Kelley v. County of Wayne

• Citation: 325 F.Supp.2d 788
• Decision Date: 04 June 2004
• Docket Number: No. 03-CV-70637-DT.,No. 01-CV-72711-DT.,01-CV-72711-DT.,03-CV-70637-DT.
• Parties: Shawn KELLEY, Plaintiff v. COUNTY OF WAYNE, et al., Defendant Shawn Kelley, Plaintiff v. County of Wayne, Defendant
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Michigan

325 F.Supp.2d 788

Shawn KELLEY, Plaintiff v. COUNTY OF WAYNE, et al., Defendant Shawn Kelley, Plaintiff v. County of Wayne, Defendant

No. 01-CV-72711-DT.

No. 03-CV-70637-DT.

United States District Court, E.D. Michigan, Southern Division.

June 4, 2004.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Dean D. Elliott, Royal Oak, MI, Brian A. McKenna, Barry P. Waldman, Sachs Waldman, Detroit, MI, for Plaintiff.

William S. Pearson, Wayne County Corporation Counsel, Detroit, MI, for Defendants.

ORDER

CARR, District Judge.

This is a civil rights case arising from the suicide of Terrence Kelley, a federal prisoner being detained in the Wayne County, Michigan, jail. Pending are cross-motions for summary judgment For the reasons that follow, the motion by defendants United States Deputy Marshals Scott Machlay and Mark Jankowski shall be granted, and plaintiff's motion shall be overruled.

Background

Terrence Kelley, a heroin addict, was arrested in the late afternoon of January 31, 2000, after he robbed a bank in Clinton Township, Michigan. He was questioned by F.B.I. agents and lodged overnight in the Clinton Township lockup. The next morning, February 1, 2000, F.B.I. agents brought Kelley to the federal courthouse in Detroit, and delivered him the United States Marshal's office at about 9:30 a.m.

Defendant Deputy Machlay accepted custody of Kelley. He saw that Kelley had a "grayish-green pallor common with heroin addicts, and he seemed to be in a bit of physical distress." Machlay asked Kelley if he was "crashing." Kelley said that he was, telling Machlay that the drug was heroin. Kelley indicated that he did not want anything to eat.

Machlay understood that heroin withdrawal symptoms are similar to those of severe flu, and that a person undergoing withdrawal can be nauseated and vomit. It was also Machlay's understanding that withdrawal is not a life-threatening experience. He knew of no correlation between withdrawal and an increased risk of suicide.

Machlay noted in the Marshal Service's Form 129, "Individual Custody and Detention Report," that Kelley was a heroin addict. He did not fill out a Form 130, "Prisoner Custody Alert Notice." Viewing disputed facts about the obligation to fill out this form where detainees are undergoing narcotics withdrawal most favorably for the plaintiff, Machlay should have filled out this form, which would have called specific attention to Kelley's status as a heroin addict undergoing withdrawal.

After being processed, Kelley was taken before United States Magistrate Judge Steven Pepe for an initial appearance. He was ordered to be held pending a detention hearing. That afternoon, Kelley was transported to the Wayne County Jail pending a detention hearing the next day.

Form 129, noting that Kelley was a heroin addict, accompanied him to the jail. The jail intake forms do not include information regarding heroin withdrawal. The absence of such information supports a fair inference that Kelley did not disclose or discuss his condition, or request any assistance, after his arrival at the jail.

On February 2, 2000, Machlay picked up Kelley and other federal prisoners to bring them to the federal courthouse. He noticed that Kelley's color was better and his "demeanor and movement had seemed to have markedly improved from the day before." Machlay asked Kelley if he was feeling better. Kelley said that he was better and thought that the worst was over. Machlay asked Kelley if he felt like eating, and Kelley said that he did. Later that morning he had some food.

At about 2:00 p.m. that afternoon Kelley appeared before United States Magistrate Judge Virginia Morgan for his detention hearing. She learned that Kelley was suffering from heroin withdrawal, and Kelley's attorney asked that he be kept at the Milan Detention Center, a federal detention facility. The attorney understood that Kelley could receive treatment there that would not have been available at the Wayne County Jail. That understanding was mistaken.

Magistrate Judge Morgan asked a Deputy United States Marshal if the Marshals Service could get Kelley to Milan. He told her that they would do so. The Magistrate Judge stated that the Kelley would be detained on the basis of his "medical need for treatment" and need "to be housed at Milan because of heroin withdrawal and his medical needs." In her detention order the Magistrate Judge stated the Kelley "needs to be housed at Milan heroin withdrawal [and] medical needs."

When Kelley was returned to the Marshal's lockup, Machlay was informed of the Magistrate Judge's instruction that Kelley be held in Milan. Machlay consulted with codefendant Deputy Jankowski, the jail liaison deputy. Jankowski, who was responsible for coordinating housing arrangements for federal prisoners, informed Machlay that Milan was not a medical facility, and that it would not accept a detainee unless it would accept him. Jankowski ordered Machlay to have Kelley transported to the Wayne County jail. Machlay understood that the jail had resources for the care of prisoners undergoing narcotics withdrawal.

Neither defendant notified Magistrate Judge Morgan that her instruction to take Kelley to Milan would not be followed. No further notice was given to the Wayne County jail authorities that Kelley was undergoing withdrawal. Staff members from the jail testified that, if they had had a copy of Form 130 — the "Prisoner Custody Alert Notice" — indicating that Kelley was suffering from heroin withdrawal, medical care would have been provided to Kelley.

More than two days later, at 11:17 p.m., Kelley was found in his cell with a ligature made from a tom bed sheet. Despite efforts to revive him, he was pronounced dead shortly before midnight.

Discussion

The plaintiff claims that the defendant Deputies were deliberately indifferent to Kelley's serious medical needs, and that, as a result, they proximately caused his suicide. Among the failings attributed to the defendants are: 1) failing to notify the Wayne County jail authorities that Kelley was undergoing withdrawal in either Form 129 or Form 130 or otherwise; 2) disregarding Magistrate Judge Morgan's instruction that Kelley be housed at Milan; and 3) failing to inform the Magistrate Judge that those instructions would not be followed.

Heroin withdrawal is a serious medical condition. See Morrison v. Washington County, 700 F.2d 678, 681 (11th Cir.1983) (chronic alcoholic suffering from acute alcohol withdrawal syndrome was "seriously ill."); Gonzalez v. Cecil County, Maryland, 221 F.Supp.2d 611, 616 (D.Md.2002) (heroin withdrawal a "serious medical condition"). The Deputies' knowledge of Kelley's condition was, however, ameliorated somewhat by his statement to Machlay on February 2d, the date of his detention hearing, and more than two days after his arrest, that the worst was over. See Smith v. LeJeune, 203 F.Supp.2d 1260, 1273 (D.Wyo.2002) (though county jail nurse observed some symptoms of alcohol withdrawal prior to inmate's suicide, his statement to her that he was feeling fine caused her not to have objective understanding that his condition needed medical treatment).

Claims by pretrial detainees are analyzed under the Fourteenth Amendment Due Process Clause, rather than under the Eighth Amendment. Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520, 535 n. 16, 99 S.Ct. 1861, 60 L.Ed.2d 447 (1979). The standard for a due process claim is, however, the same as with an Eighth Amendment cruel and unusual punishment claim. Barber v. City of Salem, 953 F.2d 232, 235 (6th Cir.1992); Roberts v. City of...