Perez v. Oakland County

• Decision Date: 18 October 2006
• Docket Number: No. 05-1583.,05-1583.
• Parties: Ariel PEREZ, Sr., Personal Representative of the Estate of Ariel E. Perez, Jr., Plaintiff-Appellant, v. OAKLAND COUNTY; Oakland County Sheriff; Michael J. Bouchard, Oakland County Sheriff; John Doe, Unknown Oakland County Sheriff's Department Deputies; Roberta Rice; Michael Monroe, Terry Montgomery, and John Jorganson, Deputies; Sarath Hemachandra, Dr., Jointly and Severally, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

466 F.3d 416

Ariel PEREZ, Sr., Personal Representative of the Estate of Ariel E. Perez, Jr., Plaintiff-Appellant, v. OAKLAND COUNTY; Oakland County Sheriff; Michael J. Bouchard, Oakland County Sheriff; John Doe, Unknown Oakland County Sheriff's Department Deputies; Roberta Rice; Michael Monroe, Terry Montgomery, and John Jorganson, Deputies; Sarath Hemachandra, Dr., Jointly and Severally, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 05-1583.

United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.

Argued: April 20, 2006.

Decided and Filed: October 18, 2006.

ARGUED:

Kenneth J. Wrobel, Jr., Anthony A. Yezbick, Birmingham, Michigan, for Appellant. Steven M. Potter, Potter, DeAgostino, O'Dea & Patterson, Auburn Hills, Michigan, Kerry L. Rhoads-Reith, Kopka, Pinkus, Dolin & Eads, Farmington Hills, Michigan, for Appellees.

ON BRIEF:

Kenneth J. Wrobel, Jr., Birmingham, Michigan, for Appellant. Steven M. Potter, Rick J. Patterson, Potter, DeAgostino, O'Dea & Patterson, Auburn Hills, Michigan, Kerry L. Rhoads-Reith, Kopka, Pinkus, Dolin & Eads, Farmington Hills, Michigan, for Appellees.

Before: MOORE, GRIFFIN, and CUDAHY, Circuit Judges.^*

CUDAHY, J., delivered the opinion of the court. GRIFFIN, J. (pp. 433-36), delivered a separate opinion concurring in the result and in all portions of the majority opinion except Section II.A.1. MOORE, J. (pp. 436-38), delivered a separate opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part.

OPINION

RICHARD D. CUDAHY, Circuit Judge.

This is a tragic case. In November 2002, eighteen-year-old Ariel Perez, Jr. (Perez) hung himself from a bedsheet tied to a vent in his single cell in the Oakland County Jail in Pontiac, Michigan, resulting in his death three days later. Perez's father, plaintiff-appellant Ariel Perez, Sr. (Perez Sr.), the personal representative of Perez's estate, brought a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action in the district court against the Oakland County, Michigan, caseworker/counselor at the jail Roberta Rice, the Oakland County Sheriff and several of his deputies and jail psychiatrist Sarath Hemachandra, M.D. Perez Sr. argues that the defendants violated Perez's Eighth Amendment right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment by failing to provide appropriate mental health treatment and suicide monitoring.¹ The defendants filed for summary judgment, and the district court issued a memorandum opinion and order granting summary judgment on all of the federal claims and declining supplemental jurisdiction on all state-law claims. Perez Sr. timely appealed.

I. BACKGROUND

Perez's Prior Terms of Incarceration at Oakland County Jail

Perez was born in 1983. He did not complete high school and was diagnosed as having Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and as being learning disabled when he was six years old. Perez began serving sentences in the Oakland County Jail at a fairly young age. In February of 2001, when he was 17 years old, he pleaded guilty to two charges of felony larceny from a building and was given a six-month sentence on May 11, 2001. It was initially determined that due to Perez's age he should serve his time in a boot camp. However, after he reported to a boot camp counselor that he was experiencing hallucinations and hearing voices telling him to quit or escape, Perez was transferred to the Oakland County Jail in late June, 2001. When Perez arrived at the jail, he was met by defendant Roberta Rice, an inmate caseworker. Perez told Rice that he had been hearing voices for the past two years telling him to hurt himself, but he did not listen to the voices. He also stated that he had tried to hang himself at the ages of 14 and 17.

Rice determined that Perez should get a psychiatric evaluation, which was conducted by Dr. Sarath Hemachandra on July 5, 2001. Dr. Hemachandra noted Perez's history of hearing voices and considering suicide, his learning disability, his ADHD diagnosis and the fact that Perez had taken Ritalin as a child. Dr. Hemachandra diagnosed Perez with schizoaffective disorder, a personality disorder and a learning disorder. He prescribed psychiatric medication, individual counseling and substance abuse counseling. He also noted that Perez should be "watched closely."

Perez was housed with a roommate and placed on a 30-minute "active behavior watch" (ABW), based on the assessments of Rice and Hemachandra. On July 10, 2001, Rice met with Perez because he was refusing to take his Zyprexa medication. Rice decided to discontinue the 30-minute ABW following this meeting.

On August 20, 2001, Perez was in a crisis state, and jail staff determined that he was suicidal. They placed him in an attorney booth until he could be seen by Rice. Rice met with Perez, and he indicated that he was considering hurting himself by cutting his wrist with a razor or hanging himself with a sheet. He said "I feel like I'm going crazy." Rice told Perez that she wanted him moved to the front holding tanks so that he could be closely supervised. He stated that he would commit suicide if he was placed in such a holding tank, but the move was made, and he was placed on an "active suicide watch" (ASW).

Rice met with Perez the next day, August 21, 2001. Perez stated that he felt better and wanted to be moved out of the holding cell. He indicated that he had no suicidal thoughts or intentions, and he said he would not cause trouble if moved to the main jail. Rice downgraded Perez's status from ASW to ABW. She thought he seemed stable, and she approved his reassignment to the main jail.

Rice again met with Perez on September 19, 2001, after Perez he been placed in an observation cell as a result of a fight he had had with another inmate. Perez stated that he was not suicidal, that he had been taking his medications and that he had been doing fine prior to the fight. Rice brought up the idea of Perez's being placed in a single cell due to his trouble getting along with other inmates, and Perez agreed to this. Rice also determined that Perez did not appear suicidal and no watch was necessary. Jail officials asked Rice if Perez could be placed in an 11-man cell, but she said this placement was inappropriate in light of Perez's age, mental health treatment and learning disability. Perez continued to be incarcerated without incident until his release on October 9, 2001.

Perez was again incarcerated at the Oakland County Jail for two days in late April, 2002, after an altercation with his father. While Perez was at the jail, Rice responded to a phone call from Perez's sister, Jennifer Perez. Jennifer Perez told Rice that Perez had not been compliant with his mental health treatment, that he had been hearing voices telling him that he was no good and that he should kill himself and that her father wanted Perez to get treatment. Rice gave Jennifer Perez the name of the medications Perez had been given while he was incarcerated and the phone numbers of Collaborative Solutions and Mercy Network. Perez was again incarcerated at the Oakland County Jail in late August 2002, but the reasons for this incarceration are not clear from the record.

Between his April and August incarcerations, Perez received treatment at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital and the North Oakland Medical Center (NOMC) for depression and suicidal thoughts. A petition for hospitalization was prepared on Perez's behalf, a doctor diagnosed him as suffering from schizophrenia and he was given antipsychotic medication. Additionally, he was placed in a psychiatric ward at NOMC from mid-May through early June. In early October 2002, Perez went to the NOMC emergency room and stated that he was hearing voices telling him to hurt his sister and break into a restaurant. Perez was again diagnosed with schizophrenia and another petition for hospitalization was prepared on his behalf.

Incarceration Period During Which Perez Committed Suicide

On October 24, 2002, Perez returned to the Oakland County Jail after violating his probation. Early in the morning on October 25, 2002, Perez told a guard that he was hearing voices. He asked to speak to a counselor immediately but said he did not feel suicidal. A half hour to an hour later, Perez attempted suicide by tying his pants around his neck and the bars of his holding cell. A deputy placed Perez on ASW status, and he was placed in an observation cell. Rice came to see him soon after, and she continued the suicide watch. Perez was also seen by Dr. Hemachandra on an emergency basis that day. Perez told Dr. Hemachandra that he had attempted suicide in order to see a counselor and obtain medication (Lithium and Zypreza, which he had been taking prior to his incarceration) sooner. Dr. Hemachandra prescribed these medications and recommended that Perez be kept under close supervision.

Perez and Rice met on October 28, 2002, and Perez stated that he felt better since receiving the medication and that he did not feel suicidal. He told Rice that he had not wanted to kill himself when he attempted suicide, but instead, he had made the attempt because he wanted to be taken out of the holding cell and given medication. Rice discontinued Perez's ASW status and approved his transfer back to the general prison population, finding that he was cooperative and his thought process appeared to be within the normal limits. He was moved to a 10-man cell on October 30, 2002.

On November 4, 2002, Rice and Perez met again, following a report she received that Perez was refusing to take his medication. Perez told Rice he thought he did not need the medication and that he had lied about his symptoms in the past in order to get the medication hoping that it would help him cope with his term in jail. He said he had been depressed in the past but that he had become a Christian and had a purpose in life. He further stated that he did not feel suicidal and that he wanted a cell assignment that would allow him to work on his General Educational Development Test (GED). Rice noted that Perez "appears manipulative in order to get his...