Summers v. Bowers

• Decision Date: 19 January 2011
• Docket Number: Case No. 1:10-cv-1137
• Parties: JONATHAN SUMMERS, Plaintiff, v. LORAINE BOWERS et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Michigan

JONATHAN SUMMERS, Plaintiff,

v.LORAINE BOWERS et al., Defendants.

Case No. 1:10-cv-1137

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF MICHIGAN

SOUTHERN DIVISION

Dated: January 19, 2011

Honorable Gordon J. Quist

OPINION

This is a civil rights action brought by a state prisoner pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The Court has granted Plaintiff leave to proceed in forma pauperis, and Plaintiff has been directed to pay the initial partial filing fee when funds become available. Under the Prison Litigation Reform Act, Pub. L. No. 104-134, 110 Stat. 1321 (1996), the Court is required to dismiss any prisoner action brought under federal law if the complaint is frivolous, malicious, fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, or seeks monetary relief from a defendant immune from such relief. 28 U.S.C. §§ 1915(e)(2), 1915A; 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(c). The Court must read Plaintiff's pro se complaint indulgently, see Haines v. Kerner, 404 U.S. 519, 520 (1972), and accept Plaintiff's allegations as true, unless they are clearly irrational or wholly incredible. Denton v. Hernandez, 504 U.S. 25, 33 (1992). Applying these standards, Plaintiff's action will be dismissed for failure to state a claim.

Discussion

I. Factual allegations

Plaintiff Jonathan Summers presently is incarcerated with the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) and housed at the Ionia Maximum Correctional Facility (ICF), though the actions he complains of occurred while he was housed at the Oaks Correctional Facility (ECF). In his amended complaint (docket #11), Plaintiff sues Prison Health Services, Inc. (PHS), MDOC Director Patricia Caruso, and MDOC administrative officials Jeri-Ann Sherry and Robert Mulvaney, together with the following ECF officials: Warden Cindi Curtin; Security Threat Group (STG) Coordinator/Inspector Loraine Bowers; Grievance Coordinator M.E. McDonald; Corrections Officer A. Clouse; Resident Unit Officers (RUOs) R. Woods, (unknown) Brown, (unknown) Skidmore, (unknown) Seibert, (unknown) Benn, (unknown) Ney, (unknown) Salazar, (unknown) Schreiber, (unknown) Barton, and (unknown) Wandrych; Assistant Deputy Wardens Richard Sharp, Robert Sanders, and M. Haske; Resident Unit Managers (RUMs) (unknown) Thomas and (unknown) Rozajnik; Nurses (unknown) Briskie and (unknown) Bellinger; Hearing Officers Elizabeth Buren and Richard Stapleton; Hearing Investigator (unknown) Basset; an unknown mailroom supervisor and two other unknown mailroom employees; an unknown health care unit manager; an unknown doctor; an unknown physicians assistant; three unknown nurses; five unknown STG members; an STG team member, badge #20036; and the new STG Director (unknown) Travelbee.

Plaintiff's amended complaint substantially consists of a lengthy series of conclusory paragraphs about each of the Defendants. Plaintiff's principal allegation is that, on August 11, 2009, Defendant RUOs Clouse, Woods, Brown, Wandrych, Salazar, Barton, Benn, and Ney failed to protect him from an assault by two other prisoners and conspired to fabricate a major misconduct report accusing Plaintiff of fighting, ostensibly in violation of his rights to "due process, equalprotection, liberty, and procedural statutory rights secured by U.S. Const. Am. IV, V, VIII, XIV §§ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5." (Am. Compl. ¶ 10, Page ID #104.) The amended complaint itself is devoid of additional facts about the incident. However, according to Plaintiff's attachments to the original complaint, the alleged assault occurred when two prisoners chased Plaintiff through the laundry room and into the dining hall. When Plaintiff entered the dining hall, he turned and began to fight the prisoners who chased him. Officers Clouse, Woods and Brown apparently separated the prisoners, and all three prisoners were removed to segregation. Defendant Clouse wrote a misconduct charging Plaintiff with fighting, stating that Plaintiff could have run to an officer for help rather than turning and fighting. Defendants Wandrych, Brown, Schreiber, Woods, Seibert, Skidmore, Salazar, Barton, Ney and Benn all submitted statements to the hearing officer, Defendant Buren. On August 11, 2009, Defendant Hearing Officer Buren rejected Plaintiff's defense of self-defense, finding that he had other alternatives to the use of force. Plaintiff sought rehearing, which was denied by Defendant Stapleton on September 21, 2009.

In further conclusory paragraphs, ¹ Plaintiff alleges that Defendant RUO Schreiber supported the conspiracy to fabricate a misconduct and was deliberately indifferent to his medical needs. In addition, Plaintiff contends that Defendants Skidmore, Basset, Sanders, Thomas, and Stapleton condoned and acquiesced in the discriminatory misconduct report. He appears to allege that Defendant Inspector Loraine Bowers discriminated against him on the basis of race, ethnicity, and gender and violated substantive due process by mis-handling the video recordings of the assault by the two prisoners and/or failing to take unspecified action in response to the videorecording.

Plaintiff next generally alleges that, on September 21, 2009, an unknown mailroom supervisor and another unknown mailroom employee, with discriminatory intent, conspired with Defendant Bowers to seize and hold his legal and personal mail. The unknown mailroom employee also allegedly delayed Plaintiff's receipt of Defendant Stapleton's denial of reconsideration of the misconduct ticket from the time it was issued on September 2, 2009 and the time it was given to Plaintiff on July 26, 2010. Defendant Bowers also allegedly interfered with his mail in some unspecified way on December 4, 2009 and July 26, 2010. In addition, on November 18, 2009, Plaintiff allegedly informed Bowers that he had certain STG-related papers she had requested. Bowers allegedly sent Defendant unknown STG officer #200236 to Plaintiff's cell to take the paperwork, allegedly without due process and in violation of policy. Plaintiff alleges that STG officer #200236 discriminated against him and violated his due process right by falsifying a Notice of Intent (NOI) to take the alleged STG papers. In addition, Plaintiff alleges that all Defendant STG officers destroyed Plaintiff's property, including photographs, ostensibly in retaliation for Plaintiff's past filing of an unspecified grievance. He alleges that the Defendant STG Director Travelbee was responsible for the conduct of the other STG officers and failed to train them. Plaintiff also alleges that, on December 4, 2009, Defendant Grievance Coordinator McDonald acted with racially discriminatory and retaliatory motive in denying his grievance.

Plaintiff alleges that, following Plaintiff's August 11, 2009 altercation with other prisoners, Defendant Nurses Bellinger and Briskie discriminated against him on the basis of race and ethnicity and deprived him of adequate medical care under the Eighth Amendment. He alleges that the unknown health care unit manager, the unknown doctor and unknown nurses failed toprovide any treatment for his bleeding wrist and left hand. He also alleges that Defendants PHS had supervisory responsibility over the other health-care Defendants and failed adequately to train them.

Next, Plaintiff alleges that, on August 19, 2009, Defendant Hearing Officer Buren discriminated against him on the basis of race and violated his right to due process by upholding the misconduct charges. He alleges that Defendant Stapleton conspired to deprive him of these rights, apparently by denying his application for rehearing on September 2, 2009.

He alleges that Bowers conspired to discriminate against him on the basis of race and gender by allegedly retaliating against Plaintiff on November 4, 2009, for filing a grievance by interfering with the grievance process and making unspecified threatening remarks. In addition, he alleges that, on December 4, 2009, Defendant Warden Curtin condoned and acquiesced in the conspiracy by failing adequately to train Bowers and other officers, failing to seek prosecution of other Defendants, and failing to supervise Bowers and others. Curtin also allegedly violated his rights by failing to follow prison policy. Plaintiff further alleges that on January 27, 2010 and February 26, 2010, Defendants Warden Curtin and ADWs Haske and Sharp, as supervisors, acquiesced in the conspiracy, discrimination and retaliation, in violation of his due process and equal protection rights. Curtin also allegedly failed to adequately train Defendants Sharp and McDonald. Defendant Curtin also allegedly condoned and acquiesced in unspecified violations of his equal protection and due process rights on December 4, 2009, February 26, 2009, March 2, 2009, June 30, 2010, and July 20, 2010. Plaintiff alleges that on May 6, 2010 and August 19, 2009, respectively, Defendants Rozajnik and Sanders acquiesced, condoned, and actively participated in the conspiracy. On June 3, 2010, Defendant Thomas also allegedly condoned and acquiesced in the conspiracy with Sharp.

Plaintiff next contends that, on October 21, 2010, Defendants Sherry and Curtin transferred him from ECF to ICF, ostensibly in violation of his rights to equal protection and due process. He alleges that Defendant Patricia Caruso is responsible for all of Defendants' actions, because she is the supervisor of all employees and is responsible for the unconstitutionality of unspecified MDOC policies. Defendant Robert Mulvaney allegedly failed to train STG employees and Defendant Bowers on August 11, 2009.

In addition to his myriad allegations of constitutional torts, Plaintiff alleges that Defendants violated a variety of state criminal offenses involving assault, civil rights, and the making of false reports of crimes. See Mich. Comp. Laws §§ 750.81, 750.81a, 750.82, 750.87, 750.147(b), and 750.411(a)(1). He also contends that Defendants' conduct violated 18 U.S.C. §§ 2, 4, 241, 242, 1584, 2071, and 2073.

For relief, Plaintiff seeks a declaration...