United States District Court, W.D. Michigan, Southern Division
OPINION
Honorable Janet T. Neff Judge
This is
a civil rights action brought by a state prisoner 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 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, the Court will dismiss
Plaintiff's Eighth Amendment and due process claims.
Discussion
I.
Factual Allegations
Plaintiff
presently is incarcerated with the Michigan Department of
Corrections (MDOC) at the Carson City Correctional Facility
(DRF) in Carson City, Montcalm County, Michigan. The events
about which he complains, however, occurred at the Lakeland
Correctional Facility (LCF) in Coldwater, Branch County,
Michigan.[1] Plaintiff sues LCF Food Service Supervisor
Tanya Lamp.
Plaintiff
worked as an LCF food service worker from April 13, 2016,
through November 8, 2016. During his first week of
employment, Plaintiff asked Defendant Lamp to not scream at
him or call him derogatory names. Lamp advised Plaintiff that
she would do what she wanted, saying, “Start acting
like a man and I will treat you like one; I cannot stand
crybabies.” (Compl., ECF No. 1, PageID.3.) Defendant
Lamp continued to make disparaging remarks, despite
Plaintiff's repeated requests to stop.
Plaintiff
eventually spoke to Food Service Director Torrey, a
lieutenant, a sergeant, and the warden, complaining that Lamp
had repeatedly passed over him for lead food service
positions, despite his superior skill, seniority, and good
work reports. Torrey told Plaintiff that Lamp had worked in
food service longer than Torrey and that Torrey therefore
allowed her to make decisions on inmate promotions. Torrey
advised Plaintiff not to be bothered by the way Lamp talked,
as she was just making sure that male employees took her
seriously.
In
mid-July 2016, Defendant Lamp approached Plaintiff, saying
“You really don[']t know who you are f**king with,
but you are going to find out the hard way. I run this
kitch[e]n, not Torrey or anybody else you have been crying
to.” (Id., PageID.4.) On August 15, 2016,
Defendant Lamp issued a false work evaluation on Plaintiff
and requested that the classification director terminate
Plaintiff from his job, ostensibly because he had missed
three unexcused work shifts. Plaintiff was then terminated.
On August 24, 2016, Plaintiff wrote the classification
director, claiming that he had not missed three days of
unexcused work, because he had told her he had medical issues
on two days and she had refused to allow him to work on the
third day. On August 31, 2016, the classification director
informed Plaintiff that he could return to work, once he was
cleared by medical.
On
October 10, 2016, a few days after receiving medical
clearance, Defendant Lamp accused him of over-scooping
servings. However, Food Steward Goodman told the corrections
officer on duty that Plaintiff only over-scooped a few times
at the beginning and, once instructed, he did a good job.
Plaintiff filed a grievance against Defendant Lamp on October
11, 2016. He completed the grievance process at Step III on
March 28, 2017.
Plaintiff
finally was promoted to a lead job on October 30, 2016. On
the first day, he thanked Defendant Lamp for the promotion
and expressed his hope that their differences were now
resolved. Lamp responded, “Trust me I am not the one
you need to be thanking. You can thank me when your crybaby
snitching a** is fired for good. Trust me it will be
soon.” (Id., PageID.6.) Plaintiff asked if she
would give him a clean slate if he signed off on his
grievance and promised to defer only to her in matters
relating to food service. She answered, “No, you can
ask all the guys, once an inmate decides to front me off by
writing grievances and going over my head for petty sh*t I
consider him a rat and he ain[']t got nothing coming from
me. . . . What you need to do is sign off of your foodservice
detail before it[']s something worse than that.”
(Id.) According to Plaintiff, in late September
2016, a prisoner overheard Defendant Lamp make multiple
similar comments to Food Service Supervisor Covey, indicating
her intent to find another way to fire Plaintiff for
succeeding in overturning her recommendation to fire him.
On
December 6, 2016, Defendant Lamp approached Plaintiff and
asked where he had been. Plaintiff responded that he had been
in the restroom. Defendant demanded that Plaintiff leave
work, since he was sick, despite Plaintiff saying he was not
sick, but just using the restroom.
Plaintiff
told Defendant Lamp that he would be filing another
grievance. She responded, “[W]e will see what that gets
you.” (Id., PageID.7.)
Plaintiff
spoke to Lieutenant Nogueros on December 7, 2016, about
Defendant Lamp's continuing harassment and threats. He
filed a grievance that same day and pursued it through Step
III. On December 9, 2016, Defendant Lamp pulled a large bag
of vegetables out of the toaster on the opposite side of the
food service area from where Plaintiff was working. She then
came up to Plaintiff and ordered him to punch out for
stealing. When Plaintiff responded that he did not steal
anything, Lamp stated. “Who do you think the[y]'re
going to believe, me or you? . . . Be happy is was[n']t
worse than this because you really have pissed me off.”
(Id.) The following day, Defendant Lamp wrote a
false Class-II misconduct ticket against Plaintiff, alleging
that she saw Plaintiff remove something from the crotch of
his pants and shove it down the toaster. When she looked she
found a bread bag filled with four peppers, three onions, and
four tomatoes. Defendant Lamp claimed that Plaintiff had
stolen the items.
Plaintiff
was heard on the grievance on December 17, 2016. Plaintiff
claimed he was innocent, asked to have a review of the camera
footage, and asked to have the hearing officer interview Lt.
Nogueros about Defendant Lamp's ongoing threats to get
Plaintiff removed from his job. Plaintiff also asked the
hearing officer to interview another inmate, a lead line
worker on the side where the toaster was located, who would
testify that he told Defendant Lamp that the vegetables were
in the toaster as least 15 minutes before the time ...