Thomas v. Culclager
| Docket Number | 4:20-CV-01486-LPR |
| Decision Date | 13 March 2023 |
| Parties | SHEMELA THOMAS PLAINTIFF v. AUNDREA CULCLAGER, individually and in her official capacity; and WILLIAM PIERCE, individually DEFENDANTS |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Arkansas |
Plaintiff Shemela Thomas was a prison correctional officer for the Arkansas Department of Corrections. She had one particularly bad day at work. It began almost immediately upon her arrival to start her shift. A routine x-ray scan conducted in the prison entry area revealed a foreign object in her pelvic region. She explained that it was a tampon. Nonetheless, she was strip-searched, interrogated by the prison Warden, and physically detained by her fellow prison guards. According to the Warden and Deputy Warden of the prison (Defendants in this case), Ms. Thomas behaved unprofessionally during these events. A few days later, she was fired.
Ms Thomas says that Defendants violated the First, Fourth Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. Specifically, she says that she was (1) retaliated against for speech protected by the First Amendment, (2) subjected to an unreasonable search and seizure, (3) retaliated against for invoking her right to remain silent, and (4) fired without receiving due process of law. Ms. Thomas also claims that Defendants' conduct violated a litany of Arkansas state laws.
Defendants have moved for summary judgment. They say they did nothing unlawful. They also say that they are immune from suit under the doctrine of qualified immunity. For the reasons below, the Court GRANTS in part and DENIES in part Defendants' Motion.
BACKGROUND[1]
On October 25, 2020, Ms. Thomas's workday started like any other. She arrived at the ADC's Cummins unit at approximately 5:30 a.m.[2] She was a correctional officer assigned the 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. shift.[3] Upon entering the facility, Ms. Thomas began to go through the ADC's standard entry procedures. The entry procedures were in place to prevent contraband from being smuggled into the prison.[4] Ms. Thomas first handed her shoes, belt, and other personal items to a fellow officer so that those items could be put through a scanner.[5] Ms. Thomas then passed through a metal detector.[6] Next, Ms. Thomas “g[o]t on a body scanner.”[7] The body scanner was a machine that “screen[ed] an individual for both metallic and non-metallic contraband that may be concealed under clothing or within the body.”[8] Essentially, it is a full-body x-ray scan.[9]
This is where Ms. Thomas's day took a turn for the worse. After being scanned, Ms. Thomas was “told to get back on because” Sergeant Angela Haynie, who was operating the body scanner that morning, noticed “a[n] object.”[10] Sergeant Haynie saw the same object the second time around.[11] Sergeant Haynie called two other officers-Captain Antonio Johnson and Lieutenant Latoya Johnson-for advice.[12] After viewing the body scanner images, Captain Johnson began speaking with Ms. Thomas.[13] In an effort to explain the body scanner images, Ms. Thomas informed Captain Johnson that Ms. Thomas “was on [her] cycle and [she] had a tampon inside of [her].”[14] Captain Johnson replied, “Hold on,” and Ms. Thomas sat down on a table near the body scanner.[15] The other Johnson-Lieutenant Johnson-called Deputy Warden Robert Pierce (one of the two Defendants in this case) to report Ms. Thomas's scans.[16] While Ms. Thomas waited, she got a drink and a snack from a nearby vending machine.[17] She also sarcastically asked Lieutenant Johnson whether Ms. Thomas should take out her tampon and give it to Lieutenant Johnson right there in the entry area.[18]
Then Deputy Warden Pierce arrived on the scene.[19] Ms. Thomas had met Deputy Warden Pierce before, but she was not personally familiar with him.[20] Deputy Warden Pierce reviewed the body scanner images and asked Ms. Thomas whether she would consent to a strip-search.[21]The ADC's entry procedures dictated that a strip-search could be required if an officer was unable to pass the body scanner.[22] Refusing to consent to a strip-search could have been grounds for discipline, including termination.[23]
It's unclear whether Ms. Thomas had those potential employment consequences in mind when Deputy Warden Pierce asked for her consent. But Ms. Thomas did verbally consent to the strip-search.[24] So she, Deputy Warden Pierce, Captain Johnson, Lieutenant Johnson, Sergeant Haynie, and Sergeant Gloria Bell (who had also been in the entry area at the time Ms. Thomas was scanned) proceeded to leave the entry area and walk to a nearby conference room.[25]
The walk to the conference room was short but eventful. On the way, Ms. Thomas began to undress as she walked ahead of the group. Ms. Thomas took off her uniform shirt, leaving her in an undershirt.[26] She then took off her shoes and socks, and tossed her belt onto a chair in the lobby outside of the conference room.[27] Deputy Warden Pierce told her to “lose [her] attitude” and stay dressed until she was in a private area.[28] Ms. Thomas responded that she “did not have an attitude.”[29] Ms. Thomas said some other things to Deputy Warden Pierce too. Specifically, she told him to “shut the fuck up and open that door ”[30] She put her socks back on, but she left her shoes on the floor and her uniform shirt and belt on the chair.[31] When Deputy Warden Pierce unlocked the conference room, Ms. Thomas walked in without gathering her things; a fellow officer had to clean up after her.[32]
Deputy Warden Pierce left Ms. Thomas with the other ADC officers and went to an office on the other side of the conference room to call his boss (the other Defendant in this case) Warden Aundrea Culclager.[33] He told Warden Culclager that Ms. Thomas had been “insolent and insubordinate” and that Ms. Thomas was “in the process of [a] strip search” because of the failed body scans.[34] Warden Culclager initially ordered a drug test and vehicle search.[35] She then called Deputy Warden Pierce “right back,” said that she was coming to the conference room to speak with Ms. Thomas, and said Deputy Warden Pierce should thus hold off on the drug test and vehicle search.[36] After Deputy Warden Pierce left to call Warden Culclager, Ms. Thomas went into a bathroom with Sergeants Haynie and Bell (both female) to undergo the strip-search.[37] Ms. Thomas removed her clothes, which were searched by the sergeants.[38] Ms. Thomas removed her tampon and put it in the toilet.[39] She lifted her breasts so the sergeants could see there was nothing hidden underneath.[40] Finally, she squatted and coughed to show that there was nothing hidden in her vaginal or anal cavities.[41] Sergeants Haynie and Bell were satisfied that Ms. Thomas was not smuggling contraband.[42] Ms. Thomas was given a fresh tampon, got dressed, and the three women returned to the conference room.[43]
Ms. Thomas took a seat at the conference table. She immediately began to cry because she felt humiliated after the strip-search.[44] Deputy Warden Pierce asked whether she would consent to a drug test and vehicle search.[45] Ms. Thomas agreed to both.[46] She did not have to urinate at that moment, so she requested permission to get a drink from the vending machine outside the conference room.[47] Deputy Warden Pierce allowed Ms. Thomas to buy a drink; Captain Johnson escorted Ms. Thomas to the vending machine.[48] After getting her drink and returning to the conference room, Ms. Thomas suggested that the ADC officers search her car first and then do the drug test afterward.[49] Deputy Warden Pierce told Ms. Thomas that the vehicle search and drug test would happen later because Warden Culclager was on her way to speak with Ms. Thomas.[50]At some point during the wait for Warden Culclager, Sergeant Haynie reported to Deputy Warden Pierce that Ms. Thomas had removed a tampon and that the strip-search revealed no contraband.[51]
About ten minutes later, Warden Culclager arrived in the conference room.[52] Ms. Thomas had never interacted with Warden Culclager before that day.[53] Warden Culclager's first order of business was to clear the room.[54] Captain Johnson, Lieutenant Johnson, Sergeant Haynie, and Sergeant Bell filed out.[55] Only Warden Culclager, Deputy Warden Pierce, and Ms. Thomas remained in the conference room.
As will become clear later in this Order, the next few moments are of outsized importance to the resolution of some of Ms. Thomas's claims. And because of the nature of Ms. Thomas's claims, Warden Culclager's and Deputy Warden Pierce's knowledge at this point is especially relevant. So the Court takes a brief detour to further detail what each Defendant knew-and didn't know-when Warden Culclager arrived in the conference room. Recall that Deputy Warden Pierce was initially told by Lieutenant Johnson that Ms. Thomas had failed the body scanner twice. And while there's no direct evidence of anyone expressly telling Deputy Warden Pierce that a tampon was Ms. Thomas's explanation for the body-scanner results, a rational juror could infer that the tampon explanation was relayed to Deputy Warden Pierce-either by Lieutenant Johnson when she called Deputy Warden Pierce to report the failed scans, or by Lieutenant Johnson, Captain Johnson, or Ms. Thomas herself when Deputy Warden Pierce arrived at the entry area. But it was not until after the strip-search was conducted (which was after Deputy Warden Pierce called Warden Culclager but before Warden Culclager entered the conference room) that Deputy Warden Pierce learned that Ms. Thomas had indeed been wearing a tampon and that no contraband had been discovered during the strip-search.
To be clear, at the time Warden...
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