Moore v. Lasalle Mgmt. Co.

• Decision Date: 22 July 2022
• Docket Number: 20-30739
• Citation: 41 F.4th 493
• Parties: Erie MOORE, Jr.; Tamara Green ; Tiffany Robinson, Plaintiffs—Appellants, v. LASALLE MANAGEMENT COMPANY, L.L.C., incorrectly named as LaSalle Corrections L.L.C.; Ray Hanson ; Gerald Hardwell; Roy Brown; Reginald Williams; Kenneth Hart; Danielle Walker; Duan Rosenthal; Jeremy Runner; Reginald Curley, incorrectly named as Reginald Curly; City of Monroe ; Sheriff of Ouachita Parish; Donald Murphy; Chase Wells; Tommy Crowson, incorrectly named as Officer Crowson; William Mitchell, incorrectly named as Nurse Mitchell; Alton Hale; Richwood Correctional Center, L.L.C.; Archie Aultman, incorrectly named as Aultman, Defendants—Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

41 F.4th 493

Erie MOORE, Jr.; Tamara Green ; Tiffany Robinson, Plaintiffs—Appellants,

v.LASALLE MANAGEMENT COMPANY, L.L.C., incorrectly named as LaSalle Corrections L.L.C.; Ray Hanson ; Gerald Hardwell; Roy Brown; Reginald Williams; Kenneth Hart; Danielle Walker; Duan Rosenthal; Jeremy Runner; Reginald Curley, incorrectly named as Reginald Curly; City of Monroe ; Sheriff of Ouachita Parish; Donald Murphy; Chase Wells; Tommy Crowson, incorrectly named as Officer Crowson; William Mitchell, incorrectly named as Nurse Mitchell; Alton Hale; Richwood Correctional Center, L.L.C.; Archie Aultman, incorrectly named as Aultman, Defendants—Appellees.

No. 20-30739

United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

FILED July 22, 2022

Nelson Welch Cameron, Shreveport, LA, James Anglin Flynn, Mark S. Davies, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, L.L.P., Washington, DC, Leslie Andrea Bailey, John He, Public Justices, Oakland, CA, Leslie Agnes Brueckner, Bailey & Glasser, Oakland, CA, Melanie Hallums, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, L.L.P., Wheeling, WV, Joseph Raymond Kolker, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, L.L.P., New York, NY, Ellen L. Noble, Public Justice, Washington, DC, Tiffany R. Wright, Howard University, School of Law, Washington, DC, for Plaintiffs—Appellants.

Harry Bradford Calvit, Esq., Provosty Sadler & deLaunay, Alexandria, LA, for Defendants—Appellees LaSalle Management Company, L.L.C., Ray Hanson, Gerald Hardwell, Roy Brown, Reginald Williams, Kenneth Hart, Danielle Walker, Duan Rosenthal, Jeremy Runner, Reginald Curley, William Mitchell, Alton Hale, Richwood Correctional Center, L.L.C.

Brandon Wade Creekbaum, Lance Casey Auttonberry, Angie Sturdivant, City of Monroe, Legal Department, Monroe, LA, for Defendants—Appellees City of Monroe, Tommy Crowson

Blake Joseph Arcuri, General Counsel, Craig Edmond Frosch, Esq., Laura Cannizzaro Rodrigue, Frosch Rodrigue Arcuri, L.L.C., New Orleans, LA, for Defendants—Appellees Sheriff of Ouachita Parish, Donald Murphy, Chase Wells,

Harry Bradford Calvit, Esq., Provosty Sadler & deLaunay, Alexandria, LA, Charles Bryan Racer, Assistant Attorney General for the State of Louisiana, Monroe, LA, for Defendant—Appellee Archie Aultman.

Samuel Weiss, Rights Behind Bars, Washington, DC, for Amicus Curiae Rights Behind Bars.

Richard Frankel, Drexel University School of Law, Philadelphia, PA, for Amici Curiae Promise of Justice Initiative, National Police Accountability Project, American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana, Tulane Law School Civil Rights and Federal Practice Clinic.

Before Higginson, Willett, and Ho, Circuit Judges.

Don R. Willett, Circuit Judge:

Erie Moore was arrested for disturbing the peace and taken to a private prison. One day later, Moore was dead—the victim of a traumatic brain injury

that, experts say, prison staff inflicted through repeated blows to his head. Indeed, staff had bragged—openly and for years—about punishing handcuffed inmates with pepper spray and beating them senseless in a cameraless corridor. Plaintiffs say that's what happened here.

Some of Plaintiffs' claims made it past summary judgment. Others did not. For the reasons below, we AFFIRM in part, REVERSE in part, and REMAND for proceedings consistent with this opinion.

I

A

Many cities privatize their prisons. Monroe, Louisiana is no exception. From 2001–2019, the City engaged Richwood Correctional Center, LLC, to house arrestees and inmates. Their agreement required Richwood to "operate, manage, supervise and maintain the facility and provide for the secure custody, care and safekeeping of inmates" in accordance with certain state standards. Richwood assigned its rights and obligations under the agreement to LaSalle Management, LLC. In short, Richwood owned the prison. LaSalle ran it. And as part of running the prison, LaSalle hired Ray Hanson to serve as warden. In that role, Hanson set policy for the prison.

What these policies actually were, though, casts a dark shadow over this case. The City's agreement with Richwood included instructions governing the "punishment of inmates." But paper and practice don't always match up. Indeed, there's some evidence to suggest that Hanson never read those instructions. And former staff paint a grim picture of what went as customary punishment at the prison.

Yolanda Jackson is one of those former staffers. She worked at the prison for about three years. According to Jackson, "[o]n many occasions she ... witnessed [guards] including supervisors use chemical spray on handcuffed prisoners routinely, many, many times." The practice was common enough for guards to have a name for it: "pepper spraying mode." In fact, two Defendants admitted under oath to using chemical spray on multiple restrained detainees. And these practices persisted, too, despite Jackson "advis[ing] supervisors and others that they [were] not allowed to punish prisoners who are handcuffed." Guards and supervisors alike advised Jackson that they'd "do what they want[ed]" with prisoners.

Unfortunately, guards doing what they wanted to prisoners extended beyond pepper spray, according to Jackson. Cameras at the prison abound—except in one twelve-by-twelve-foot area. Called the "Four-Way" by the parties, it's the one area of the prison with no cameras. Per Jackson, "many" guards openly bragged to her about taking prisoners to the Four-Way to "teach them a lesson" off camera through "force." Even an Assistant Warden at the prison admitted that both he and guards used the Four-Way to "interrogate" prisoners. And two prison guards have testified under oath that they used the Four-Way to interrogate and abuse multiple handcuffed detainees. As Jackson summarized in her testimony, these practices at the prison were "wide spread."

B

Police arrested Erie Moore for "disturbing the peace" at a donut shop in Monroe, Louisiana. Police then transported Moore to the prison for booking. As part of the booking process, staff brought Moore to the on-staff nurse, William Mitchell, for a medical screening. But Moore was agitated and noncompliant. According to Mitchell, he was unable to properly examine Moore. Without completing Moore's screening, staff placed Moore into a lockdown cell.

Lockdown cells are generally used to "cool off or sober up" detainees. Not this time. Gerald Hardwell was the shift supervisor on duty. He could have placed Moore in a cell alone. But no. Instead, and without reviewing Moore's history or consulting anyone else, Hardwell eventually paired Moore up with another cellmate. Moore's new cellmate was Vernon White, another combative detainee. This arrangement proved fatal.

By early morning the next day, Moore and White had their first fight. Guards broke them up, only to place them back together. Moore and White began round two later that afternoon. A guard, Jeremy Runner, suspected something was wrong after seeing only Moore on a monitor for a long time. Runner was right.

Runner moved to the cell and found White on the floor. White was apparently seizing and had blood around his mouth. Runner left to get backup and the cell's key. Guards then entered the cell to extract White. Moore ignored the guards' verbal instructions, though. In response, Christopher Loring sprayed Moore in the face with chemical spray. Runner then struck Moore in the back of the head, knocking him to the ground. Officers then dragged White into the hall. White later died at a nearby hospital.

Moore, alone in the cell for nearly an hour, removed his shirt and wiped his face and eyes—noticeably bothered by the pepper spray. Meanwhile the guards formed a plan to extract Moore from the cell. Among them were Hardwell, Runner, Reginald Williams, and Reginald Curley. Moore was sitting on the bottom bunk when Hardwell entered the cell. Hardwell sprayed Moore in the face again. The guards then left to retrieve gas masks and returned to extract Moore.

Gas masks retrieved, Hardwell again entered Moore's cell. Williams followed. Runner stood outside the door with Curley. With Moore's back to the door and hands placed on the top bunk, Hardwell grabbed Moore around the chest. Hardwell then picked Moore up and moved him toward the open door. He carried Moore while walking backward. Hardwell then suddenly pivoted, slamming Moore onto the ground in the process. Moore's body and head hit the floor. Subdued, two guards moved to pick up a handcuffed and face-down Moore. One guard held Moore's legs. Runner grabbed Moore's arms. With Moore in tow, the guards started walking. But then they stumbled. Moore hit the ground—headfirst. Guards then picked Moore back up and carried him to the Four-Way.

It's unclear what all happened during Moore's roughly two hours in the Four-Way. As we explain below, we construe the record evidence and make all inferences in favor of Plaintiffs in this posture. In that light, some evidence suggests that off-camera guards repeatedly beat and pepper-sprayed Moore until he lay unconscious. One guard, John Badger, testified that another guard who had been present in the Four-Way with Moore had bragged about bringing Moore to the cameraless Four-Way so guards could "beat him [to] death" and "finish[ ] him." Mitchell likewise testified that he had heard a "commotion" in the Four-Way as guards subdued Moore. Moore was still responsive at that point. He confirmed that he was "sore" and that his handcuffs were "too tight." Mitchell also noticed a "vanilla wafer"-sized bump on the middle of Moore's head—not present the day before during Moore's screening. Mitchell left but later returned. This time Moore was unresponsive. But Mitchell did not check Moore's vitals. All Mitchell did was to see if he could get Moore to wake up, something he tested by rubbing Moore's sternum in a way that would wake a healthy patient. Moore responded only with a grimace and grunt but remained unconscious. Mitchell did not report his observations or otherwise treat Moore before sheriff's deputies picked up Moore from the prison in connection with White's death.

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