Roland v. Johnson
| Decision Date | 09 September 1988 |
| Docket Number | 86-1852,Nos. 86-1737,s. 86-1737 |
| Citation | 856 F.2d 764 |
| Parties | Neal W. ROLAND, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Perry JOHNSON; Thomas Phillips, Dale Foltz; and Bernie Toland, Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit |
Larry Bennett (argued) Butzel, Keidan, Simon, Myers & Graham, Marianne G. Talon, Detroit, Mich., for plaintiff-appellant.
Eric J. Eggan, Asst. Atty. Gen., Brian MacKenzie (argued), Lansing, Mich., for defendants-appellees.
Before JONES, WELLFORD and GUY, Circuit Judges.
The plaintiff-appellant, Neal Roland, appeals from the district court's order granting summary judgment to thedefendants-appellees. Roland also challenges the court's award of costs to the defendants. For the following reasons, we find that the court erred in its grant of summary judgment. Thus we reverse and remand this case for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. In addition, the court's award of costs to the defendants is vacated.
The plaintiff-appellant, Neal Roland, is a prisoner at the State Prison of Southern Michigan ("SPSM"), located in Jackson, Michigan. He claims that on November 30, 1983 he was raped in his cell by prisoner Frankie Lee Weatherspoon while Daniel Perry, another SPSM prisoner, served as a lookout. The defendants-appellees are Perry Johnson, the Director of the Michigan Department of Corrections; Dale Foltz, the Warden of SPSM; Thomas Phillips, the Administrative Assistant to Warden Foltz; and Bernard Toland, the Director of Job Classifications for SPSM. Roland's action, filed pursuant to 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 (1982), alleges that the above defendants violated his eighth and fourteenth amendment rights by failing to provide him with adequate safety and protection and by allowing conditions to exist at the prison which resulted in his rape.
Plaintiff sets forth, in his complaint, certain relevant factual allegations. Those allegations are reproduced below. Many of these allegations, however, are disputed by the defendants.
Roland, at the time of the alleged rape, was in SPSM for the offense of breaking and entering. His complaint states that since he is a male with "youthful features" and a slight build, he was a likely target for homosexual predators in SPSM. He allegedly has no history of assaultive or violent behavior and was classified by SPSM as requiring only "medium" custody. In April 1983, he had been recommended for a transfer to the Muskegon Correction Facility; but the transfer had not occurred at the time of the alleged rape because of a medical problem.
Roland's alleged assailant, Frankie Lee Weatherspoon, is serving life without parole for murder, and the alleged lookout, Daniel Perry, is in prison for first degree criminal sexual conduct and armed robbery. Roland alleges that both Weatherspoon and Perry were known sexual predators and highly assaultive individuals. He further points out that both men were classified by the prison as requiring "close" (one level above "medium") custody.
At the time of the alleged rape, all three of these individuals--Roland, Weatherspoon, and Perry--were housed in 11 Block, an "honor block" in which residents are given more privileges, including more out of cell time, than in other cell blocks. To qualify for admission to 11 Block prior to August 1983, an inmate was required to refrain from major misconduct for twelve months and minor misconduct for six months. In August 1983, however, 11 Block was changed from a close custody prison block to a lower, medium custody level. While normally medium and close security inmates are not housed together, when 11 Block was changed in August 1983, certain close security inmates (including Weatherspoon and Perry) were allowed to remain, along with the medium custody prisoners.
Within 11 Block, Perry and Weatherspoon were classified as "block help" or "porters." This position gave them added mobility throughout the cell block, including the ability to get out of their cells before other inmates. Perry and Weatherspoon were further sub-classified as "breakmen" and were therefore able to walk up to each tier of 11 Block and operate the mechanical devices of that tier which open the cells of the other inmates. According to Roland, the breakman position was one of "high honor" and should not have been awarded to inmates like Weatherspoon and Perry who, as known sexual predators, were likely to abuse the privilege. Indeed, Roland claims that it is because Weatherspoon and Perry were accorded these positions that they were able to gain access to his cell on the fourth tier of the block. Further, Roland claims that it was this access which allowed Weatherspoon to rape him while Perry served as the lookout.
To establish the liability of the defendants under section 1983, Roland attempts to show that they were "deliberately indifferent" to his safety, and that this indifference resulted in his rape. As to defendant-appellee Toland, Roland alleges that Toland manifested a deliberate indifference by refusing to reclassify and remove Weatherspoon and Perry from their job assignments as breakmen after being requested to do so by Richard Thrams, the Assistant Resident Unit Manager of 11 Block. Toland, as the Classification Director for SPSM, had the power and responsibility to assign and remove prisoners from their jobs. In making a decision relating to a job assignment, Toland was also to work in coordination with unit managers such as Thrams.
Roland contends that the facts demonstrate that Thrams requested Toland to reclassify Weatherspoon and Perry because of investigative reports linking them to an ongoing homosexual pressure gang in 11 Block, and because of hearsay evidence that Weatherspoon and Perry were pressing other inmates in the block for sex. Roland contends that the evidence of Weatherspoon and Perry being homosexual predators is consistent with the evidence in their records, both in and out of prison.
In his deposition, Toland acknowledges that sexual predators should not be block protecters. However, he argues that there was nothing in Weatherspoon's file to indicate that he had predatory tendencies and that Perry's file is irrelevant because Perry is not accused of assaulting Roland. Further, Toland argues that the record does not support Roland's contention that Toland knew, at the time of the rape, that Weatherspoon and Perry were actively pressing other inmates for sex. Finally, Toland suggests that he did not reclassify Weatherspoon and Perry because there was no written documentation or disciplinary finding regarding their alleged behavior in 11 Block. Also, he points out that Thrams himself acknowledged that the information he gave to Toland was not sufficiently trustworthy to be reduced to writing.
The basis of Roland's allegations againstdefendant-appellaee Phillips, the Administrative Assistant to the Warden, is that his (Roland's) mother, Mrs. Jean Berry, met with Phillips in the summer or fall of 1983 and notified him that her son was in danger of being assaulted by homosexual predators. Phillips denies meeting with Mrs. Berry or discussing any such matter, although he does acknowledge an August 24, 1983 phone conversation with Mrs. Berry regarding Roland's transfer to the Muskegon Correction Facility. Mrs. Berry, however, testified in her deposition that she showed Phillips a photograph of her son and told Phillips that some inmates were pressuring her son for sex. She testified that Phillips replied that if her son was not a homosexual, he had nothing to worry about.
Roland also asserts that Phillips was aware of a November 1983 investigation which included allegations by certain inmates against Perry and Weatherspoon relating to sexual pressuring. Therefore, Roland concludes that Phillips had actual knowledge of the risk to him of an assault, yet took no action to protect him. This failure to act, according to Roland, manifested a deliberate indifference to his security needs.
Finally, Roland asserts a deliberate indifference on the part of defendants-appellees Johnson (the Director of the Michigan Department of Corrections) and Foltz (the Warden of SPSM) to the existence of a pervasive and unreasonable risk of harm to individuals, like Roland, who fit the known profile of prison rape victims. These two defendants are responsible for the rules and policies affecting the operation of SPSM. According to Roland, they are liable for their failure to implement adequate policies which would have protected Roland and others like him in an atmosphere of unreasonable and pervasive sexual pressures. Roland also claims that their approval of, or acquiescence, in the policies on job classification and admission to 11 Block solidifies their liability. Further, Roland alleges that Johnson and Foltz failed to set up policies which would allow inmates like Weatherspoon and Perry to be screened out of the honor block based on general behavioral problems or reliable information from inmate sources, short of the need for an actual misconduct hearing and finding. Foltz and Johnson are also alleged to be responsible for a pervasive policy at SPSM which discourages reporting and prosecution of sexual assaults, since those who report that they have been assaulted are placed in protective custody which limits inmates in a manner similar to punitive detention. Finally, Roland claims that Foltz and Johnson were on notice that sexual assaults were a serious problem at SPSM but failed to issue a policy that would protect individuals likely to be victimized. To establish notice, Roland points to several reports that were available to Foltz and Johnson and which document the problems of physical and sexual assaults at SPSM as well as the existence of policies discouraging the reporting of such assaults.
Defendants Foltz and Johnson counter Roland's allegations by arguing that since Roland never told anyone that he...
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