Thornton v. Snyder

• Decision Date: 03 November 2005
• Docket Number: No. 04-1500.,04-1500.
• Parties: Rodger THORNTON, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Donald N. SNYDER, Jr., Director, James M. Schomig, Warden, and Captain Josh J. Shettleworth, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

428 F.3d 690

Rodger THORNTON, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Donald N. SNYDER, Jr., Director, James M. Schomig, Warden, and Captain Josh J. Shettleworth, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 04-1500.

United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit.

Argued June 3, 2005.

Decided November 3, 2005.

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Jerold S. Solovy, Jeffrey M. Boerger (argued), Jenner & Block, Chicago, IL, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Erik G. Light, Mary E. Welsh (argued), Office of the Attorney General, Chicago, IL, for Defendants-Appellees.

Before CUDAHY, POSNER, and WILLIAMS, Circuit Judges.

WILLIAMS, Circuit Judge.

Rodger Thornton, an inmate in the Illinois Department of Corrections, filed a civil rights action alleging that prison officials violated his right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment. The district court granted summary judgment in the defendants' favor on his cell conditions claims but allowed a claim concerning yard exercise privileges to continue. Thornton raises two issues on appeal. First, he argues that summary judgment on his cell conditions claims was inappropriate, as he contends that he exhausted his administrative remedies. Because Thornton filed grievances concerning his cell conditions that corrections officials remedied before the conclusion of the administrative grievance process, we agree with Thornton that he exhausted his administrative remedies. Therefore, we reverse the grant of summary judgment on Thornton's cell conditions claims. In addition, although Thornton maintains the district court's decision to conduct the trial of the yard exercise claim by videoconference was erroneous, we conclude that the district court did not abuse its discretion when it conducted the trial of his remaining claim by videoconference and so affirm the judgment in favor of the defendants on that claim.

I. BACKGROUND

Rodger Thornton is an inmate in the Illinois Department of Corrections serving a life sentence. On January 13, 2000, after a disciplinary charge, corrections officials placed Thornton in Cell 106 of the Pontiac Correctional Center, a segregation cell. Several days later, he wrote letters to defendants Donald Snyder, Jr., Director of the Pontiac Correctional Center, Warden James Schomig, and Captain Josh Shettleworth expressing displeasure about the conditions of his cell. He received no response. On January 28, Thornton submitted an emergency grievance to Warden Schomig complaining about the conditions in his cell. In this grievance, he asked to be moved from his cell.¹ Thornton subsequently received a letter stating that his grievance did not constitute an emergency.

By February 22, officials had transferred Thornton from Cell 106 to Cell 752. On that day, Thornton filed a grievance concerning the poor condition of the mattress in Cell 752. He requested a clean mattress. After receiving another unsatisfactory mattress, Thornton was furnished with a satisfactory mattress on May 11. On May 12, prison officials dismissed the February 22 grievance as moot because Thornton had received an acceptable mattress. The record contains no indication that Thornton appealed either grievance to Director Snyder.

Thornton later filed a lawsuit pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging that the defendants violated his Eighth Amendment right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment. First, he sought damages for the time confined in Cell 106 and for the time confined in Cell 752 without mattress. In addition to the claims concerning his cell conditions, he alleged that officials denied him the privilege of yard exercise for approximately 7½ months. The district court granted the defendants' motion for summary judgment on his cell condition claims, reasoning that Thornton failed to exhaust his administrative remedies with respect to these claims.

In contrast, the district court denied the defendants' motion for summary judgment on Thornton's deprivation of yard exercise claim. Before trial, the district court received evidence concerning Thornton's security risk at an ex parte hearing. A casework supervisor at the Stateville Correctional Center in Joliet, Illinois, where Thornton was incarcerated at the time, testified under oath that Thornton was serving a life sentence. She further testified that Thornton, thirty-four years old at the time, was classified as an "extremely high escape risk." She stated he had a "moderate aggression level" and was currently assigned to a unit for inmates with "high to moderate aggression levels." In addition, she told the court that at least two security officers, including one lieutenant, would be needed to transport him to court.

In light of the high security and escape risk Thornton posed, in addition to the fact that approximately twenty persons from the Department of Corrections (both inmates and employees) were listed as potential witnesses, the district court decided to conduct the trial by video-conference. At trial, Thornton and the defense counsel appeared via videoconference and were not physically present in the courtroom with the jury. In addition, all the witnesses testified by videoconference, save one that testified by telephone. The jury returned a verdict for the defendants, and Thornton appeals.

II. ANALYSIS

A. Exhaustion of Administrative Remedies

We review the district court's grant of summary judgment de novo. McCoy v. Gilbert, 270 F.3d 503, 508 (7th Cir.2001). "Ordinarily, plaintiffs pursuing civil rights claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 need not exhaust administrative remedies before filing suit in court." Porter v. Nussle, 534 U.S. 516, 523, 122 S.Ct. 983, 152 L.Ed.2d 12 (2002). In 1996, however, as part of the Prison Litigation Reform Act ("PLRA"), Congress made exhaustion a mandatory prerequisite for a prisoner's suit concerning the conditions of his confinement brought under section 1983. Porter, 534 U.S. at 524, 122 S.Ct. 983. The PLRA's exhaustion provision now reads: "No action shall be brought with respect to prison conditions under section 1983 of this title, or any other Federal law, by a prisoner confined in any jail, prison, or other correctional facility until such administrative remedies as are available are exhausted." 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a).

"[T]he PLRA's exhaustion requirement applies to all inmate suits about prison life," Porter, 534 U.S. at 532, 122 S.Ct. 983, and "an inmate must exhaust irrespective of the forms of relief sought and offered through administrative avenues." Booth v. Churner, 532 U.S. 731, 741 n. 6, 121 S.Ct. 1819, 149 L.Ed.2d 958 (2001). An inmate's perception that exhaustion would be futile does not excuse him from the exhaustion requirement. Id.; Perez v. Wisc. Dep't of Corrections, 182 F.3d 532 (7th Cir.1999). "Even when the prisoner seeks relief not available in grievance proceedings, notably money damages, exhaustion is a prerequisite to suit." Porter, 534 U.S. at 524, 122 S.Ct. 983 (citing Booth, 532 U.S. at 741, 121 S.Ct. 1819); see also Riccardo v. Rausch, 375 F.3d 521, 523 (7th Cir.2004).

The Illinois Department of Corrections has an established grievance process. See 20 Ill. Admin. Code §§ 504.800 et seq. An inmate can submit a written grievance to a designated grievance officer, who submits his recommendation to the institution warden. 20 Ill. Admin. Code §§ 504.810, 504.830. The warden "shall advise the offender of the decision in writing within 2 months after receipt of the written grievance, where reasonably feasible." 20 Ill. Admin. Code § 504.830(d). Alternatively, an inmate can request that a grievance be handled on an emergency basis by submitting the grievance directly to the warden. 20 Ill. Admin. Code § 504.840. If the warden determines that there is a substantial risk of imminent personal injury or other serious or irreparable harm, the grievance is to be handled on an emergency basis. 20 Ill. Admin. Code § 504.840. The process also provides: "If, after receiving the response of the [warden], the offender still feels that the problem, complaint, or grievance has not been resolved to his or her satisfaction, he or she may appeal in writing to the Director within 30 days after the date of the decision." 20 Ill. Admin. Code § 504.850. Money damages are not available.

We begin with the defendants' argument that Thornton did not even begin the grievance process for his claim concerning the conditions in Cell 106. The defendants contend that after corrections officials deemed the grievance not an emergency, the grievance ceased to exist. We disagree. Thornton followed the proper procedure for filing a grievance that he considered an emergency by submitting his grievance directly to the warden. See 20 Ill. Admin. Code § 504.840 ("An offender may request a grievance be handled on an emergency grievance by forwarding the grievance directly to the [warden].") The response he received from the warden made no comment on the merits of the grievance and indicated only that the warden did not consider his complaint worthy of emergency treatment. Perhaps, paradoxically, Thornton might have received a transfer sooner had he not deemed his request an emergency. There is nothing in the current regulatory text, however, that requires an inmate to file a new grievance after learning only that it will not be considered on an emergency basis. In any event, even if the non-emergency determination was a decision that should have been appealed, corrections officials moved Thornton out of Cell 106 within three weeks of his January 28, 2000 grievance, before the thirty-day time for an inmate to appeal a warden's determination had expired.

We turn now to the heart of the case. Thornton contends that he exhausted all the remedies that were available to him with respect to his cell condition complaints, as he filed grievances and then received exactly what he had requested in these grievances. Thornton's first grievance, filed January 28, 2000, complained about the conditions in Cell 106. In the "Relief Requested" section...