Mease v. Heidi Wash.
| Decision Date | 13 May 2021 |
| Docket Number | Case No. 2:20-cv-176 |
| Parties | JOHN EUGENE MEASE, Plaintiff, v. HEIDI WASHINGTON, et al., Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Western District of Michigan |
Honorable Janet T. Neff
This is a civil rights action brought by a state prisoner under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Under the Prison Litigation Reform Act, Pub. L. No. 104-134, 110 Stat. 1321 (1996) (PLRA), the Court is required to dismiss any prisoner action brought under federal law if the complaint is frivolous, malicious, fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, or seeks monetary relief from a defendant immune from such relief. 28 U.S.C. §§ 1915(e)(2), 1915A; 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(c). The Court must read Plaintiff's pro se complaint indulgently, see Haines v. Kerner, 404 U.S. 519, 520 (1972), and accept Plaintiff's allegations as true, unless they are clearly irrational or wholly incredible. Denton v. Hernandez, 504 U.S. 25, 33 (1992). Applying these standards, the Court will dismiss Plaintiff's complaint for failure to state a claim against Defendants Washington, Horton, Yon, Corrigan, Batho, Thompson, and Unknown Party, under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1915(e)(2) and 1915A(b), and 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(c). The Court will also dismiss, for failure to state a claim, the following claims against the remaining Defendants: Plaintiff's conspiracy, due process, Eighth Amendment, free exercise, and RLUIPA claims, as well as his claims concerning alleged violations of MDOC policy. Plaintiff's retaliation claims against Defendants Wonnacott, McKinney, Lemmerman, Wech, and Simpson remain in the case.
Plaintiff is presently incarcerated with the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) at the Central Michigan Correctional Facility (STF) in St. Louis, Gratiot County, Michigan. The events about which he complains, however, occurred at the Chippewa Correctional Facility (URF) in Kincheloe, Chippewa County, Michigan. Plaintiff sues MDOC Director Heidi Washington and the following URF officials: Warden Connie Horton; Deputy Warden Unknown Yon; an unknown nurse (Unknown Party); Assistant Deputy Warden James Corrigan; Acting Assistant Deputy Warden R. Batho; Resident Unit Manager Shane Thompson; Prisoner Counselor Ricky J. Wonnacott; and officials Unknown Lemmerman, C. McKinney, Unknown Wech, and Unknown Simpson.1
Plaintiff, a member of the Nation of Islam religion, alleges that, on May 20, 2019, he was summoned to return to C-Unit, to be placed in a 6-week quarantine for a scabies outbreak. When he entered the unit, Plaintiff saw prisoners standing in line to be weighed, apparently as part of the scabies protocol. Plaintiff got in line, but Defendant McKinney immediately instructed Plaintiff to go to his bunk. When Plaintiff attempted to explain that he had not been weighed, Defendant McKinney told him to go to his bunk or risk being placed in segregation. Plaintiff complied.
Later that day, Plaintiff complained about McKinney's conduct to Defendant Wonnacott. Wonnacott told Plaintiff that McKinney was likely having a bad day, due to the scabies outbreak and the resulting additional work. Plaintiff asked Defendant Wonnocott if he was aware that Plaintiff, like other Ramadan participants on the unit, would not be able to take medications until the sun set without improperly breaking their fasts. Defendant Wonnocott advised Plaintiff that it should not be a problem.
On May 22, 2019, Wonnocott convened a meeting of the unit's Ramadan participants and advised that a refusal to take the scabies medication at 1:00 p.m. would result in 96 days' placement in administrative segregation. Wonnocott asked for questions. Plaintiff responded that his religion forbade him from taking the medication until after sunset. Wonnocott told Plaintiff that he had heard enough and exited the meeting. As a result of Defendant Wonnocott's threat, all other Ramadan participants on the unit took their medication at 1:00 p.m. Plaintiff then spoke with Defendants Thompson, Yon, Corrigan, and the unknown nurse, stating that he was not being allowed to practice his religion. They stated that he was allowed to practice his religion, but, because he would not take the medication at 1:00 p.m., he would have to be quarantined in administrative segregation, given the medicine at 9:30 p.m., and remain in segregation until Friday, May 24, 2019. Upon release from segregation on May 24, Plaintiff returned to his bunk. Plaintiff claims that, because of his placement in segregation, he was denied his religious material, hygiene items, and legal property and was terminated from his high-paying job at Michigan State Industries (MSI) Garment Factory.
On May 29, 2019, Defendants dispensed a second round of scabies medications. Again, because distribution occurred during the daytime and during Ramadan, Plaintiff refused to break his fast to take the medicine. He again was placed in administrative segregation, given themedication at a later time, and released from segregation two days later, on May 31, 2019. When he returned to his bunk, however, another prisoner was there, having been assigned by Defendant Lemmerman. Lieutenant Biggers (not a defendant) called C-Unit and then instructed Plaintiff to "return to C-Unit and wait in the TV room until Wonnacott finds you a bunk[.]" (Compl., ECF No. 1, PageID.4.) Plaintiff complied with Biggers' instruction. Defendant Lemmerman then began to write Plaintiff a misconduct charge, apparently for being in the TV room.
When Plaintiff saw his name on the misconduct, he went to the Annex to inform staff what was happening. He spoke with Inspector Miller (not a defendant) about what was happening. Plaintiff stated that the misconduct charge was just further retaliation and harassment by C-Unit staff for refusing to break his Ramadan fast. Miller advised Plaintiff that URF administrators would not condone the taking of his religious services or the termination from his prison job. Inspector Miller had Sergeants Portice and Gurnoe (not defendants) contact Defendant Chaplain Rink and Classification Director D. Pellar (not defendants) to have Plaintiff's religious services and MSI job reinstated. Miller told Plaintiff that he would normally move Plaintiff to another unit, but, given the outbreak, he would have to wait until the end of quarantine.
Plaintiff returned to C-Unit and attempted to talk to Defendant Wonnacott about the retaliation and religious discrimination being shown by Defendants Wonnacott, Lemmerman, and McKinney. Wonnacott refused to discuss the issue and refused to place Plaintiff's legal name back on the door card.
Plaintiff filed a grievance on June 1, 2019, describing what he viewed as incidents of harassment by Defendants Wonnacott, Lemmerman, and McKinney. After the filing of his grievance, Defendants Wonnacott, Lemmerman, and McKinney allegedly increased their harassment and derogatory remarks. Plaintiff spoke with Defendant Yon while Yon was onrounds, explaining that he needed his job to pay off his institutional debt and to continue his legal research for his habeas corpus brief. Defendant Yon instructed Plaintiff to avoid misconducts so that he could be moved at the end of the quarantine.
On June 29, 2019, when Plaintiff saw Defendant McKinney, McKinney made gestures to Plaintiff, implying that Plaintiff was "crying" to Inspector Miller and Defendant Yon. Plaintiff told Defendant McKinney to stop mocking his religion and playing childish games. Plaintiff told Defendant Lemmerman to tell Miller and Yon that they didn't run C-Unit. Defendants McKinney and Lemmerman became upset because Plaintiff had talked back. At 12:00 p.m., Plaintiff went to the C-Unit officer's desk to ask McKinney to sign his itinerary to go to lunch and the law library. McKinney refused. At 12:20 p.m., Plaintiff went to the counselor's office and asked that Defendant McKinney or Defendant Lemmerman sign his itinerary. Both Defendants refused. Plaintiff waited until the unit had been called to lunch before reporting the incident to Sgt. Marra (not a defendant) in the chow hall. Plaintiff submitted two grievances.
On June 30, 2019, Plaintiff received a notice of a Class-II misconduct charge for verbal insolence on June 29, 2019, written by Defendant Lemmerman. That same date, Plaintiff received a notice from Defendant Simpson that Defendant McKinney had issued Plaintiff a Class-III misconduct charge for excessive noise on June 29, 2019. Plaintiff complains that, without asking Plaintiff, Defendant Simpson checked the box indicating that Plaintiff did not want to sign. Plaintiff asked Defendant Wech for two grievance forms, and Defendant gave him four, stating, (Id., PageID.6.) On June 30, 2019, Defendant Simpson charged Plaintiff with a Class-III misconduct for violation of posted rules, because Plaintiff was standing in the TV room.
Defendant Wech found Plaintiff guilty of the excessive-noise misconduct and sanctioned him to five days of toplock, the maximum sanction for a Class-III misconduct. Defendant Simpson issued Plaintiff a misconduct ticket for profanity on July 5, 2019, and Defendant McKinney found Plaintiff guilty of the misconduct for profanity on July 7, 2019. Again, Plaintiff received five days of toplock. Plaintiff alleges that, prior to these misconducts, he had been free of Class-II and Class-III misconducts for ten months and free of Class-I misconducts for five years.
As reflected in the June 19, 2019, Warden's Forum minutes, prisoner representatives raised issues of alleged abuse by MDOC hearing officers, who were not using progressive sanctioning in misconducts, and by staff members, who were placing post-it notes on the misconducts with recommended sanctions. Defendant Horton stated that the administration was not aware of the conduct and did not support it. Horton appointed Defendants Batho and Corrigan to ensure compliance with the...
To continue reading
Request your trial