Peoples v. Fischer
Peoples v. Fischer
Opinion of the Court
OPINION AND ORDER
I. INTRODUCTION
As the Commission on Safety and Abuse in America’s Prisons recently found, “[t]he overreliance on and inappropriate use of segregation hurts individual prisoners and officers. But the consequences are broader than that: The misuse of segregation works against the process of rehabilitating people and threatens public safety.”
Correctional authorities should use long-term segregated housing sparingly and should not place or retain prisoners in such housing except for reasons relating to:
(i) discipline after a finding that the prisoner has committed a very severe disciplinary infraction, in which safety or security was seriously threatened; [or]
(ii) a credible continuing and serious threat to the security of others or to the prisoner’s own safety.3
As to disciplinary segregation, the ABA recommended that “only the most severe disciplinary offenses, in which safety or security are seriously threatened, ordinarily warrant a sanction that exceeds 30 days placement in disciplinary housing, and no placement in disciplinary housing should exceed one year.”
Leroy Peoples was housed in segregation for over two years, even though there was never any finding that he posed a threat to the safety of others or the security of the prison. His placement in the SHU for such a time period was grossly disproportionate to the non-violent violation that he was found to have committed. He has therefore stated a plausible claim that defendants violated his Eighth Amendment right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment.
II. PROCEDURAL POSTURE
On May 3, 2012, this Court issued an Opinion and Order, (the “May 3, 2012 Order”) dismissing, in part, plaintiffs Complaint for failure to state a claim.
III. FACTUAL BACKGROUND
Peoples is currently an inmate at Upstate Correctional Facility and was previously an inmate at Green Haven Correctional Facility.
Peoples was immediately taken to the Special Housing Unit (“SHU”) and placed in solitary confinement.
On October 13, 2009, a misbehavior report hearing was conducted which Peoples alleges, had the “normal formalities of a hearing.”
On March 7, 2011, Peoples filed a grievance in connection with the alleged violations of his constitutional rights.
On March 9, 2011, Peoples received a response from the Inmate Grievance Review Committee (“IGRC”) and simultaneously appealed to the Superintendent of the Department of Correctional Services (“DOCS”).
Peoples generally suffers from “stress, fear ... depression and other psychologi
IV. LEGAL STANDARD
A. Motion for Reconsideration
Motions for reconsideration are governed by Local Rule 6.3 and are committed to the sound discretion of the district court.
The purpose of Local Rule 6.3 is to “ ‘ensure the finality of decisions and to prevent the practice of a losing party examining a decision and then plugging the gaps of a lost motion with additional matters.’ ”
B. Qualified Immunity
Agency officials performing discretionary functions are generally granted qualified immunity and are immune from suit provided that “ ‘their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known.’ ”
To prevail on a motion to dismiss on the basis of qualified immunity “[n]ot only must the facts supporting the defense appear on the face of the complaint, but as with all Rule 12(b)(6) motions ... the plaintiff is entitled to all reasonable inferences from the facts alleged, not only those that support his claim, but also those that defeat the immunity defense.”
V. DISCUSSION
A. Personal Involvement of Ward
Defendants point out that although Lt. Ward authorized the seizure of Peoples and his papers as well as his initial confinement in the SHU, Peoples does not allege that Ward was personally involved in the SHU sentence following the disciplinary hearing or the denial of Peoples’ appeal of that sentence. Defendants are correct. Because the only remaining claim relates to Peoples’ three-year SHU sentence and not to the initial search, seizure and SHU confinement, there is no assertion that Lt. Ward was personally involved in the alleged constitutional violations.
B. Bezio and Rock are Not Entitled to Qualified Immunity at This Stage of the Proceedings
Defendants request reconsideration of the- May 3, 2012 Order denying qualified immunity to Bezio and Rock as to the remaining Eighth Amendment claim.
The Supreme Court has noted that “[pjrison walls do not form a barrier separating prison inmates from the protections of the Constitution” and that “ ‘[w]hen a prison ... practice offends a fundamental constitutional guarantee, federal courts will discharge their duty to protect constitutional rights.’ ”
The Supreme Court and Second Circuit have clearly established that lengthy durations of SHU confinement can constitute an “atypical and significant” hardship for purposes of determining an inmate’s liberty interest within the context of a due process claim
lengthy segregated confinement of the type considered herein, after an inordinate lapse of time, may necessitate periodic review to insure that conditions once constitutional have not become cruel and unusual[.]50
Here, the defendant served twenty-six months of a thirty-six month sentence imposing SHU confinement. Whether twenty-six or thirty-six months is the starting point, a sentence of either duration could be considered “atypical and significant” in determining whether an inmate had a liberty interest for due process purposes under Sandin and its progeny.
Although the due process analysis is conceptually distinct from that of the Eighth Amendment, a finding of atypicality is, by analogy, indicative of whether a sentence is grossly disproportionate to the underlying offense. Numerous courts have found that long stretches of segrega
VI. CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, defendants’ motion for reconsideration is granted in part and denied in part. The Clerk of the Court is directed to close this motion [Docket No. 50]. Additionally, Peoples attached an Amended Complaint to his opposition papers, which this Court now accepts for filing. A status conference has been scheduled for July 23, 2012, at 4:30 p.m., in Courtroom 15C.
SO ORDERED.
.John J. Gibbons and Nicholas de B. Katzenbach, Confronting Confinement: A Report of the Commission on Safety and Abuse in America’s Prisons at 53-54 (2006) (explaining that "the actual risk someone presents to the prison community should be carefully considered before segregating the person,” that segregation should be "a last resort and a more productive form of confinement,” and that the use of isolation should be ended). Accord Stuart Grassian, Psychiatric Effects of Solitary Confinement, 22 Wash. U. J.L. & Pol'y 325, 327 (2006). See also Jamie Goldberg, Solitary confinement 'is driving men insane,’ exonerated convict testifies, L.A. Times, June 19, 2012 (describing Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on solitary confinement); Editorial, The Abuse of Solitary Confinement, N.Y. Times, June 20, 2012.
. Standard 23-2.6 Rationales for segregated housing.
. Standard 23-2.7 Rationales for long-term segregated housing.
. Standard 23-4.3 Disciplinary sanctions (emphasis added).
. Margo Schlanger, Regulating Segregation: The Contribution of the ABA Criminal Justice Standards on the Treatment of Prisoners, 47 Am. Crim. L. Rev. 1421, 1423 (2010) (emphasis added).
. See Peoples v. Fischer, No. 11 Civ. 2694, 2012 WL 1575302 (S.D.N.Y. May 3, 2012).
. See Compl., 1(A) and 11(A).
. See id. 111(D) ¶ 2.
. See id.
. See id. ¶¶ 1, 11.
. See id. 112.
. See id. Rule 107.21 states that "[a]n inmate shall not file or record any document or instrument of any description which purports to create a lien or record a security interest of any kind against the person or property of any officer or employee of the Department, the State of New York, or the United States, absent prior written authorization from the superintendent or a court order authorizing such filing.” 7/24/09 Inmate Rule Book Additions, Ex. A to Compl., at 6.
. Rule 113.30 provides that "[a]n inmate shall not possess any Uniform Commercial Code ("UCC”) Article 9 Form, including but not limited to any financing statement, ... correction statement ..., or information request whether printed, copied, typed or hand written, or any document concerning a scheme involving an inmate's 'strawman.' " 7/24/09 Inmate Rule Book Additions, Ex. A to Compl., at 6.
. See Compl., 111(D) ¶ 1.
. Id.
. Id.
. Compl., III(D) ¶ 3.
. See id. See also Superintendent Hearing Disposition Report, Ex. A to Compl., at 2. At the time of the hearing, Peoples had not yet accrued seventy-two months of good time credit. See Compl., III(D) ¶ 3.
. See Compl., 111(D) ¶ 4.
. Id. ¶¶8, 9.
. See 3/7/11 Inmate Grievance, Ex. A to Compl., at 4.
. See id.
. See id.
. See Compl., 111(D) ¶ 8. See also 3/9/11 IGRC Response, Ex. A to Compl., at 5.
. See 3/15/11 Response from Inmate Grievance Program Superintendent, Ex. A to Compl., at 6.
. See id.
. See 6/8/11 CORC Response, Ex. B to Plaintiff's Memorandum in Opposition to Defendants' Motion to Dismiss (“Opp. Mem.’’) at 1.
. Compl., III(D) ¶¶ 7, 9.
. See id. ¶¶ 1, 8.
. Id. ¶ 4.
. See id. ¶¶ 1, 10. In April 2010, Peoples drafted a request for an Article 78 proceeding addressing some of the issues raised in the instant Complaint. Upon his return from state court, however, the Article 78 motion was confiscated by corrections officers acting under Rock's orders. See id. ¶ 17(g).
. See Patterson v. United States, No. 04 Civ. 3170, 2006 WL 2067036, at *1 (S.D.N.Y. July 26, 2006) ("The decision to grant or deny a motion for reconsideration is within the sound discretion of the district court.”) (citing McCarthy v. Manson, 714 F.2d 234, 237 (2d Cir. 1983)).
. In re BDC 56 LLC, 330 F.3d 111, 123 (2d Cir. 2003) (quotation marks omitted).
. RST (2005) Inc. v. Research in Motion Ltd., 597 F.Supp.2d 362, 365 (S.D.N.Y. 2009) (quoting Virgin Atl. Airways, Ltd. v. National Mediation Bd., 956 F.2d 1245, 1255 (2d Cir. 1992)).
. Grand Crossing, L.P. v. United States Underwriters Ins. Co., No. 03 Civ. 5429, 2008 WL 4525400, at *3 (S.D.N.Y. Oct. 6, 2008) (quoting S.E.C v. Ashbury Capital Partners, No. 00 Civ. 7898, 2001 WL 604044, at *1 (S.D.N.Y. May 31, 2001)). Accord Commerce Funding Corp. v. Comprehensive Habilitation Servs., Inc., 233 F.R.D. 355, 361 (S.D.N.Y. 2005) ("[A] movant may not raise on a motion for reconsideration any matter that it did not raise previously to the court on the underlying motion sought to be reconsidered.”).
. United States v. Treacy, No. 08 CR 366, 2009 WL 47496, at *1 (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 8, 2009) (quotation marks and citation omitted). Accord Shrader v. CSX Transp. Inc., 70 F.3d 255, 257 (2d Cir. 1995) (holding that a court will deny the motion when the movant “seeks solely to relitigate an issue already decided”).
. Makas v. Orlando, No. 06 Civ. 14305, 2008 WL 2139131, at *1 (S.D.N.Y. May 19, 2008) (quoting In re Houbigant, Inc., 914 F.Supp. 997, 1001 (S.D.N.Y. 1996)).
. Associated Press v. United States Dep't of Defense, 395 F.Supp.2d 17, 19 (S.D.N.Y. 2005).
. See Grand Crossing, 2008 WL 4525400, at *3.
. Luna v. Pico, 356 F.3d 481, 490 (2d Cir. 2004) (quoting Wilson v. Layne, 526 U.S. 603, 614, 119 S.Ct. 1692, 143 L.Ed.2d 818 (1999)).
. Id. (quotation marks and citations omitted).
. McKenna v. Wright, 386 F.3d 432, 436 (2d Cir. 2004). Accord Percinthe v. Julien, No. 08 Civ. 893, 2008 WL 4489777, at *3 (S.D.N.Y. Oct. 4, 2008).
. See Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 1948-49, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009).
. Because Lt. Ward has now been dismissed from this lawsuit due to lack of personal involvement, there is no need to do a qualified immunity analysis as to him.
. Percinthe, 2008 WL 4489777, at *3. Accord McKenna, 386 F.3d at 436 (internal citations omitted).
. Turner v. Safley, 482 U.S. 78, 85, 107 S.Ct. 2254, 96 L.Ed.2d 64 (1987) (quoting Procunier v. Martinez, 416 U.S. 396, 405-06, 94 S.Ct. 1800, 40 L.Ed.2d 224 (1974)).
. Hutto v. Finney, 437 U.S. 678, 685-86, 98 S.Ct. 2565, 57 L.Ed.2d 522 (1979).
. Rhodes v. Chapman, 452 U.S. 337, 346, 101 S.Ct. 2392, 69 L.Ed.2d 59 (1981) (quoting Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U.S. 153, 173, 96 S.Ct. 2909, 49 L.Ed.2d 859 (1976)).
. See Sandin v. Conner, 515 U.S. 472, 484, 115 S.Ct. 2293, 132 L.Ed.2d 418 (1995); Sims v. Artuz, 230 F.3d 14, 22-24 (2d Cir. 2000); Colon v. Howard, 215 F.3d 227, 230-31 (2d Cir. 2000).
. Smith v. Coughlin, 748 F.2d 783, 787 (2d Cir. 1984) ('‘Restraints on an inmate do not violate the amendment unless they are ‘totally without penological justification,’ ‘grossly disproportionate,’ or ‘involve the unnecessary and wanton infliction of pain.’ ”) (quoting Rhodes, 452 U.S. at 346, 101 S.Ct. 2392).
. See Sandin, 515 U.S. 472, 484, 115 S.Ct. 2293 (1995); Sims, 230 F.3d at 23 (sentence of one year was “of sufficient length to be atypical and significant”); Colon, 215 F.3d at 229 (a prisoner’s SHU confinement for 305 days was ‘atypical’ and a ‘severe hardship’).
.See Morris v. Travisono, 549 F.Supp. 291 (D.R.I. 1982) aff'd 707 F.2d 28 (1st Cir. 1983) (solitary confinement for 8.5 years of prisoner who murdered a prison guard and then engaged in minor acts of disobedience was without sufficient penological justification and constituted cruel and unusual punishment) Silverstein v. Bureau of Prisons, 704 F.Supp.2d 1077 (D.Colo. 2010) (twenty-seven years of solitary confinement for prisoner who murdered three people while in prison stated a claim under the Eighth Amendment); Carothers v. Follette, 314 F.Supp. 1014, 1026 (S.D.N.Y. 1970) (stating, in dicta, that placing a prisoner in solitary confinement for 4.5 months for writing a letter to a judge criticizing the prison administration would constitute grossly disproportionate and therefore unconstitutional punishment); Ruiz v. Johnson, 37 F.Supp.2d 855 (S.D.Tex. 1999) (administrative segregation of inmates unconstitutional because of its impact on their mental health).
. See Spain v. Procunier, 600 F.2d 189, 199 (9th Cir. 1979) (Kennedy, J.) (Eighth Amendment requires that prisoners confined to segregation be allowed regular exercise); Keenan v. Hall, 83 F.3d 1083 (9th Cir. 1996) (collecting cases holding that the level of noise, ventilation, temperature, cell size, lighting and the access to personal hygiene items, food, water, and medical care all implicate the Eighth Amendment analysis).
. See Colon v. Howard, 215 F.3d 227, 232 (2d Cir. 2000).
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Leroy PEOPLES v. Brian FISCHER, DOCS Commissioner, Lucien Leclaire, Jr., DOCS Office of Counsel, William Lee, Peter A. Crusco, Eric C. Rosenbaum, Richard A. Brown, Lt. L. Ward, Sgt., O'Connor, C.O. Malare, C.O. Drown, Norman Bezio, D. Rock, Lt. Ward, and Karen Bellamy
- Cited By
- 8 cases
- Status
- Published