Mitchell v. Horn

• Decision Date: 29 January 2003
• Docket Number: No. 98-1932.,98-1932.
• Parties: Mark MITCHELL, Appellant v. Martin F. HORN, et al.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit

318 F.3d 523

Mark MITCHELL, Appellant v. Martin F. HORN, et al.

No. 98-1932.

United States Court of Appeals, Third Circuit.

Argued August 1, 2002.

Filed January 29, 2003.

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Gregg H. Levy, Kevin C. Newsom (Argued), Covington & Burling, Washington, DC, for Appellant.

D. Michael Fisher, J. Bart DeLone (Argued), Calvin R. Koons, John G. Knorr, III, Office of Attorney General, Appellate Litigation Section, Harrisburg, PA, for Amicus, The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Before ROTH, RENDELL^* and AMBRO, Circuit Judges.

OPINION OF THE COURT

AMBRO, Circuit Judge.

Mark Mitchell, a Pennsylvania inmate acting pro se, filed this suit under 42 U.S.C. 1983, claiming violations of his First, Fifth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights. He alleges that a correctional officer planted contraband near his locker because he filed complaints against that officer, that he was denied a fair hearing on the contraband charges, and that, as a result, he was placed in disciplinary confinement for several months, including four days in a cell that was smeared with feces and infested with flies and in which he could not eat, drink, or sleep. The District Court dismissed Mitchell's complaint sua sponte the day it was filed without requiring service on the defendants. For the reasons below, we reverse the District Court's judgment and remand for further proceedings.

I. Factual Background and Procedural History

On appeal from the dismissal of a complaint, we assume the allegations in the complaint to be true. See Ray v. Kertes, 285 F.3d 287, 291 (3d Cir.2002); Micklus v. Carlson, 632 F.2d 227, 230 (3d Cir.1980).

On October 5, 1996, while Mitchell was an inmate in the Drug and Alcohol Unit at the Graterford Correctional Institution in Pennsylvania ("Graterford"), prison officials entered his living area to conduct a search. During the search, they found a folded brown paper napkin containing drugs and U.S. currency taped under Mitchell's locker. Mitchell denied owning or knowing about the contraband, and his urinalysis tested negative for drugs. At the security office, Mitchell asked a correctional officer to preserve the tape that had affixed the contraband under his locker so that it could be fingerprinted. Although Mitchell offered to pay for the fingerprint analysis, the prison denied his request. Pending a hearing on the contraband charges, prison officials placed him in the Restricted Housing Unit ("RHU").

The next day, prison officials brought Mitchell to the institution's security unit for questioning. Lieutenant Kowalski told Mitchell that he had information suggesting that Officer Ronald Wilson, the officer regularly assigned to the Drug and Alcohol Unit, framed Mitchell. Mitchell concurred that he had been set up and again requested fingerprint testing to prove his innocence. Kowalski offered to look into the matter, and Mitchell was returned to the RHU.

Two days after the officers discovered the contraband, Mitchell was called to a disciplinary hearing, in preparation for which he was permitted five minutes to confer with an inmate assistant. During the hearing, Mitchell argued that someone had set him up. He noted that the area in which the officers found the contraband was easily accessible to others, requested that the hearing examiner inquire when that area had last been searched, and asked again for a fingerprint test. His requests were denied. Finding Mitchell guilty of contraband charges and of lying to a prison employee, the hearing examiner sentenced him to ninety days in disciplinary custody.

Following proper procedure, Mitchell appealed the hearing examiner's verdict first to the Program Review Committee, then to the prison superintendent, and finally to the chief counsel. Each appeal was denied. During the pendency of these appeals, Mitchell was relocated to a cell normally used to house mentally ill inmates. The cell had "human waste smeared on the walls" and was "infested with flies." At night, "kicking and banging on the doors by the other inmates" kept Mitchell awake.

Mitchell complained to prison officials about his conditions to no avail. He sought to file an administrative grievance protesting the conditions of his confinement, but prison officials denied him an inmate grievance form. Prison regulations provide that a grievance form is "the proper form to be used for submission of a grievance and it should be completed according to the directions provided." Commonwealth of Pa., Dep't of Corr., Consolidated Inmate Grievance Review System, Policy Statement DC-ADM 804 V(B) (Oct. 20, 1994). Additionally, inmate grievances must be "in writing and in the format provided on the forms supplied by the institution." Id. 804(VI)(A)(1) (internal citation omitted). After four days, during which Mitchell alleges he did not eat, drink, or sleep, the Program Review Committee, in the course of fulfilling its mandate to "interview all disciplinary custody cases every thirty (30) days," Commonwealth of Pa., Dep't of Corr., Inmate Disciplinary and Restricted Housing Procedures, Policy Statement DC-ADM 801 VI(D)(9) (Sept. 20, 1994), confirmed that his cell was unfit for human habitation. He was transferred to Huntingdon Correctional Institution on December 4, 1996.¹

In January 1998, Mitchell returned to Graterford to face criminal drug-possession charges stemming from the October 5, 1996 contraband incident and was again placed in the RHU. At a preliminary hearing held after Mitchell's return to Graterford, all criminal charges against Mitchell were dismissed. Nonetheless, Graterford officials kept him segregated in the RHU for another two months, explaining that his return to the general Graterford population was "not an option." After numerous complaints, Mitchell was transferred back to Huntingdon on April 1, 1998.

On September 29, 1998, Mitchell filed the current complaint in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, alleging that: (1) Officer Wilson planted contraband in retaliation for Mitchell's complaints against him, in violation of his First, Fifth, and Eighth Amendment rights; (2) prison officials denied Mitchell adequate time to confer with his inmate assistant, denied him the opportunity to present a meaningful defense, and failed adequately to investigate his allegations that the charges against him were fabricated, all in violation of his Fifth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights; (3) prison officials placed Mitchell in a cell unfit for human habitation, in violation of his Eighth Amendment rights; and (4) as a result of these violations, Mitchell suffered, inter alia, emotional trauma, fear, and shock, and lost his status and any chance of commutation. As noted, the District Court dismissed his complaint the day it was filed. The Court dismissed as frivolous Mitchell's retaliation charge, which it held did not state a violation of his constitutional rights, and his due process claim, on the ground that Mitchell's confinement did not implicate a liberty interest. The District Court also held that Mitchell failed to exhaust his administrative remedies with respect to his Eighth Amendment conditions-of-confinement claim and dismissed that claim without prejudice. Finally, the District Court held that Mitchell could not bring a claim for emotional trauma without a prior showing of physical injury.

This timely appeal followed. Because the District Court dismissed this case before the defendant was served, the defendant — Commissioner of the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections — was not technically a party to this suit. Therefore, we requested that the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania file a brief as amicus curiae.²

II. Jurisdiction

The District Court's dismissal of Mitchell's retaliation and due process claims as frivolous is appealable under 28 U.S.C. 1291. See Wilson v. Rackmill, 878 F.2d 772, 773 (3d Cir.1989). Under the circumstances, his Eighth Amendment conditions-of-confinement claim is appealable as well. When a claim is dismissed without prejudice, we treat it as a final decision, appealable under 1291, "when a plaintiff `declares his intention to stand on his complaint or when he cannot cure the defect in his complaint.'" Ray, 285 F.3d at 291 (quoting Booth v. Churner, 206 F.3d 289, 293 n. 3 (3d Cir.2000), aff'd, 532 U.S. 731, 121 S.Ct. 1819, 149 L.Ed.2d 958 (2001)). While Mitchell has not clearly declared his intention to stand on his complaint, the defect for which the District Court dismissed Eighth Amendment conditions-of-confinement claim — failure to exhaust available administrative remedies — is no longer curable. See Booth, 206 F.3d at 293 n. 3. It has been six years since the events resulting in this appeal, and prison regulations allowed Mitchell only fifteen days "after the events upon which the claims are based" to file a grievance. DC-ADM 804 VI(B)(2).

III. Discussion

This case raises four questions, which we address in the following order: (1) whether Mitchell exhausted the available administrative remedies on his Eighth Amendment conditions-of-confinement claim; (2) is his retaliation claim frivolous; (3) whether his due process claim is frivolous; and (4) has Mitchell alleged a physical injury sufficient to support his emotional injury claims. Throughout we bear in mind that, "however inartfully pleaded," the "allegations of [a] pro se complaint [are held] to less stringent standards than formal pleadings drafted by lawyers." Haines v. Kerner, 404 U.S. 519, 520, 92 S.Ct. 594, 30 L.Ed.2d 652 (1972).

A. Exhaustion

Before filing suit, prisoners must exhaust their available administrative remedies. 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a).³ The "availability of administrative remedies to a prisoner is a question of law," which we review de novo. Ray, 285 F.3d at 291.

The District Court dismissed Mitchell's conditions-of-confinement claim, which asserts that he spent four days in a filthy cell in which he...