in limited discovery and submitted to a deposition in 1992 by defendants' counsel. At that deposition, Hayes testified that he had expressed his safety concerns at a February 12, 1989 meeting with Captain Grillo and another individual whom he could not identify by name at that time. Specifically, counsel asked him "Do you recall the name of the other individual?" He responded
Counsel also questioned Hayes about the events following the first attack. Specifically, he asked:
Q. To the best of your recollection, what did you say about these warnings, in your own words?
A. I told them that I had enemies in H.D.M. and I had already been hurt here as a result of my enemies and it is not safe for me to be here.
Q. Did you name your enemies in H.D.M.?
A. I don't recall. I don't think so because I don't know everybody by name.
Q. Did you give any names of enemies, any particular enemies?
A. I don't recall.
Defense counsel did not ask Hayes whether he had identified his enemies in any other way or whether Hayes and Grillo had discussed the source of Hayes' fears.
On June 2, 1993, the district court appointed counsel for Hayes. Hayes' counsel thereafter conducted further discovery and agreed to a second deposition, subject to limitations. More specifically, the parties engaged in the following colloquy on the record of the August 11, 1993 deposition:
[Plaintiff's counsel]: [T]he deposition of April 15 '92 at Green Haven does not exist for purposes of trial or any other purpose related to this case. There's nothing admissible in that deposition that could be used later on.
[Defense counsel]: For purposes of trial, we agree.
Hayes' counsel failed to clarify the scope of the agreement.
At this second deposition, defense counsel again questioned Hayes regarding the February 12, 1989 meeting with Captain Grillo and a third individual. Hayes testified that the third individual was Gary Tillman and that he told Grillo at that time that he "had problems with G [Tillman] and other inmates," with "his whole crew," and that he believed his life was in danger in HDM. He also testified that Grillo told him that Grillo would hold him responsible if anything happened to Tillman because Tillman had worked for Grillo for a long time and was a personal friend of his.
On March 24, 1995, defendants moved for summary judgment contending that there were no genuine issues of material fact as to whether defendants were "deliberately indifferent" to Hayes' safety under the standards set forth in Farmer v. Brennan, --- U.S. ----, 114 S.Ct. 1970, 128 L.Ed.2d 811 (1994). In support of their motion, defendants submitted excerpts from both of Hayes' depositions. Because of ambiguity in the agreement regarding the first deposition and because of the failure of Hayes' counsel to clarify that agreement, the district court allowed the defendants to include the testimony from the first deposition in support of their summary judgment motion.
After considering both depositions together, the district court concluded that Hayes had altered his testimony in material respects--primarily as to whether he had identified his alleged enemies to prison officials. In other words, the district judge interpreted Hayes' second deposition as contradicting his first deposition and creating a material issue of fact where there was none prior to the second deposition. The court therefore disregarded the second deposition, at least to the extent that it filled the gaps of the first deposition with inconsistent testimony. Applying the summary judgment standard to the remaining facts, the district court concluded that the defendants initially lacked...
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