Henley v. Jordan
| Decision Date | 04 June 2021 |
| Docket Number | CIVIL ACTION NO. 5:20-cv-P209-BJB |
| Parties | JEREMY C. HENLEY PLAINTIFF v. WARDEN SCOTT JORDAN DEFENDANT |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Western District of Kentucky |
Plaintiff Jeremy C. Henley, a prisoner at the Kentucky State Penitentiary (KSP), initiated this civil action. This order addresses the screening of his complaint (DN 1) as required by 28 U.S.C. § 1915A, as well as three motions to amend or supplement the complaint (DNs 9, 10, & 11). The Court dismisses the complaint and denies Plaintiff's motions to amend or supplement.
Plaintiff initiated this lawsuit by filing a handwritten document, titled "Notice of Statutory Violation," which the Court docketed as the complaint (DN 1). This document is addressed The document does not name a defendant.1 The heading of the document states:
In re: State officials violating KRS §§ 519.060 (); 524.040 (Intimidating a participant in a legal process); 524.050 (Tampering with a witness); 524.055 (Retaliating against a participant in the legal process); 524.100 (Tampering with physical evidence); 18 U.S.C. §§ 241 (Conspiracy against rights); 242 (Deprivation of rights under color of law) and state action violating KRS § 514.030 (). Retaliation for exercising a constitutional right violation of § 3 of Ky. Const. and the First Amend. (U.S. Const.) and Access to Court claim violative of § 14 of Ky. Const. and Fourteenth Amend. (U.S. Const.).
The following paragraphs in the document contain allegations that various KSP officials denied him access to three boxes of legal materials Plaintiff has stored at KSP. Plaintiff states that these materials are related to his various state-court criminal cases, various civil actions he has filed in state court, and a "Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus and Emergency Application for a Temporary Restraining Order Due to COVID-19 [P]andemic." Plaintiff indicates that he was given access to his legal materials for approximately 30 minutes on July 17, 2020, but that a "complete retrieval of the anticipatory filings had not been made due to inadequate access limited by time." Plaintiff also alleges that his collection of over "$300 worth of LexisNexis case cites" were not timely transferred from his old cellhouse to his new cellhouse at KSP. He states that these "case cites had been imperative in outlining his anticipatory motions." Plaintiff indicates that because he did not have sufficient access to his legal materials, on September 22, 2020, this Court dismissed his habeas action, Henley v. Hart, 5:20-cv-126-TBR, because it "contained no factual or legal grounds to support a cause of action."
Plaintiff's next paragraphs concern his need for medical treatment in 2017 and the refusal of a physician to remove surgical staples from Plaintiff because he would only sign the requisite paperwork with an "X-mark."
Plaintiff next alleges that on October 12, 2020, he asked to have certain legal materials copied for "viz. the anticipated petitions of habeas corpus, the emergency application for a temporary restraining order, coupled with several exhibits." Plaintiff states that the materials were returned to him by a KSP officer who told Plaintiff that he could not verify that Plaintiff had been "indigent" for 30 days or longer, which was required to have copies of the materials he requested sent to the Court at no cost. Plaintiff alleges that certain KSP officials were "pre-screening the petitions, sifting through over 800 pages of legal pleadings, some concerning the conditions of the conditions of confinement due to COVID-19" in violation of the Kentucky state statutes set forth in the heading of the "complaint." Plaintiff then states:
whether or not [Plaintiff] is indigent or not - his access to the federal court in Paducah cannot be denied especially in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic and while under quarantine due the fact that he has signed (2x) cash paid out slips that if were fulfilled would put a copier lien against the P.I.D inmate account .... These K.S.P. supervisory officials knew that it had been in their authority to pre-approve the legal office to make a valid copy and then placing a copier lien against the inmate account PID account in order to pre-screen them ....
On the last page of the "complaint," Plaintiff states:
that 1) he is now suffering (in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic) "actual injury" by having his case pleadings "frustrated" and/or impeded, 2) in brin[g]ing the Petitions for Writs of Habeas Corpus and Emergency Application for TRO viz. non-frivolous legal claim 3) concerning his unlawful imprisonment, criminal conviction as well to the condition of his said confinement.
Finally, Plaintiff states that when he asked for certain copies to be made, a KSP official informed him that "I don't give a f—k where you send your motions to you can send them to the f—king President Donald Trump for all I care but you are not going to have your legal work copied and sent back to you until you give me a f—king address so [we] can send out your paperwork." Plaintiff states that he:
explained that the IFP motions did not have the defendant Scott Jordans name on it nor had the pleadings been by signed by him, and that he wanted to review the 800plus pages copied in order to make sure each page was correctly copied for he has been given copies of legal pleadings that were copied at half pages - delaying his filings in 2016. Now K.S.P. will not return the legal pleadings no matter what.
Plaintiff concludes by stating:
I am requesting to speak with the cooperate with U.S. Marshall for these inherent violations of 18 U.S.C. §§ 241 and 242. There is no other action that I may take other than making physical demand by non-violent protest by either hunger or food strike in or to have the original pleadings either copy or returned. I am filing this anticipatory pleading to preserve the account of my attempts to obtain emergency relief via 42 U.S.C. § 1981 under the All Writs Act.
Plaintiff also filed a twelve-page handwritten document titled "Supplemental Amendment Pleadings in Accord with Fed. R. Civ. P. et seq" (DN 9). Plaintiff states that this "supplemental amendment further addresses the case law applicable to those claims as referenced in 5:20-cv-198-TBR." The supplement makes allegations regarding the revocation of shock probation in his state-court criminal proceeding, the calculation of his sentence in his state-court criminal proceedings, his request for a transfer from KSP to another state prison, a disciplinary write-up, and the loss of good-time credits.
Plaintiff also filed another "motion for supplemental amendment of pleadings" under 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981-82, § 1985, and § 1986; and to add Defendant(s) and to remove his "petition" under 28 U.S.C. § 1448 (DN 10). He specifically states that he seeks to remove "state claim 2016-CI-51 Henley-X v. Ky. D.O.C. et al, 56th Judicial Lyon Co. Circuit Court to Federal Court." Id. According to Plaintiff, in that pending state-court action, he is challenging the constitutionality of a new state law that interferes with his "contract" with the Commonwealth of Kentucky, by which he seems to mean a plea agreement he entered into in one of his state-court criminal actions.
Plaintiff also filed another supplemental pleading, which consists of more than 200 single-spaced handwritten pages (DN 11). He asks to add additional facts and parties,"raise new contentions of continuous violations" of various statutes and constitutional rights, provide "supplementing law supporting those such claims," renew his request for the appointment of counsel, and supplement his claims in another lawsuit, Henley v. KSP Warden, 5:20-cv-198-TBR. Supplemental Amendment of Pleadings (DN 11) at 1. While the first page of the filing lays out these ambitions, the rest of it is nearly incomprehensible.2
Because Plaintiff is a prisoner seeking relief against governmental entities, officers, or employees, this Court must review this lawsuit under 28 U.S.C. § 1915A. Under § 1915A, the trial court must dismiss the complaint, or any portion of the complaint, if it is frivolous or malicious, fails to state a claim upon which relief may be granted, or seeks monetary relief from a defendant who is immune from such relief. See § 1915A(b)(1), (2); McGore v. Wrigglesworth, 114 F.3d 601, 604 (6th Cir. 1997), overruled on other grounds by Jones v. Bock, 549 U.S. 199 (2007). "[T]he dismissal standard articulated in Iqbal and Twombly governs dismissals for failure to state a claim under [§ 1915A] because the relevant statutory language tracks the language in Rule 12(b)(6)." Hill v. Lappin, 630 F.3d 468, 470-71 (6th Cir. 2010). In order to survive dismissal for failure to state a claim, "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, 678 (200...
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