Jelinek v. Greer

• Decision Date: 23 July 1996
• Docket Number: No. 95-1306,95-1306
• Citation: 90 F.3d 242
• Parties: Eric JELINEK, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. James GREER, former Warden of Menard Correctional Center, Jim Bush, Assistant Warden, Alan L. Frentzel, Assistant Warden, et al., Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

Page 242

90 F.3d 242

Eric JELINEK, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. James GREER, former Warden of Menard Correctional Center Jim Bush, Assistant Warden, Alan L. Frentzel Assistant Warden, et al., Defendants-Appellees.

No. 95-1306.

United States Court of Appeals Seventh Circuit.

Argued Dec. 4, 1995.

Decided July 23, 1996.

Mark E. Wohlberg, Chicago, IL and Barbara J. Clinite (argued), Chicago, IL, for plaintiff-appellant.

Terence J. Corrigan, Office of Attorney General, Criminal Appeals Division, Springfield, IL, and Paul Racette (argued), Office of the Attorney General, Civil Appeals Division, Chicago, IL, for defendants-appellees.

Before BAUER, DIANE P. WOOD, and EVANS, Circuit Judges.

DIANE P. WOOD, Circuit Judge.

Violence in the prison system underlies the claim that Eric Jelinek attempted to bring under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Severely injured when he was hit over the head with a barbell by an unidentified inmate, Jelinek alleged in his complaint that the defendant prison officials knowingly exposed him to the assault, in violation of his Eighth Amendment right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment. The magistrate judge, proceeding by consent under 28 U.S.C. § 636(c)(1), granted summary judgment to the defendants. On this direct appeal from that judgment, we affirm.

Because this is an appeal from a summary judgment, the following account of the facts views them in the light most favorable to Jelinek. At the time the events in this suit occurred, Jelinek had been an inmate at the Menard Correctional Center, a state prison in Menard, Illinois, since 1985. In that year, the Northsider gang at Menard tried to recruit him, using such rough tactics as breaking his jaw. At Jelinek's request, he was placed in protective custody, where he apparently stayed until 1988. Perhaps re-thinking the situation, he joined the Northsiders upon his release from protective custody. In June or July 1989, the gang ordered him to "hit" (stab) correctional officer Fricke, who (as Jelinek describes it in his brief) was interfering with the operation of a grain alcohol still used to supply inmates with alcohol. Jelinek refused to carry out the hit, and instead he reported the plan to the Menard authorities. Fearing retribution from the gang, he again requested protective custody, and the prison officials again approved the request.

In October 1989, while still in protective custody, Jelinek was placed in disciplinary segregation after he intimidated and threatened a correctional officer. Although the segregation was initially to last for 90 days, he was released after 30 days and returned to protective custody. Around December 21, 1989, the prison officials conducted a review of his custody status. Jelinek urged them to keep him in protective custody, naming his enemies and the threats they had made as a result of his betrayal of the Northsiders. Unmoved by his pleas, defendants Jim Bush, T. O'Conner, Alan Frentzel, and W. Brieschke voted to deny further protective custody, and Warden Greer approved the denial. They indicated, however, that Jelinek was to be placed in "Group IV," a unit in the South Cellhouse. The vote sheet also reflects Jelinek's less than satisfactory performance while in the protective custody unit. It notes that he had "numerous fighting tickets in P.C.," that he had an overall "poor" disciplinary record, and that over a six-month period he had nine "tickets." In the space provided to explain a "no" vote on continued protective custody, the sheet states "Long H. of aggressive behavior in P.C.; no verifiable information to indicate a need for P.C." Finally, there is a notation on the sheet, in apparent conflict with the Group IV recommendation, that Jelinek could cell in the E.C.H. (East Cellhouse) or the W.C.H. (West Cellhouse) only.

Jelinek promptly sought reconsideration of the Warden's decision, and he wrote to the Illinois Department of Corrections about his fear for his life. The Department responded on January 2, 1990, stating that he would remain in protective custody until the Committee's decision could be reviewed. In the meantime, however, on December 29th Jelinek was transferred from the protective custody unit to a "kick-out" unit in the South Cellhouse for Group IV inmates. Jelinek himself notes that the Group IV kick-out unit is sometimes referred to as Group IV protective custody, but it is separate from the regular protective custody. Jelinek also appears to concede that there is a difference between Group IV and the general population, since he emphasizes that inmates from the general population had access to the Group IV unit due to lax security measures. For example, he suggests that Northsiders from the general population could slip into the Group IV yard through the shower area they used.

On January 2, 1990, shortly after Jelinek was placed in the Group IV kick-out unit, Menard lifted a lockdown that had been in effect since September 1989. Still fearful, Jelinek went to the yard to use the telephone to call his brother, to report his desperate situation. Within minutes of reaching the yard, someone--whose identity was never revealed for this record--struck him on the head with a dumbbell weight. He suffered numerous skull fractures and the loss of one eye. Two years to the day later, on January 2, 1992, Jelinek filed his § 1983 complaint, naming as defendants the five Menard officials who voted to remove him from protective custody and assign him to Group IV. On January 5, 1995, the magistrate judge granted summary judgment to all five defendants.

In order to avoid summary judgment, Jelinek had to demonstrate the existence of sufficient evidence that, if believed by a jury, would support a verdict in his favor. Panozzo v. Rhoads, 905 F.2d 135, 137 (7th Cir.1990). It is plain that prison officials have a duty under the Eighth Amendment to take "reasonable measures to guarantee the safety of the inmates," Farmer v. Brennan, 511 U.S. 825, ----, 114 S.Ct. 1970, 1976, 128 L.Ed.2d 811 (1994), quoting Hudson v. Palmer, 468 U.S. 517, 526-27, 104 S.Ct. 3194, 3200-01, 82 L.Ed.2d 393 (1984). See also Rhodes v. Chapman, 452 U.S. 337, 347, 101 S.Ct. 2392, 2399, 69 L.Ed.2d 59 (19...