Jackson v. Cain

• Decision Date: 09 February 1989
• Docket Number: No. 87-3110,87-3110
• Citation: 864 F.2d 1235
• Parties: Darrell JACKSON, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Warden Burl CAIN, et al., Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

Page 1235

864 F.2d 1235

Darrell JACKSON, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Warden Burl CAIN, et al., Defendants-Appellees.

No. 87-3110.

United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit.

Feb. 9, 1989.

Prof. Thomas H. Sponsler, New Orleans, La. (court-appointed), for plaintiff-appellant.

Houston T. Penn, J. Marvin Montgomery, Adair D. Jones, Robert W. Sawyer, Asst. Attys. Gen., Baton Rouge, La., for defendants-appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana.

Before WILLIAMS and GARWOOD, Circuit Judges, and NOWLIN ^*, District Judge.

JERRE S. WILLIAMS, Circuit Judge:

Darrell Jackson appeals from the district court's grant of summary judgment for the defendants' and the subsequent dismissal of his civil rights suit against various prison officials and employees of the Louisiana Department of Corrections (DOC). On appeal, Jackson raises various procedural challenges to the judgment and also challenges the district court's granting of summary judgment on all of his substantive claims.

Factual Background

Darrell Jackson, formerly an inmate in the Louisiana state prison system, filed this pro se lawsuit under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 on April 4, 1986. Jackson alleged violations of his constitutional and civil rights by defendants, Warden Burl Cain of the Dixon Correctional Center, Donald McNeil, Terry W. Thompson, Terry Jenkins, Dr. Kay Kovacs, Gwen Coleman, ¹ and Richard Stalder, current or former prison officials and employees of the Louisiana Department of Corrections.

The facts in this lawsuit are somewhat convoluted but largely undisputed. Because we are reviewing a summary judgment motion we accept Jackson's allegations as true for purposes of this review. On April 15, 1985, Jackson was transferred from Camp Beauregard, Work Training Facility/North (hereafter "Beauregard"), to the Dixon Correctional Institute (hereafter "Dixon") to work on a volunteer detail at the Louisiana State Capitol in Baton Rouge. On entering Dixon, Jackson claims he was informed that his personal clothes which he was permitted to wear at Beauregard, but not at Dixon, would be mailed to an address of his choice at state expense.

On May 14, 1985, Jackson was informed that if he did not pay $2.79 to mail his clothing it would be destroyed. As he was so informed only one day before the deadline, he was understandably anxious to ship off his clothes expediently. He filled out the appropriate form, wrote "send immediately" on it and submitted the $2.79 at once. On a place on the form entitled "witnessed by:" he wrote "I feel that I am sound enough essentially to witness for myself as to what belongs to me and what doesn't." Jackson also wrote to the warden complaining that some of the clothing that had been taken from him when he entered Dixon was not listed on the form.

On the next day, May 15, 1985, Jackson was taken from his duties at the Capitol in handcuffs, leg irons, and a waist chain that was attached to his handcuffs. He was escorted by a total of eight security officers: two state troopers, four security officers from the Department of Corrections, and two from the State Capitol. Jackson alleges that the handcuffs were fitted very tightly and injured his left wrist permanently.

Jackson was taken back to Dixon to the office of Col. Donald McNeil. There, McNeil and Terry W. Thompson berated him for his comment on the mail room form and for writing "a nasty letter" to Warden Burl Cain. Jackson explained his concern about the postal regulations and the need to mail his personal possessions quickly lest they be destroyed. Thompson, however, said that Jackson needed some "punishment" to teach him about Dixon and suggested sending him to work "in the field." McNeil rejected this plan, however, proposing the alternative of putting Jackson on Terry Jenkins' crew instead.

The Jenkins' crew worked in a feed lot. Jackson alleges that over the next 47 days he was required to work in a barn shoveling unshucked corn that was over a year old and contaminated with rats' nests, insects, and clods of white, sandy dust. He had to work unmasked while covered with corn dust in addition to pushing an iron wagon full of corn approximately 80 feet ten times a day throughout the 47 day period. His nose bled, his hair fell out, and his face broke out in sores. He was also required to mow grass for two hours a day with a sub-standard push lawn mower. He claims he was the only member of the crew required to do the mowing. After roughly a month of this treatment Jackson claims Terry Thompson told him on June 20th that if he would stop writing letters to Col. Donald McNeil they would rescind this punishment.

A week later, on June 28, Jackson was taken to the prison infirmary and told by appellee Coleman that blood tests had revealed that he suffered from syphilis. Jackson protested that the diagnosis was a mistake and requested another blood test to confirm it. His request was denied, and he was threatened with "lock-down" treatment if he refused medication.

On July 2, 1985, he was returned to the Capitol detail. When assigned to the Capitol, Jackson was housed at a satellite facility away from Dixon. Jackson was returned to Dixon on July 10. He claims that he was returned under the pretext that he refused to take the antibiotics prescribed for his disease. He alleges that in fact the medical department failed to forward his medication to the satellite facility. Jackson was then put back on Terry Jenkins crew for a second time. He claims his assignment was a direct result of the erroneous reports of Coleman and Kovacs that he had refused to take his medicine. During Jackson's second assignment to Jenkins' crew the difficulty of his work increased. ² Jackson maintains the increased difficulty was a result of his refusal to stop "writ writing." He claims that he was again required to work with contaminated corn and was also put to work smashing concrete blocks with an 85 pound hammer in the summer heat.

Jackson was assigned this work while he was being treated with antibiotics for syphilis, even though such exposure to sunlight and heat is directly contrary to the treatment for the disease (as stated by the charity hospital which diagnosed Jackson over a year after the initial diagnosis in the prison). Jackson lost various privileges in his prison status as a result of the poor disciplinary record accrued from these incidents. Further, he claims to suffer still from physical ailments caused by this treatment.

In their brief on appeal, appellee's claim that "the essential facts necessary to resolve this case are undisputed." A review of Jackson's original complaint, motion for summary judgment, the attached Administrative Remedy Procedure (ARP) file, and his appellate briefs reveals two potential factual disputes: (1) Jackson claims he was promised he would retain all the various privileges he had at Camp Beauregard when he was transferred to Dixon. Officials at Beauregard claim he was merely told that if he did a "good job" at Dixon they would not oppose his return. (2) The motive of the prison officials' in transferring Jackson from the Capitol crew to Jenkins' crew is contested. Prison officials stated on one ARP form that Jackson "had some disciplinary problems" on the Capitol crew; in a later ARP form they stated that his "performance on the Capitol crew was less than adequate." In their appellate briefs they state that when Jackson was asked for a mailing address "a dispute arose." However, in their motion for summary judgment the defendants claimed that Jackson's privileges were suspended "because of his unsatisfactory performance on the Capitol crew." Jackson's story has been more consistent--he has claimed all along that he was removed the first time in retaliation for writing the warden, and the second time because of spurious claims that he refused to take his medicine.

Procedural Background

Jackson filed this lawsuit on April 4, 1986, and sought "$.5 million" in punitive damages, a physical examination to determine damage to his body, and a full pardon from confinement.

On April 11, 1986, the district court stayed the proceeding for ninety days to allow Jackson to exhaust his administrative remedies. On July 21, the district court reinstated the case and ordered "that within sixty (60) days of the date of this order, the parties shall file cross motions for summary judgment based on the record of the administrative procedure." The district court then referred the case to a magistrate who was ordered to determine whether or not a plenary hearing was required, and if not, to submit findings of fact and conclusions of law in support of his recommendation to the district court. After some procedural delays, both parties did file summary judgment motions.

After the hearing, the magistrate found that: (1) Jackson's claim regarding removal from the Capitol grounds in shackles and handcuffs raised no federal issue. (2) Jackson's complaint about his job reassignment did not raise a claim under federal law. (3) Jackson's allegations of permanent injury were unsubstantiated. (4) Jackson was not denied medical care. Forcing him to undergo treatment for syphilis and denying him an additional blood test did not violate his constitutional rights. (5) There was no evidence that prison officials had tampered with Jackson's mail. Based on these findings and conclusions, the magistrate recommended that Jackson's summary judgment motion be denied and that the defendants' motion for summary judgment be granted. Jackson filed a written objection to the report in which he reiterated his original complaint, contested all the magistrate's findings and restated an earlier assertion that he had not consented to have his case heard by a magistrate.

The district court approved the magistrate's recommendation, granted the appellees' motion for summary judgment and dismissed Jackson's suit. Jackson filed a notice of appeal on ...