Kramer v. Conway

• Decision Date: 21 October 2013
• Docket Number: No. 1:13–cv–1214–WSD.,1:13–cv–1214–WSD.
• Citation: 962 F.Supp.2d 1333
• Parties: Edward Eliot KRAMER, Plaintiff, v. R.L. CONWAY, Gwinnett County Sheriff; and Don Pinkard, Colonel, Gwinnett County Adult Detention Center, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Georgia

962 F.Supp.2d 1333

Edward Eliot KRAMER, Plaintiff,

v.R.L. CONWAY, Gwinnett County Sheriff; and Don Pinkard, Colonel, Gwinnett County Adult Detention Center, Defendants.

No. 1:13–cv–1214–WSD.

United States District Court,

N.D. Georgia,

Atlanta Division.

Aug. 23, 2013.

Order Denying Reconsideration Oct. 21, 2013.

McNeill Stokes, Office of McNeill Stokes, Atlanta, GA, for Plaintiff.

Jason C. Waymire, Williams, Morris & Waymire, LLC, Buford, GA, for Defendant.

OPINION AND ORDER

WILLIAM S. DUFFEY, JR., District Judge.

This matter is before the Court on Edward Eliot Kramer's (“Plaintiff”) Motion for a Preliminary and Permanent Injunction [2], Plaintiff's Motion for Leave to File Second Amendment to Verified Complaint [12], and Defendants' First Motion for Summary Judgment [13].

I. BACKGROUND

Plaintiff is a pre-trial detainee at the Gwinnett County Jail (the “Jail”) and has been there since January 19, 2013. (Tr. at 119.) Plaintiff alleges that certain conditions of his confinement at the Jail violate his right to practice his Orthodox Jewish faith and he alleges a failure to accommodate certain physical disabilities from which he claims to suffer.

A. Procedural Background

Plaintiff initiated this action by filing his verified complaint on April 15, 2013. (Compl. [1].) Plaintiff asserts the following claims in this action: (1) Defendants violated Plaintiff's rights under the U.S. Constitution and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (“RLUIPA”) by restricting his right to possess religious books necessary for him to practice his Orthodox Jewish faith; (2) Defendants violated Plaintiff's constitutional right to possess those legal reference books he considers necessary to defend his criminal case and determine his legal rights as an inmate; and (3) Defendants violated the Constitution and the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) by denying Plaintiff greater access to a typewriter for use in communicating with his lawyers and Jail officials, specifically by not allowing him to have a typewriter in his cell. ( Id. at 7–14.)

On April 17, 2013, Plaintiff filed his Motion for a Preliminary and Permanent Injunction (the “Injunction Motion”). (Mot. [2].) Plaintiff seeks to prevent Defendants from continuing to violate his rights under federal law and seeks an order: (1) allowing Plaintiff to possess in his cell the religious books necessary to practice his Jewish faith; (2) allowing him to possess in his cell legal materials necessary for his criminal case and to determine his legal rights as an inmate; and (3) allowing him to have a typewriter in his cell to use to communicate with his lawyers and others. ( Id. at 6–7.)

Plaintiff amended his complaint on April 23, 2013. (Am. Compl. [8].) In the amendment, Plaintiff supplements his claim based on the alleged denial of legal reference books. ( Id.) Plaintiff asserts now that Jail officials unreasonably rejected a package containing four soft-cover books shipped from Prison Legal News because it violated the Jail's four-pound limitation on mailed material. ( Id.) Plaintiff also contends that the Jail's policies prohibiting receipt of packages weighing more than four pounds and prohibiting possession of more than four soft-cover books in Plaintiff's cell violates his constitutional rights, including his right to practice the Jewish faith. ( Id.) Defendants filed their motion for summary judgment after the amended complaint was filed. (Mot. [13].)

Plaintiff moved to further amend his complaint to add a claim under the ADA based on events that allegedly occurred on April 26, 2013, when Plaintiff attended a bond hearing in his state criminal case. (Mot. [12].) Plaintiff asserts that he was denied a reasonable accommodation of his disability at the April 26, 2013 hearing. ( Id.)

Plaintiff seeks, in this action, declaratory and injunctive relief, attorney fees and litigation costs. (Compl. [1] at 14–15; Am. Compl. [8] at 4.) He does not seek damages. ( Id.)

The Court conducted a hearing on the Injunction Motion on August 13, 2013, which was a consolidated hearing on Plaintiff's request for preliminary injunctive relief and a trial on the merits regarding his request for permanent injunctive relief (the “August 13th Hearing”).¹SeeFed.R.Civ.P. 65(a)(2) (“Before or after beginning the hearing on a motion for a preliminary injunction, the court may advance the trial on the merits and consolidate it with the hearing.”). The Court notified the parties in its August 8, 2013 Order setting the hearing, and the parties agreed, that the August 13th Hearing would be on Plaintiff's request for preliminary and permanent injunctive relief.² (Order [27] at 2; Tr. at 4.)

Testimony of four witnesses was presented at the August 13th, 2013 Hearing. The witnesses were: Rabbi Douglas Stein, Plaintiff, Defendant Don Pinkard, and Lieutenant Adrian Watkins. (Tr. at 2.) Various exhibits also were introduced at the hearing.³

B. Factual Findings

Plaintiff is housed in a medical cell in the infirmary at the Jail. ( Id. at 47, 48, 138.) He does not have cellmates. ( Id.) Plaintiff's medical cell is approximately three times larger than a non-medical cell. ( Id. at 47–48.)

Lieutenant Adrian Watkins works at the Jail and oversees Plaintiff's confinement and has since approximately February 2013. ( Id. at 95–96.) Defendant Colonel Don Pinkard is the Jail Administrator. ( Id. at 132.) Defendant R.L. Conway is the Sheriff of Gwinnett County.

Plaintiff is an observant Orthodox Jew and has been all his life. ( Id. at 39–40.) He reads English, Hebrew, and some Aramaic. ( Id. at 39.) Plaintiff and Douglas Stein, a newly ordained Rabbi, testified at the hearing about the religious practices of Orthodox Jews. The practices at issue in this case involve the study of various religious books and recitation of prayers in these texts.

According to Rabbi Stein, Plaintiff needs nine prayer books to observe his faith. ( Id. at 22–23.) They consist of a daily Siddur,⁴ a Chumash (the Old Testament), a book for each of the five Jewish holidays, a book of Psalms, and in 2014, a Megillah for the holiday of Purim. ( Id. at 22–24.) Rabbi Stein testified that it is “desirable” for an observant Orthodox Jew to have a few books summarizing the laws of each Jewish holiday to prepare for each holiday, and he identified seven texts used for that and other purposes.⁵ ( Id. at 23–25.) Rabbi Stein testified it is acceptable for an Orthodox Jew to read Hebrew scriptures translated into English and to read scriptures and prayers copied from a hardback book. ( Id. at 30, 36.)

Plaintiff initially testified that his faith requires him to read “approximately twelve to fifteen different texts ... on a daily basis.” ( Id. at 45.) He later testified that “in one day's time, I will use approximately ten books, because you are reading only a certain portion out of each book.” ( Id. at 82–83.) The books Plaintiff identified also were identified by Rabbi Stein. Plaintiff also testified that his faith requires him to read only portions of the prayer books each day. ( Id. at 40–41, 82–83.) “You cycle through different portions” and often “are only reading a small portion” at any given time. ( Id. at 41.)

Plaintiff studies the books and prays at dawn, midday, sunset, and at midnight. ( Id. at 48–49.) Jail officials have installed a clock in front of Plaintiff's cell for his use in determining when to engage in his faith practices. ( Id. at 49.) Jail officials also altered their lights off policy for Plaintiff. The general policy is that lights are turned off at the Jail at midnight. ( Id. at 66, 109.) Jail officials leave them on at Plaintiff's cell until 12:30 a.m. to allow him time for his midnight readings and prayer. ( Id.) Jail officials made that accommodation at the request of Plaintiff's rabbi. ( Id. at 136–37 & Defs.' Ex. 6; see infra.) ⁶

Jail policy prohibits inmates from: (1) having hardback books in their cell; (2) having more than four soft-cover books in their cell; and (3) receiving, from a source outside of the Jail, any package weighing more than four pounds. (Tr. at 96–97, 111.) Hardback books are prohibited in cells because it is easier to conceal contraband in hard covers, it is more time-consuming for Jail officials to search hard covers when they arrive at the Jail, and because hardback books can be used as weapons by inmates. ( Id. at 132–33.) ⁷

The number of soft-cover books allowed in a cell also is limited, including because several soft-cover books placed in a pillow case allows the pillow case to be used as a weapon. (Pinkard Decl. [13–1] at 1–3.) Limiting soft-cover books in a cell also reduces fire risk, avoids clutter that can impede Jail officials or medical personnel from performing necessary tasks in cells, and otherwise facilitates order in cells. ( Id.)

The four-pound limit on incoming packages is necessary to handle, process and search the large volume of mail the Jail receives. ( Id.; Tr. at 133.) All incoming items are required to be searched for contraband to ensure the safety and security of all persons at the Jail. ( Id.) Jail officials do not consider the content of any particular book in applying the four-pound restriction. (Tr. at 112, 117.)

Jail officials have granted to Plaintiff a variety of exceptions to these policies. Plaintiff is allowed to have four soft-cover religious books and four soft-cover non-religious books, for a total of eight soft-cover books, in his cell at all times. ( Id. at 96.) Plaintiff can, at least once each weekday, exchange those books for other books stored in the Jail's law library. ⁸ ( Id. at 103–05; see infra.) The Jail, in response to Plaintiff's requests, agreed to store in the library books sent to Plaintiff in addition to books he is allowed in his cell. (Tr. at 114–16.) Books that are sent to him must be in packages weighing no more than four pounds. ( Id.) The number of four-pound packages that can be sent is not limited. ( Id.) At least...