Jones v. Warden of Stateville Correctional Center
| Decision Date | 22 December 1995 |
| Docket Number | 93 C 5708,93 C 1443,92 C 7407,93 C 3750,94 C 4018,95 C 3405 and 95 C 5245.,93 C 5474,93 C 2725,93 C 5707,93 C 3001,92 C 5656,92 C 5551,94 C 5270,No. 92 C 5381,93 C 0069,92 C 5381 |
| Citation | 918 F. Supp. 1142 |
| Parties | Tonya Star JONES, Plaintiff, v. The WARDEN OF the STATEVILLE CORRECTIONAL CENTER, Defendant. Anthony JONES, Plaintiff, v. CHAIRPERSON OF the COOK COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS, et al., Defendants. Tony Star JONES, Plaintiff, v. Howard PETERS, III, et al., Defendants. Tonya Star JONES, Plaintiff, v. Warden GODINEZ, Defendant. Anthony JONES, Plaintiff, v. Salvador GODINEZ, et al., Defendants. Anthony JONES, Plaintiff, v. Lawrence I. GENESEN, et al., Defendants. Anthony JONES, Plaintiff, v. Howard PETERS, III, et al., Defendants. Tonya Star JONES, Plaintiff, v. Sgt. WARE, et al., Defendants. Tonya Star JONES, Plaintiff, v. CANTEEN FOOD SERVICE, et al., Defendants. Tonya Star JONES, Plaintiff, v. Asst. Warden Edna R. LEE, Defendant. Tasha Star JONES, Plaintiff, v. Lt. NANCE, et al., Defendants. Tonya Star JONES, Plaintiff, v. Lt. BURKE, et al., Defendants. Tonya Star JONES, Plaintiff, v. Lt. D. JOHNSON, et al., Defendants. Tonya Star JONES, Plaintiff, v. Gov. Jim EDGAR, et al., Defendants. Tonya Star JONES, Plaintiff, v. Lester HOLT, et al., Defendants. Tonya Star JONES, Plaintiff, v. Gerry HARPER, et al., Defendants. Toni Star JONES, Plaintiff, v. Thomas F. PAGE, et al., Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of Illinois |
Jones, Menard Correctional Center, Menard, IL, Pro Se.
Because this is a motion to proceed in forma pauperis, there is no attorney of record for any of the defendants.
Anthony Jones, who sometimes refers to himself as Tonya or Tasha Star Jones, is an Illinois inmate with a penchant for lingerie and litigation. The former has gotten him into trouble with a few of his fellow prisoners. The latter has been troublesome to the courts. In this opinion we review seventeen of the more than one hundred suits that Jones has filed in federal court over the last eight years in order to determine if they have sufficient merit to warrant filing without prepayment of the filing fee. Finding that Jones has stepped over the line of reasonable conduct in his litigation activities, we also consider what sanctions are appropriate to curb abuse of the judicial process by a nearly penniless inmate.
Each of the seventeen complaints before the court seeks relief under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Each also is presented for filing in forma pauperis under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a). We consolidate the actions for the sole purpose of ruling on the motions for leave to proceed in forma pauperis under § 1915(a). That statute allows a plaintiff to commence suit without prepayment of fees or costs if, by affidavit, plaintiff can show that he does not have the necessary funds. The purpose of the statute is "to ensure that indigent litigants have meaningful access to the courts." Neitzke v. Lawrence, 490 U.S. 319, 324, 109 S.Ct. 1827, 1831, 104 L.Ed.2d 338 (1989). Not all of Jones' motions for leave to file in forma pauperis are on the form that this Court requires its litigants to use. See Northern District of Illinois General Rule 11(B)(b). Nonetheless, the motions he has tendered on the required form clearly demonstrate a lack of financial resources to pay even a part of the filing fee. The financial affidavit accompanying his most recent complaint indicates he has a current balance of $14 in his prison trust account. Jones, who generally receives less than $10 a month from the prison and highly sporadic small gifts from individuals outside the prison, rarely accumulates any significant savings. Truly a pauper, Jones is entitled to proceed with his cases as an indigent.
Congress, however, did not intend that indigents have wholly unobstructed access to the courts. As a price for waiver of the fees and costs of a lawsuit, a party seeking leave to proceed in forma pauperis must also surmount a substantive hurdle. Under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(d), the court may dismiss the claim of an indigent litigant if "satisfied that the action is frivolous or malicious." In this Circuit, the merits of the suit are also subject to review under § 1915(a). See Wartman v. Branch 7, Civil Division, County Court, 510 F.2d 130, 132 (7th Cir.1975). Thus, if the court finds the complaint to be frivolous, it may both deny plaintiff's motion for leave to file in forma pauperis and dismiss the case. Smith-Bey v. Hospital Administrator, 841 F.2d 751, 757 (7th Cir.1988). A complaint is frivolous within the meaning of 28 U.S.C. § 1915(d) if "it lacks an arguable basis either in law or fact." Neitzke v. Williams, 490 U.S. at 325, 109 S.Ct. at 1831-32. Eight of the complaints before us are facially without any arguable legal merit. We dismiss each of them as frivolous.
In this case, Jones sues for the right of access to bras and panties. He alleges female prisoners in Illinois have the right to purchase eye shadow, eyeliner, feminine hygiene deodorant, bleaching creme, hair rollers, lipstick, mascara, nail polish, rouge, panties, bras, and slips. Jones is upset because he does not have the same rights as female inmates. The warden at the Stateville Correctional Center refuses to authorize the purchase of these items for the male prisoners under his control. Jones contends this violates his rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments. He holds the founding fathers of this country up as his role models because they wore wigs and makeup.
As will become more apparent in our discussion of the cases before us, Jones has several themes which run repeatedly through his many lawsuits. One of those themes is Jones' asserted constitutional right of access to women's makeup and apparel. This court has once before rejected as frivolous Jones' claim that he had a constitutional right to purchase and wear women's panties and lipstick. Jones v. Edgar, 92 C 2581 (N.D.Ill. June 18, 1992). This court, however, is not the only one to consider Jones' claim that he has a right to purchase female attire. Judge Michael M. Mihm of the Central District of Illinois fully analyzed the merits of such a claim in a similar suit that Jones brought against officials at the Pontiac Correctional Center. Jones v. Gramley, 815 F.Supp. 276 (C.D.Ill.1993).1 The court need not elaborate any further on its earlier decision or Judge Mihm's thorough opinion. Neither the Equal Protection Clause nor the First Amendment arguably accord Jones the right of access to women's clothing while confined in a state prison. The complaint in 92 C 7404 is dismissed as frivolous. Plaintiff's motion to amend his complaint in 93 C 69, which again asserts the right to wear women's panties, is also denied.
Another theme that runs through many of Jones' complaints is his need for protection from other inmates. In this action, Jones sues former Stateville Correctional Center Warden Salvador Godinez. He charges defendant with failing to provide him adequate protection from physical abuse at Stateville, a maximum security facility housing aggressive inmates. Jones avers that he faces daily sexual harassment from fellow prisoners because he is an effeminate homosexual or, as he refers to himself, "drag queen." He maintains defendant has not adequately addressed Jones' security problem because he has allowed Jones to be placed in cells with aggressive and/or "straight" males rather than other "effeminate" homosexuals.
Jones has already litigated and lost a similar claim against Godinez. Jones v. Godinez, 92 C 8026, 1995 WL 66379, 1995 U.S.Dist. LEXIS 1728 (N.D.Ill. Feb. 13, 1995), aff'd without published decision, 65 F.3d 170 (7th Cir.1995). In 92 C 8026, Jones sued Godinez for failing to protect him from allegedly being raped by a gang member on July 9, 1992. He contended that the decision to put him in a cell with a gang member constituted deliberate indifference to his safety because defendant should have known that all gang members could be a threat to the safety of an effeminate homosexual drag queen. The court granted summary judgment for Godinez on several grounds. First, Jones failed to show that Godinez had any personal involvement in the decision to place him in the cell where the rape took place. Id. at *3, 1995 U.S.Dist. LEXIS at *7. The court also rejected Jones' argument that Godinez, as warden, should have known of the danger to Jones simply because Stateville is notorious for gangbangers sexually assaulting drag queens and effeminate homosexuals. This argument failed because Jones did not present any evidence to show that Godinez was aware of the particular danger Jones faced. Id. at *3, 1995 U.S.Dist. LEXIS at *8. Jones accepted his cell assignment with nary a peep to anyone. Furthermore, he admitted that he had never complained to Godinez about the dangers he allegedly faced from his cell mate or any other purported gang member. Finally, the court rejected Jones' theory that Godinez was liable for failure to establish a policy to cope with the general danger of putting homosexuals in cells with gang members. Id. at *3-*4, 1995 U.S.Dist. LEXIS at *9. Evidence showed that Jones was placed in a special unit used to evaluate the requirements of inmates who had special security needs. Jones could thus prevail only if Godinez had a constitutional duty to train officers never to place gang members in cells with homosexuals. The court declined to impose such a duty on Godinez for "surely not every gang member poses a threat to homosexuals, and in a maximum security prison there are probably many nonmembers who do pose such a threat." Id.
The doctrine of res judicata, or claim preclusion, bars a plaintiff from suing the same defendant in a second suit involving the same cause of action when a court of competent jurisdiction has entered a judgment on the merits in the earlier...
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