United States District Court, W.D. Michigan, Southern Division
OPINION
GORDON
J. QUIST UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE.
This is
a civil rights action brought by state prisoners under 42
U.S.C. § 1983. Under the Prison Litigation Reform Act,
Pub. L. No. 104-134, 110 Stat. 1321 (1996) (PLRA), 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 Plaintiffs' pro se
complaint indulgently, see Haines v. Kerner, 404
U.S. 519, 520 (1972), and accept Plaintiffs' allegations
as true, unless they are clearly irrational or wholly
incredible. Denton v. Hernandez, 504 U.S. 25, 33
(1992). Applying these standards, the Court will dismiss
Plaintiffs' complaint for failure to state a claim.
Discussion
I.
Factual Allegations
Plaintiffs
are currently incarcerated with the Michigan Department of
Corrections (MDOC) at the Macomb Correctional Facility (MRF)
in New Haven, Macomb County, Michigan and the Muskegon
Correctional Facility (MCF) in Muskegon, Muskegon County,
Michigan. The events about which Plaintiffs complain,
however, occurred at the Earnest C. Brooks Correctional
Facility (LRF) in Muskegon Heights, Muskegon County,
Michigan. Plaintiffs sue MDOC Director Heidi Washington,
Deputy Director Kenneth McKee, Acting Deputy Warden Unknown
Davis, Resident Unit Manager Unknown Lang, Prison Counselor
C. Patricio, and Warden Unknown Jackson.
Plaintiffs
in this action are six prisoners: Philip Wayne Berryman
#107202, Steven Carver #107513, Walter Cummings #417330,
Larry Crowe #120734, Donald Hayden #285134, and Gordon
Stockenauer #116242. Each Plaintiff claims that he is
wheelchair bound and requires a single person room because of
his disability and has been provided single person rooms in
other facilities. Plaintiffs allege that when they were
transferred to LRF, the named Defendants denied them single
person rooms in violation of their Eighth Amendment rights.
The
Court has dismissed Plaintiffs Hayden and Stockenauer without
prejudice for failure to pay the filing fee in compliance
with the Court's orders (ECF Nos. 28 and 31). Plaintiff
Berryman alleges that he was transferred to LRF on September
27, 2018. On September 30, 2018, all of the Plaintiffs sent
letters to Defendants Washington and McKee seeking help in
making LRF staff comply with the MDOC's single person
cell policy. As of the filing of the complaint, Plaintiffs
have not received a response.
Defendant
Davis called Plaintiff Berryman into his office and asked him
why he believed he was entitled to a single person room.
Plaintiff Berryman showed him the Medical Service Advisory
Committee Policy 0003 for Single Person Room, which states
that patients who are wheelchair-bound will be automatically
placed in a barrier-free wheelchair accessible cell.
Plaintiff Berryman also showed Defendant Davis a copy of two
special accommodation orders stating “Housing: Barrier
free/wheelchair accessible and Medical equipment/Supplies:
Wheelchair-permanent”
from LRF and JCF. Plaintiff Berryman also showed Defendant
Davis copies of his medical records, which included a signed
note by Peter Scuccimarri, M.D., stating, “With respect
to your request for a single person cell detail, the
guidelines at this time specify that the detail for a wheel
chair and a wheel chair accessible cell will replace the need
to order a single person cell. The wheel-chair accessible
cell is a current special accommodation.” Defendant
Davis improperly stated that Plaintiff Berryman had not had a
single person cell while at St. Louis, but Plaintiff Berryman
corrected him. Plaintiff Berryman also explained that he was
required to self-evacuate his own feces several times a day,
so that no one would want to be in a cell with him. Defendant
Davis stated that Plaintiff Berryman's protests were
unimportant and that Plaintiff Berryman would not be given a
single person cell while at LRF. Plaintiff Berryman told
Defendant Davis that he planned on filing a federal lawsuit.
Plaintiff
Berryman filed several kites regarding the matter. At one
point, Defendant Jackson sent Plaintiff Berryman a message
instructing him to stop kiting because he would not be
getting a single person cell at LRF. Defendant Lang took
Plaintiff Berryman's documents regarding his medical
condition and needs and told Plaintiff Berryman that he would
return them and that he would see that Plaintiff Berryman got
a single person cell. Some hours later, Defendant Lang
returned Plaintiff Berryman's papers, stating that
Plaintiff Berryman would have to “start some
shit” and sue someone in order to get a single person
cell.
Plaintiff
Berryman then asked Defendant Patricio if he could be placed
in a single person cell. Defendant Patricio told Plaintiff
Berryman that he would look into it later. Plaintiff Berryman
became upset, stating that his cell mate had already said he
was not going to put up with Plaintiff Berryman
self-evacuating his feces several times a day. Defendant
Patricio then told Plaintiff Berryman that he needed to talk
to medical.
Plaintiff
Cummings is a seventy-four-year-old prisoner confined to a
wheelchair who was transferred to LRF in April of 2018.
Plaintiff Cummings wrote to Defendants Washington and McKee
on September 30, 2018, seeking assistance with placement in a
single person cell, to no avail. Plaintiff Cummings then
spoke to Defendant Lang, who stated that he and Plaintiff
Berryman needed to stop trying to get placed in single person
cells. Plaintiff Cummings spoke to Defendant Lang again on
the following day, explaining that placement in a shared cell
put him in danger, but Defendant Lang again refused to help
him. Plaintiff Cummings also spoke to Defendant Patricio, who
said that there was nothing he could do to help Plaintiff
Cummings.
Plaintiff
Caver states that he is a prisoner confined to a wheelchair
who was transferred to LRF in November of 2017. On September
30, 2018, Plaintiff Caver and the other Plaintiffs in this
case sent letters to Defendants Washington and McKee, to no
avail. Defendant Jackson refused to respond to Plaintiff
Caver's kites. Defendant Davis repeatedly told Plaintiff
Caver that prisoners who are wheelchair bound would be
automatically placed in a barrier-free wheelchair accessible
cell. Defendant Davis further stated that this special
accommodation meant that health care no longer needed to
order single person cells. Defendants Lang and Patricio each
refused to help Plaintiff, despite the fact that he
personally explained his situation to each of them.
Plaintiff
Crowe alleges that he is a sixty-seven-year-old prisoner
confined to a wheelchair who was housed in a single person
cell prior to being transferred to LRF in 2018. Plaintiff
Crowe wrote to Defendants Washington and McKee on September
30, 2018, seeking to be placed in a single person cell, to no
avail. Plaintiff Crowe spoke to Defendant Davis in the
housing unit, and Defendant Davis stated that prisoners who
are wheelchair bound would be automatically placed in a
barrier-free wheelchair accessible cell, and that health care
would no longer be ordering single person cells. Defendant
Davis refused to consider Plaintiff Crowe's medical
condition. Plaintiff Crowe stated that Defendant Jackson
refused to respond to any kites. Defendants Lang and Patricio
each ...