Olson v. Bloomberg

• Decision Date: 11 August 2003
• Docket Number: No. 02-1874.,02-1874.
• Citation: 339 F.3d 730
• Parties: Karla OLSON, as Special Administrator of the Estate of Jeremy J. Gacek, Deceased, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Jeffrey BLOOMBERG; Keith Ditmanson; Kenneth Hemenway, Defendants, Thomas Hauglin, Defendant-Appellant, Steven Lee; Douglas Weber; Captain Jeff L. Snyder; Captain Greg Knutson; Owen Spurrell; Pete Norris; Dennis Block; Robert Kuemper, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

339 F.3d 730

Karla OLSON, as Special Administrator of the Estate of Jeremy J. Gacek, Deceased, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Jeffrey BLOOMBERG; Keith Ditmanson; Kenneth Hemenway, Defendants Thomas Hauglin, Defendant-Appellant Steven Lee; Douglas Weber; Captain Jeff L. Snyder; Captain Greg Knutson; Owen Spurrell; Pete Norris; Dennis Block; Robert Kuemper, Defendants.

No. 02-1874.

United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.

Submitted: December 11, 2002.

Filed: August 11, 2003.

James Ellis Moore, argued, Sioux Falls, SD (William G. Beck, on the brief), for appellant.

John O. Murrisn III, argued, Edina, MN (Ellie VandenBerg, on the brief), for appellee.

Before McMILLIAN, JOHN R. GIBSON, and BYE, Circuit Judges.

JOHN R. GIBSON, Circuit Judge.

Thomas Hauglin appeals the district court's order denying him summary judgment on qualified immunity grounds in this 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action filed against him in his individual capacity. Karla Olson filed this action on behalf of her son, Jeremy Gacek, who committed suicide while in the South Dakota State Penitentiary; she alleges that prison officials were deliberately indifferent to Gacek's serious medical needs in violation of the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. The district court granted summary judgment to eleven of twelve prison officials in this case, but found that there was a dispute as to the predicate facts surrounding Hauglin's actions during a fifteen to twenty-five minute period after Gacek informed Hauglin that he was going to commit suicide. Hauglin argues that he tried to convince Gacek not to commit suicide and alerted another guard to call a code red, that this conduct did not constitute deliberate indifference, and that therefore, he was entitled to qualified immunity. Based upon 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and the collateral order doctrine, we have jurisdiction over this appeal of the district court's denial of summary judgment on qualified immunity grounds. We affirm the district court's order.

In reviewing this denial of summary judgment, we view the facts in the light most favorable to the non-moving party, Karla Olson, as special administrator of Jeremy Gacek's estate. Jeremy Gacek committed suicide on March 4, 1998, while incarcerated in the Special Housing Unit of the South Dakota State Penitentiary in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The guards on duty in the Special Housing Unit during the afternoon of Gacek's death included correctional officers Thomas Hauglin and Vern Bormann and senior correctional officer Greg Knutson. In the Special Housing Unit, inmates are continuously confined in their cells except for a period of forty-five minutes for recreation period, commonly referred to as "rec," which they may take once a day, five days a week. During rec, inmates are allowed to take a shower, walk around the tier, and talk with other inmates who are in their cells. A maximum of two inmates are allowed to be out of their cells during the same rec period. Inmates who are on "status" (i.e. those who have committed disciplinary violations resulting in a forced cell entry within the past year) are only allowed to take their rec until 3:30 p.m. because there are fewer correctional officers on duty after that time. If an inmate is not released from his cell by 2:45 p.m., he will often not receive his rec period and consequently will not take a shower that day.

At approximately 3 p.m., Jeremy Gacek asked Bormann and Hauglin if he could receive his rec period because he wanted to take a shower. Gacek told Bormann that if he was released from his cell, he was going to take the full rec period until 3:45 p.m. Because of previous disciplinary violations, Gacek was "on status," and therefore, was not allowed to be out of his cell after 3:30 p.m. Bormann spoke with Captain Kenneth Hemenway, who directed that Gacek not be given his rec period that day. Both Gacek and his rec partner, inmate Chris Hill, were upset that they did not receive their rec and told their guards that if they did not receive their rec, they would refuse to give their trays back at supper, which would result in a forced cell entry to remove the trays. Hauglin and Bormann contacted Hemenway about Gacek and Hill's threats to not give back their trays. Hemenway told Hauglin and Bormann to give the inmates sack lunches which are served without trays or utensils. When the sack lunches were served, Gacek became verbally abusive and threw water on Hauglin and Bormann through the food port. Bormann later issued a write-up for Gacek's behavior.

Sometime between 4:00 p.m. and 4:30 p.m., Gacek and Hill obtained plastic spoons from fellow inmates and told Hauglin that they had spoons and would not give them up. Gacek then asked whether the cell entry team, referred to as the "goon squad," was coming to retrieve the spoon. Hauglin told Bormann that Gacek and Hill had spoons, and Captain Jeffrey Snyder was contacted about how to deal with this problem. Snyder called Associate Warden Owen Spurrell, who decided that because Gacek was not harming himself or threatening to harm others with the spoon, the forced cell entry could wait until the following morning when there would be a larger number of officers available.

At approximately 5:30 p.m., Hauglin told Gacek that he would not be assembling a cell entry team to remove the spoon from Gacek's cell. Gacek was upset that the cell entry team was not being put together. Hauglin left the walk behind the cells, and Gacek continued to push his emergency call button. Bormann went home to change his clothes at 5:50 p.m.

The district court found that the record contained disputes of material fact regarding Hauglin's actions between 5:50 p.m. and the time the code red was called at 6:17 p.m. Hauglin described these events in a report written the night of Gacek's suicide and in a deposition taken two years later. In his written report, Hauglin stated:

At 5:50 Officer Feterl Arrived to relive [sic] Officer Bormann so he could go change cloths [sic]. I took Officer Feterl with me to pick up trays. I told him to stay off the tier on upper west but stand just outside the door to the tier. I entered the tier and picked up trays without incident! At Aprox 6:10pm Inmate Gacek J pushed his call light. I went to the back of his cell and he asked me if the goon squad was on thier [sic] way I told him no. He then said what is it going to take to get the goon squad, I said I didn't know. He then said what it doesnt [sic] matter that we slimed you guys, flooded and will not give up our spoons. I told him I did not know what was going to happen. He then told me he was going to get his shower one way or another, he then asked me if I could get him a shower. I told him I could not make that decision. Inmate Gacek, J then started to take his orange pants off and said fine I am just going to hang myself. I told Inmate Gacek J not to be stupid, his reply was fuck it. He was tying his pant legs into a slip knot. He said he was going to tie one end to his bed and tie his feet to the door. I told Inmate Gacek if he wanted to take on the goon squad that much just give me two minutes and I would go make a call to the Captin [sic] and tell him that Inmate Gacek J was threating [sic] to hang himself. I told Gacek J that I would come back and O.C [sic] him and he could take the goon squad on then if he wanted to. He said no fuck it. As soon as you walk away I am going to hang myself and if I do get it done it will be your fuckers fault for fucking me out of my rec.

At this time Inmate Gacek J walked to his door and said good bye to Inmate Hill C and some others that I could not hear. The whole time I was talking to him he was tying his pants to his bed and a towel to his door. He then walked away from his door and said he was was [sic] going to do it. He started to move the slip knot end of his pants twords [sic] his head. At this time I ran off the cat walk and told Officer Bormann to call a code Red, that Inmate Gacek J. was hanging himself. Aprox Time code red was called was 6:17 pm.

Hauglin reaffirmed much of this initial account in his later deposition testimony.¹ Thus, according to Hauglin, he tried to talk Gacek out of committing suicide between 6:10 p.m. and 6:17 p.m., and when Gacek tied his pants into a knot and put them over his head, Hauglin ran from the catwalk and told Bormann to call a code red.²

A number of inmates provided testimony which conflicted with Hauglin's account of events. Harold Kilbourn, an inmate in the Special Housing Unit, heard Gacek say that he was going to hang it up and remembered Hauglin responding to Gacek, "[Y]ou do what you got to do and I'll do what I got to do." Kelly Brand also recalled: "I did hear somebody back there say, do what you got to do. And I don't know which guard that said that." Kilbourn testified that he heard Hauglin walk down the catwalk and heard a door shut. Dan Cady, another inmate and friend of Gacek's, remembered Hauglin telling Gacek something to the effect of "let me go call somebody. Let me talk to somebody. I'll be right back." Cady claimed that this conversation occurred at approximately 5:50 or 5:55 p.m. and that Hauglin subsequently left the catwalk.³ Inmate Chris Hill, who was in the cell next to Gacek's, testified that Gacek told Hauglin he was "going to hang it up" and that Hauglin told Gacek: "[W]ell, come on Gacek. Just give me a minute. I'll be right back. Give me a minute and let me call somebody. I'll be right back." According to Hill, Gacek said, "[W]hen you come back I'll probably be hanged up." Hill stated that Hauglin then left the catwalk. Hill and three other inmates, Kelly Brand, Kurt Angelone, and Anthony Salinas, all recounted that shortly after Hauglin left, Gacek stopped responding to their questions and that they began pushing their emergency buttons, banging on their doors, and yelling for the guards. This occurred for some period of time between fifteen and...