King v. Cnty. of L. A.

• Decision Date: 12 March 2018
• Docket Number: No. 14-55320,14-55320
• Citation: 885 F.3d 548
• Parties: William KING, Plaintiff–Appellant, v. COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES; Leroy D. Baca, Defendants–Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

885 F.3d 548

William KING, Plaintiff–Appellant,

v.COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES; Leroy D. Baca, Defendants–Appellees.

No. 14-55320

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

Argued and Submitted August 30, 2017 Pasadena, California

Filed March 12, 2018

Ari J. Savitzky (argued), Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, Washington, D.C.; Alan Schoenfeld, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, New York, New York; for Plaintiff–Appellant.

Rina M. Mathevosian (argued) and Henry Patrick Nelson, Nelson & Fulton, Los Angeles, California, for Defendants–Appellees.

Before: William A. Fletcher and Sandra S. Ikuta, Circuit Judges, and Sarah Evans Barker,^* District Judge.

W. FLETCHER, Circuit Judge:

Plaintiff William King was incarcerated in a Los Angeles County jail for almost eight years, from November 2005 to August 2013, as a civil detainee while awaiting the adjudication of an involuntary commitment petition under California’s Sexually Violent Predator Act ("SVPA"). The reason for the extensive delay in adjudicating the petition does not appear in the record. For more than six of his years in the county jail, King was confined in Administrative Segregation ("AdSeg") along with criminal detainees. As an SVP detainee, King was compelled to wear a distinctive red uniform that made clear that he had been convicted of a sex crime. As a result, King was attacked in AdSeg by a criminal inmate who slashed King’s cheek, chin, neck, and thigh with a modified razor while shouting, "Die, baby raper, die!"

King brought suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, contending that his conditions of confinement violated substantive due process. See Jones v. Blanas , 393 F.3d 918, 931–35 (9th Cir. 2004). He appeals a grant of summary judgment in favor of the County of Los Angeles and Sheriff Leroy Baca ("Defendants"). We reverse as to King’s claims for damages against the County and against Sheriff Baca in his official capacity. We affirm as to King’s claim for damages against Sheriff Baca in his individual capacity. King died during the pendency of this appeal, rendering moot his claim for injunctive relief.

I. Background

Because this case was resolved at summary judgment, we relate the facts in the light most favorable to King, the nonmoving party. See Holmes v. Cal. Army Nat’l Guard , 124 F.3d 1126, 1131–32 (9th Cir. 1997). Because King was pro se , we consider as evidence all factual statements made in motions and pleadings that were based on his personal knowledge, admissible in evidence, and attested to under penalty of perjury. Jones , 393 F.3d at 923.

The SVPA authorizes the civil commitment of "sexually violent predator[s]." See Cal. Welf. & Inst. Code §§ 6600.05, 6604. A "sexually violent predator" is a "person who has been convicted of a sexually violent offense against one or more victims and who has a diagnosed mental disorder that makes the person a danger to the health and safety of others in that it is likely that he or she will engage in sexually violent criminal behavior."Id. § 6600. Inmates held during the pendency of SVPA commitment proceedings are civil detainees. Jones , 393 F.3d at 922.

In November 2005, a petition was filed to commit King under the SVPA, and a successive petition was filed in 2007. King had previously served sentences for two rape convictions. Pending the resolution of the petition, King was detained at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility ("TTCF"), a Los Angeles County jail. TTCF houses SVP detainees in the jail’s SVP unit.

The SVP unit consists of one or more "pods" in a "module," or section, of TTCF. A pod in the SVP unit contains sixteen two-person cells in which detainees sleep, and a communal day room. In the day room are eight metal tables, each with four attached metal stools, and a television. The floor is concrete. The television is encased in a metal and plexiglass box. For a time, the day room contained portable bunks on which several detainees, including King, slept. Finally, each module has a single room with one large window facing outside and covered by a metal-wire mesh screen, for detainees’ "outdoor recreation."

Detainees in the SVP unit were housed separately from the jail’s criminal population, but were subject to essentially the same regime. Except during the holidays, SVP detainees were locked in their cells at night. SVP detainees were not allowed to make or receive direct telephone calls. They were not allowed to have "contact visits" with anyone, including family members. They were not allowed to possess property such as personal radios, televisions, computers, telephones, and athletic shoes and clothing. They were not allowed direct access to photocopy machines, even if they were representing themselves in legal proceedings.

"As a courtesy," SVP detainees received a few "privileges" that were not available to the criminal detainee population. Jail regulations provided, "Upon availability, and as a courtesy, SVP inmates may be issued one extra blanket." "As a courtesy, SVP inmates may receive hot water servings during [the] AM shift and at the discretion of module staff." "As a courtesy, plastic chairs are permitted in the SVP inmate pod and shall not be assigned to any particular inmate. No more than 10 chairs are permitted in the pod at any given time. Chairs will be permitted after the morning meal and shall be removed from the pod at 2130 hours." "As a courtesy, each SVP inmate may retain a cardboard property box, green property bag and 3 file folders for the storage of legal material." "As a courtesy, daily television programming may be scheduled by SVP inmates." "As a courtesy, SVP inmates are permitted visits seven days a week, but no more than two thirty-minute visits per week." During such visits, "SVP inmates shall be handcuffed to the single-cuff chain attached to the visiting stool."

The precise dates King was housed in the SVP unit are not entirely clear. For purposes of this opinion, we rely on King’s "Inmate Information" log maintained by TTCF. According to the log, King was housed in the SVP unit from November 2005 until February 2006, and again from March 2007 to February 2008, for a total of a year and three months.

For the remainder of his time at TTCF, King was confined in AdSeg along with criminal detainees, in conditions indistinguishable from theirs. Detention in AdSeg was highly restrictive. AdSeg inmates were housed in single-person cells and had "their dayroom time alone." Inmates were handcuffed when moved out of their cells. They were not allowed out of their cells for religious services. According to official jail policy, they were given "a minimum of three hours of [outdoor] exercise and recreation ... over a period of seven days." According to King, however, he was never let out of his cell for "more than thirty minutes a day to shower and make a brief phone call."

According to his "Inmate Information" log, King spent just over a year in AdSeg, from February 2006 to March 2007. After less than a year back in the SVP unit, he was returned to AdSeg in February 2008, where he remained until August 2013. His total time in AdSeg was about six and a half years.

Defendants claim that King was kept in AdSeg because of his "violent tendencies." During King’s time at TTCF, he was involved in several disciplinary incidents, and was eventually designated as a "High Security K–10" status inmate. According to one of the Sheriff’s deputies, "[a] K–10 classification is utilized for inmates who, based on confirmed information, require administrative segregation from the general population at all times."

King provides evidence that, if believed, shows that he was improperly given a K–10 classification. Among other things, King asserts that another inmate lied to convince jail staff that King was dangerous and violent, and that jail officials did not follow appropriate procedures to determine the truth of the inmate’s charges against King. Taking the facts in the light most favorable to King, there is a genuine issue of material fact as to whether King displayed violent tendencies sufficient to justify assigning him to AdSeg.

King’s detention in AdSeg was particularly harsh because of his SVP detainee status. To distinguish types of detainees and inmates, TTCF required uniforms of different colors. SVP detainees wore red uniforms. Juveniles were the only other inmates who wore red uniforms. King was almost sixty years old in 2006, when he was first placed in AdSeg, which readily distinguished him from juveniles. While in AdSeg, King was threatened repeatedly with death for being a "child molester." Someone taped signs at or next to King’s cell, singling him out as a "child molester." One criminal inmate "spent his entire half-hour out-of-cell time exhorting other Ad. Seg. residents to fulfill their [duty] to kill all child molesters." In November 2006, a criminal inmate attacked King with a "makeshift knife" or "altered razor" while screaming, "Die, baby raper, die!" King was cut on his left cheek, chin, neck, and thigh. King repeatedly requested that he be returned to the SVP unit. After his placement in AdSeg in February 2008, his requests to return to the SVP unit were consistently denied.

In April 2012, Defendants attempted to transfer King out of TTCF to Coalinga State Hospital ("Coalinga"), even though his petition had not yet been adjudicated. Coalinga was the designated hospital for persons committed as "sexually violent predators." Cal. Welf. & Inst. Code § 6600.05. For reasons unexplained in the record, after six and a half years of confinement in TTCF, King’s civil commitment process still had not been completed. King feared that consenting to the transfer to Coalinga would prejudice his ability to contest his civil commitment, and he therefore informed the Mental Health Court that he wished to stay in TTCF pending the resolution of his petition. In August 2013, King was finally transferred to Coalinga.

To describe the conditions at Coalinga, we take judicial notice of the...