Sims v. Artuz
| Decision Date | 01 August 1999 |
| Docket Number | Docket No. 97-2674 |
| Citation | 230 F.3d 14 |
| Parties | (2nd Cir. 2000) ROBERT SIMS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CHRISTOPHER ARTUZ, Superintendent; PHILIP COOMBE, JR., Commissioner; CYRIL COEFIELD, Deputy of Security; SYLVIA LAGUNA, Director of Inmate Grievance Program; LORETTE KLEIN, Ph.D., Forensic Unit Chief; DONALD SELSKY; PAUL DALEY, Psychotherapist; SKOLLAR STANLEY, Psychotherapist; RICHARD C. SURLES, Ph.D., Commissioner; JOHN J. TIERNEY, Correction Sergeant; RICHARD B. MARKIE, Correction Sergeant; DANIEL J. CONNOLLY, Correction Lieutenant; GEORGE S. SCHNEIDER, Correction Captain; VIRGINIA BLAETZ, Senior Correction Counselor; THOMAS J. LEVANDUSKI, Senior Correction Counselor; GAYLE A. HAPONIK, Correction Stwd; ROBERT A. FOUNTAIN, Correction Officer; JOHN S. HUPKOWICZ, Correction Officer; CHERYLANN HARDING, Correction Officer; ROBERT R. TOMPKINS, Correction Officer; CHARLES R. PRENTICE, Correction Officer; GERALD O. SAWYER, Correction Officer; ROBERT BJ. SMITH, Correction Counselor; WILLIAM F. HUTCHINSON, Correction Counselor; JOHN & JANE DOES, 1 11, individual and in their official capacity, Defendants-Appellees |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit |
Appeal from an order of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Loretta A. Preska, Judge, dismissing complaint brought under 42 U.S.C. §1983 alleging that defendants used or condoned the use of excessive force in violation of plaintiff's Eighth Amendment rights, and that certain defendants violated his right to due process in prison disciplinary hearings.
Vacated and remanded in part.
[Copyrighted Material Omitted] ROBERT SIMS, Attica, New York, Plaintiff-Appellant pro se.
DENNIS C. VACCO, Attorney General of the State of New York, New York, New York, (John W. McConnell, Deputy Solicitor General, Thomas D. Hughes, Assistant Solicitor General, Marion R. Buchbinder, Assistant Attorney General, New York, New York, of counsel), for Defendants-Appellees.
Before: NEWMAN, KEARSE, and CABRANES, Circuit Judges.
Plaintiff pro se Robert Sims, formerly a prisoner at New York State's Green Haven Correctional Facility ("Green Haven"), has appealed from a judgment of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Loretta A. Preska, Judge, dismissing his amended complaint ("complaint") brought under 42 U.S.C. §1983 (1994), alleging principally that defendants Green Haven officials (1) used or condoned the use of excessive force against him in violation of his rights under the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution, and (2) violated his due process rights in connection with disciplinary proceedings that resulted in excessive special confinement. The district court dismissed the complaint pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim, ruling principally that the force alleged was not sufficient to violate the Eighth Amendment and that the complaint did not describe conditions of confinement sufficiently severe or atypical to support the due process claims. For the reasons that follow, we vacate so much of the judgment as dismissed those claims, and we remand for further proceedings.
Sims's complaint, the allegations of which must be taken as true on review of a Rule 12(b)(6) dismissal, focused on events alleged to have occurred while Sims was incarcerated at Green Haven between February and September 1995. To the extent pertinent to this appeal as it stands following this Court's order of June 18, 1998, dismissing other parts of the appeal, Claims 1, 6, and 9 of the complaint alleged principally that on three occasions, certain of the defendant corrections officers used excessive force against Sims; in addition, Claims 1 7 alleged that Sims's due process rights were violated at several disciplinary hearings, leading to inordinately long sentences of special confinement.
According to Claim 1 of the complaint, on February 21, 1995, while in a prison elevator, correction officer defendant John S. Hupkowicz and two "John Doe" defendants "punched [Sims] in the ribs, collar, upper right arm and skull" (Complaint at 21, ¶1); thereafter, two of the officers "pulled on [his] handcuffs" (id. ¶3). As a result, Sims suffered "serious injuries to his ribs, collar, arm, skull and teeth." (Id. at 22, ¶6.) Defendants John J. Tierney, Cyril Coefield, Paul Daley, and Skollar Stanley, along with a "Jane Doe" defendant, witnessed the assault but failed to intervene. (Id. at 21, ¶4.)
Claim 6 of the complaint alleged that on July 12, Tierney and a "John Doe" defendant punched Sims in the face four times and pulled on the chains locking his arm (id. at 33, ¶1), causing injury to his face and hands (id. at 34, ¶8). Claim 9 of the complaint alleged that on August 29, several "Doe" defendants "punched and kicked [Sims] in the rib cage, skull, knee cap, back bone, sacrum, base of spine, collar bone, [and] teeth," and "pull[ed him] by his penis." (Id. at 39, ¶1.) The August 29 beating caused Sims to seek "medical care for his eye, leg, hand and penis." (Id. at 68, ¶4.)
The complaint alleged that each assault was "mali[]cious[] and sadis[t]ic[]" (id. at 45, ¶1 (February 21 assault); id. at 60, ¶1 (July 12 assault); see id. at 67, ¶1 (August 29 assault)), and that each was "without need or provocation" (id. at 45, ¶3 (February 21 assault); id. at 60, ¶2 (July 12 assault); id. at 67, ¶2 (August 29 assault)). It alleged that the failures of Tierney, Coefield, Daley, Stanley, and a "Doe" to curb the known pattern of abuses perpetrated by Hupkowicz and the "Does" constituted deliberate indifference. (Id. at 46, ¶4.)
After each of the above assaults, one or more defendants filed misbehavior reports against Sims, and with regard to the first two incidents, Sims alleged that he was denied due process in connection with the ensuing disciplinary hearings. Claim 1 of the complaint alleged that in connection with a March 8 hearing into the February 21 incident, defendant Robert BJ. [sic] Smith, who prepared a misbehavior report, did not interview or even obtain the names of Sims's witnesses. At the hearing, defendant Daniel J. Connolly, the hearing officer, refused to allow Sims to present witnesses and denied him the right to "comment on the charges and evidence being used against him." (Complaint at 22, ¶8.) Further, although the elevator in which the February 21 beating occurred was equipped with "a monitoring system that record[ed] both picture and sound" (id. at 21, ¶2), Connolly refused to allow Sims to present the videotapes of the incident. Connolly found Sims guilty and sentenced him to one year in Green Haven's Special Housing Unit ("SHU").
Claim 6 of the complaint alleged that Connolly also presided over a July 26 hearing concerning the misbehavior report filed after the July 12 incident. The complaint alleged that Connolly refused to allow Sims to call witnesses or present evidence, excluded him from part of the hearing (Complaint at 34, ¶5), and "tamper[ed] with the hearing tapes" (id. ¶6). Connolly found Sims guilty and sentenced him principally to one year in SHU.
In addition, the complaint alleged that several disciplinary hearings were held with respect to unrelated misbehavior reports, and that Sims was denied due process at those hearings as well. Claim 2 alleged that at a March 3 disciplinary hearing, Coefield as hearing officer refused to allow Sims to present witnesses. Coefield found Sims guilty of the charges against him and sentenced him to 60 days' confinement in SHU.
Claim 3 alleged that at a July 20 hearing, the hearing officer was defendant Gayle A. Haponik and that Haponik ceased to record part of Sims's questioning, did not allow Sims to present witnesses, and did not allow him to comment on the charges and evidence against him. Haponik found Sims guilty and sentenced him principally to 60 days in SHU.
Claim 4 alleged that with respect to a July 12 hearing, Smith refused to allow Sims to obtain documents necessary for the hearing. The hearing officer was defendant Virginia Blaetz, who, inter alia, refused to allow Sims to present witnesses or videotape evidence, excluded him from part of the hearing, and did not permit him to comment on the charges and evidence against him. Blaetz found Sims guilty and sentenced him to, inter alia, 180 days in SHU.
Claim 5 alleged that at another July 12 hearing, hearing officer Coefield refused to allow Sims to present witnesses, failed to record part of the proceedings, and tampered with Sims's videotape evidence. Coefield wrote his decision finding Sims guilty before hearing Sims's defense. He sentenced Sims to, inter alia, 90 days in SHU.
Claim 7 alleged that at a July 27 hearing, the hearing officer was defendant Thomas J. Levanduski, who, inter alia, refused to allow Sims to present witnesses, excluded him from part of the hearing, did not permit him to comment on the charges and evidence against him, and tampered with the hearing tapes and videotapes. Levanduski found Sims guilty and sentenced him principally to 90 days in SHU.
All of the hearing dispositions were administratively appealed by Sims to defendants Donald Selsky and Philip Coombe, Jr., and were affirmed.
In addition to the above claims of excessive force and due process denials in the disciplinary hearings, the complaint alleged, inter alia, that Sims was placed in full restraints from February 21, 1995 to September 1, 1995; was denied the right to exercise in the yard without full restraints; was denied the opportunity to discuss the physical abuse with defendants Christopher Artuz and Lorette Klein, respectively Green Haven's superintendent and its forensics chief, who refused to visit him; was deprived of all of his personal items, such as bedding, toiletries, and writing materials; and was forced to remain naked in...
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