UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF INDIANA SOUTH BEND DIVISION

NIKOLAS M. JORDAN,

Plaintiff,

v. CAUSE NO. 3:25-CV-983-GSL-APR

UNKNOWN MEDICAL STAFF, and UNKNOWN CORRECTIONAL STAFF,

Defendants.

OPINION AND ORDER Nikolas M. Jordan, a prisoner without a lawyer, filed an amended complaint suing 40 unknown staff at the Westville Correctional Facility. ECF 8. “A document filed pro se is to be liberally construed, and a pro se complaint, however inartfully pleaded, must be held to less stringent standards than formal pleadings drafted by lawyers.” Erickson v. Pardus,

(2007) (quotation marks and citations omitted). Nevertheless, under 28 U.S.C. § 1915A, the court must review the merits of a prisoner complaint and dismiss it if the action is frivolous or malicious, fails to state a claim upon which relief may be granted, or seeks monetary relief against a defendant who is immune from such relief. Jordan alleges twenty unknown medical staff and twenty unknown correctional staff improperly dispensed medication to him from March to October of 2025. But, he does not attribute any particular act to any particular person. This does not state a claim because allegations that refer to defendants collectively without connecting specific defendants to specific acts are insufficient under federal pleading standards. Brooks v. Ross,

(7th Cir. 2009) see also Henderson v. Wall, No. 20-1455,

, at *1 (7th Cir. Nov. 3, 2021) (“[B]y making allegations about large, indeterminate groups of defendants, [the plaintiff] deprived them all of proper notice of what they were accused of doing.”). There is also a larger problem: the complaint does not allege the distribution of his medication was anything more than negligent. Under the Eighth Amendment, inmates are entitled to constitutionally adequate medical care. Estelle v. Gamble,

(1976). To state a claim under the Eighth Amendment, the complaint must plausibly allege that he had (1) a medical need that was objectively serious; and (2) the defendant acted with deliberate indifference to that medical need. Farmer v. Brennan,

(1994). Deliberate indifference means that the defendant “acted in an intentional or criminally reckless manner, i.e., the defendant must have known that the

plaintiff was at serious risk of being harmed [and] decided not to do anything to prevent that harm from occurring even though he could have easily done so.” Board v. Farnham,

(7th Cir. 2005). Negligence does not state a claim. Estelle v. Gamble,

(1976) (Negligence or medical malpractice do not constitute deliberate indifference).

This complaint does not plausibly allege that any defendant was deliberately indifferent. A complaint must contain sufficient factual matter “to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.” Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly,

(2007). “A claim has facial plausibility when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal,

(2009) (citing Twombly,

).

“Factual allegations must be enough to raise a right to relief above the speculative level, on the assumption that all the allegations in the complaint are true (even if doubtful in fact).” Twombly,

(quotation marks, citations and footnote omitted). “[W]here the well-pleaded facts do not permit the court to infer more than the mere possibility of misconduct, the complaint has alleged—but it has not shown—that the pleader is entitled to relief.” Iqbal,

(quotation marks and brackets

omitted). Thus, “a plaintiff must do better than putting a few words on paper that, in the hands of an imaginative reader, might suggest that something has happened to her that might be redressed by the law.” Swanson v. Citibank, N.A.,

(7th Cir. 2010) (emphasis in original). This complaint does not state a claim for which relief can be granted. If Jordan

believes he can state a claim based on (and consistent with) the events described in this complaint, he may file an amended complaint because “[t]he usual standard in civil cases is to allow defective pleadings to be corrected, especially in early stages, at least where amendment would not be futile.” Abu-Shawish v. United States,

(7th Cir. 2018). To file an amended complaint, he needs to write this cause number on a

Pro Se 14 (INND Rev. 2/20) Prisoner Complaint form which is available from his law library. He needs to write the word “Amended” on the first page above the title “Prisoner Complaint” and send it to the court after he properly completes the form. Additionally, Jordan must pay the $405 filing fee. Though he filed an in forma pauperis motion, he did not attach a copy of his ledger as required by

(a)(2). ECF 2. He was granted until October 29, 2025, to submit a copy of his ledger. ECF 6. That deadline passed, but he did not provide his ledger. Therefore, his in forma pauperis motion will be denied and he must pay the $405 filing fee. For these reasons, the court: (1) DENIES the in forma pauperis motion (ECF 2); (2) GRANTS Nikolas M. Jordan until December 29, 2025, to file an amended

complaint and pay the $405 filing fee; and (3) CAUTIONS Nikolas M. Jordan if he does not respond by the deadline, this case will be dismissed under 28 U.S.C. § 1915A without further notice because the current complaint does not state a claim for which relief can be granted.

SO ORDERED on December 1, 2025 /s/Gretchen S. Lund JUDGE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT