Johnson v. Snyder, 04-3620.

• Decision Date: 05 April 2006
• Docket Number: No. 04-3620.,04-3620.
• Citation: 444 F.3d 579
• Parties: Andre JOHNSON, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Donald T. SNYDER, Eugene McAdory, Assistant Warden, Pam Grubman, et al., Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

444 F.3d 579

Andre JOHNSON, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Donald T. SNYDER, Eugene McAdory, Assistant Warden, Pam Grubman, et al., Defendants-Appellees.

No. 04-3620.

United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit.

Argued February 8, 2006.

Decided April 5, 2006.

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Craig G. Moore (argued), Armstrong Teasdale, St. Louis, MO, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Deborah L. Ahlstrand, Mary E. Welsh (argued), Office of the Attorney General, Civil Appeals Division, Chicago, IL, for Defendants-Appellees.

Before MANION, KANNE, and EVANS, Circuit Judges.

MANION, Circuit Judge.

Andre Johnson, a state prisoner and amputee, claims that various prison officials violated his Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment rights by confiscating his crutch, failing to provide a safe shower facility, and failing to transfer him to a prison that could accommodate his needs. A magistrate judge, presiding by consent of the parties, granted summary judgment to the officials. Johnson appeals. We affirm.

I.

Andre Johnson lost his leg above the knee in a motorcycle racing accident in 1982. Subsequently, in 2000, Johnson was convicted of murder. The Illinois Department of Corrections ("IDOC") requires inmates convicted of certain offenses, including murder, to spend their initial six months of incarceration at a maximum security facility. Although this period can be waived for geriatric or disabled individuals, Johnson did not receive a waiver. In accordance with its policy, IDOC initially placed Johnson in Statesville Correctional Center, a maximum security facility, then transferred him to Menard Correctional Center ("Menard"), another maximum security facility.¹ Johnson remained at Menard from approximately September 6, 2000 until January 10, 2001.

Upon arriving at Menard, Dr. Kumar evaluated Johnson. Dr. Kumar noted that Johnson walked into the room with his prosthesis, without crutches, and without difficulty. Dr. Kumar accordingly determined that Johnson did not need a crutch or cane, ordered it to be confiscated, but ordered that Johnson be provided with a lower bunk on a low gallery. This diagnosis was different from the diagnosis made previously at other IDOC facilities, where Johnson had been permitted to keep a crutch and provided with assistance in the shower. When Johnson apparently complained, Dr. Adrien Feinerman, Menard's Medical Director, informed Johnson that he could keep the crutch, but only if he were segregated from the general population, since a crutch could be wielded as a weapon. Johnson chose to forego his crutch in order to participate in the activities and privileges available to the general population.

On September 30, 2000, Johnson fell in the shower causing pain in his back. At the time of the fall, Johnson was removing his prosthesis while sitting in a plastic chair provided for him to use in the shower. The chair buckled under Johnson's approximately 260 pounds and he fell to the floor. The particular chair was the standard plastic, patio-type chair used throughout the prison for security reasons (since it cannot be taken apart or used to construct weapons), but it may have been broken. Johnson filed a grievance after his fall. In the grievance, he noted that he had previously fallen in the Menard shower and requested a transfer to an institution with handicap facilities. The grievance did not request the return of his crutch or describe falls in other prison areas.

In response to the grievance, the grievance counselor submitted a transfer request for Johnson, which was denied by off-site administrators. The grievance officer also requested information from Menard's Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Coordinator and the Health Care Unit Administrator. They, in turn, recommended bolting a chair to the shower floor, using a stronger chair, or the installation of a concrete bench for Johnson to use. Since it appeared that Johnson's concerns were being addressed, the Warden ultimately denied Johnson's grievance. Johnson, however, never received a stronger chair or bench in the shower before his transfer from Menard in January 2001 to Pinckneyville Correctional Center, where apparently his needs have been better accommodated.

After his transfer, Johnson filed a pro se complaint against the Director of the Illinois Department of Corrections and various officials at Menard, including its Warden, ADA Coordinator, Medical Director, Health Care Unit Administrator, Chief Administrative Officer, and Johnson's Unit Superintendent. The district court appointed counsel for Johnson and, with the consent of the parties, referred the matter to a magistrate judge for disposition. 28 U.S.C. § 636(c). The magistrate judge granted the officials summary judgment. Johnson appeals with the assistance of appointed counsel.

II.

We review the district court's grant of summary judgment de novo, construing the facts in favor of Johnson, the nonmoving party. Johnson v. Doughty, 433 F.3d 1001, 1009 (7th Cir.2006) (citation omitted). Summary judgment is appropriate if the moving party demonstrates that "there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c).

At the outset, we address the liability of the Director of the Illinois Department of Corrections, defendant Donald T. Snyder. Johnson sued Snyder and various other prison officials pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging violations of his rights under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments. Section 1983 creates a cause of action against "[e]very person, who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State or Territory or the District of Columbia, subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws." 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Since a section 1983 cause of action is against a "person," in order "[t]o recover damages under § 1983, a plaintiff must establish that a defendant was personally responsible for the deprivation of a constitutional right." Gentry v. Duckworth, 65 F.3d 555, 561 (7th Cir.1995) (citation omitted). To be personally responsible, an official "must know about the conduct and facilitate it, approve it, condone it, or turn a blind eye." Id. (citation and internal quotation omitted).

The magistrate judge granted summary judgment to defendant Snyder because Snyder was not personally involved or responsible for the conditions about which Johnson complains. Johnson claims that there is a genuine issue of material fact as to Snyder's knowledge and involvement. To this end, Johnson submits a self-serving affidavit stating that he informed Snyder and the other defendants of his condition, requested his crutch, and informed them of his fall. Cf. Albiero v. City of Kankakee, 246 F.3d 927, 933 (7th Cir.2001) (holding that "self-serving affidavits without factual support in the record will not defeat a motion for summary judgment." (internal quotation and citations omitted)). Even crediting this generalized affidavit, its contents do not overcome the affidavit of Nancy S. Tucker, the Manager of IDOC's Office of Inmate Issues, which describes the grievance process. Tucker explicitly states that "Director Snyder did not personally receive, review or decide appeals of inmate grievances," and explains how such tasks were delegated to others in the department. To survive summary judgment, Johnson "needed to offer some record evidence that because of the purported letters, the defendant officials knew of a constitutional deprivation and approved it, turned a blind eye to it, failed to remedy it, or in some way personally participated." Vance v. Peters, 97 F.3d 987, 994 (7th Cir.1996) (citing Gentry, 65 F.3d at 561). The fact that Johnson sent a letter or letters to Director Snyder is insufficient to create a genuine issue of material fact regarding defendant Snyder. See Vance, 97 F.3d at 993 (in addition to alleging correspondence with a prison official, a "plaintiff still has the burden of demonstrating that the communication, in its content and manner of transmission, gave the prison official sufficient notice to alert him or her to `an excessive risk to inmate health or safety.'" (citing Farmer v. Brennan, 511 U.S. 825, 837, 114 S.Ct. 1970, 128 L.Ed.2d 811 (1994))). Critically, there is no evidence that Snyder actually read Johnson's communications or had any subjective awareness of Johnson's condition. To the contrary, there is evidence that Snyder does not review inmate correspondence relating to grievances; that task is delegated to subordinates. Thus, Johnson has not shown that Snyder personally facilitated, approved, condoned, or turned a blind eye to Johnson's situation. Id. Summary judgment for Snyder was therefore warranted.

We turn next to Johnson's claim that the remaining officials violated his rights under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments. The Eighth Amendment prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. The Supreme Court has interpreted this prohibition, as incorporated through the Fourteenth Amendment, as imposing a duty on states "`to provide adequate medical care to incarcerated individuals.'" Doughty, 433 F.3d at 1010 (quoting Boyce v. Moore, 314 F.3d 884, 888-89 (7th Cir. 2002) (citing Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97, 103, 97 S.Ct. 285, 50 L.Ed.2d 251 (1976))). Prison officials fail in this duty if "they display deliberate indifference to serious medical needs of prisoners." Id. (internal quotations and citations omitted). Thus, a claim that a prison official has violated the Eighth Amendment must demonstrate two elements: (1) an objectively serious medical condition, and (2) deliberate indifference by the prison officials to that condition. Zentmyer v. Kendall County, 220 F.3d 805, 810 (7th Cir. 2000).

This court has stated that "[a]n objectively...