Schmitt v. Crist

• Decision Date: 02 November 1971
• Docket Number: No. 69-C-503.,69-C-503.
• Citation: 333 F. Supp. 820
• Parties: Gary John SCHMITT, Plaintiff, v. Roger W. CRIST, William Schlie, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Wisconsin

333 F. Supp. 820

Gary John SCHMITT, Plaintiff, v. Roger W. CRIST, William Schlie, Defendants.

No. 69-C-503.

United States District Court, E. D. Wisconsin.

November 2, 1971.

Gary John Schmitt, pro se.

Robert Warren, Atty. Gen., of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis., for defendants.

DECISION and ORDER

MYRON L. GORDON, District Judge.

The defendants have moved to dismiss this action which alleges a deprivation of the plaintiff's civil rights pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 1983. The plaintiff appears pro se and in forma pauperis. The defendant Roger W. Crist is described as the associate warden in charge of security at the prison; the defendant William Schlie is alleged to be a lieutenant at the prison.

The court established a briefing schedule in connection with the defendants' motion to dismiss. The defendants' brief was timely filed, but the plaintiff's answering brief, due August 27, 1971, has not been received. Therefore, the court will resolve the motion to dismiss without the benefit of plaintiff's brief.

A motion to dismiss a complaint may not be granted unless it clearly appears that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of his claim that would entitle him to relief. Cooper v. Pate, 378 U.S. 546, 84 S.Ct. 1733, 12 L. Ed.2d 1030 (1964); Edwards v. Duncan, 355 F.2d 993 (4th Cir. 1966).

The complaint alleges in paragraph six that during a prisoner sit-down strike on a warm summer day in 1969, all windows in the segregation building wherein the plaintiff was confined were closed and the water shut off. Shortly thereafter, those prisoners who had participated in the strike were brought to the segregation building and crowded into the cells. Allegedly, no food or drinking water was provided to the prisoners nor could the toilets be flushed. It is charged that these conditions continued for about four hours, after which the majority of the prisoners were removed.

The plaintiff further alleges that he was forced to go without bathing for a period of two weeks; placed in solitary confinement for six days; denied access to a toothbrush and soap; required to sleep on a filthy mattress without bedding; and placed on a restrictive diet of one meal per day for three days, after which his diet was further restricted to two slices of bread per day for an additional six days. This discipline was allegedly ordered by the defendant Crist.

Paragraph nine of the complaint also makes the following charges: on September 22, 1969, the defendant William Schlie ordered the plaintiff removed from his cell, stripped to his underwear, and chained to an iron bed; a leather strap was then secured around the body of the plaintiff in such a manner as to impair blood circulation; the lights were turned off, and a fan blew cold air on the body of the plaintiff; for two days, no food or water was provided, nor was the plaintiff released from the bed to attend to natural body functions.

There can be no question but that any system for maintenance of order in a prison must involve the imposition of sanctions for prisoner misconduct. Nevertheless, the eighth amendment guarantees a prisoner the right to be free from punishment which is cruel and unusual, and the prisoner may recover under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 from that prison official who has subjected or caused him to be subjected to such discipline. Cooper v. Pate, supra; Brown v. Brown, 368 F.2d 992 (9th Cir. 1966), cert. denied 385 U.S. 868, 87 S.Ct. 133, 17 L.Ed.2d 95 (1966); Nolan v. Scafati, 306 F.Supp. 1 (D.Mass.1969), vacated on other...