Richardson v. Dist. of Columbia
Richardson v. Dist. of Columbia
Opinion of the Court
Plaintiff Andrea Richardson, a transgender woman, claims that she was sexually assaulted by her male cellmate while incarcerated in the District of Columbia jail-specifically, its Central Detention Facility in Southeast D.C. She brought this lawsuit against the District and several jail officials alleging that they failed to protect her from the assault. The defendants have moved for summary judgment on some of her claims, including her claim that the jail officials violated the Eighth Amendment by acting with deliberate indifference toward the risk of her assault.
Richardson's Eighth Amendment claim names, as defendants, Warden William Smith in his individual and official capacities and several unknown jail officials designated as "John Does I-X." Richardson concedes that because she did not identify the John Doe defendants during discovery, her Eighth Amendment claim against them should be dismissed without prejudice. As for Warden Smith: The undisputed facts concerning his role in the alleged assault show that he did not violate Richardson's clearly established constitutional rights. He is therefore entitled to qualified immunity in his individual capacity. And Richardson has offered no evidence that a District policy or practice of ignoring inmates' concerns about the risk of assault caused the purported Eighth Amendment violation here, as would be required to support her official-capacity claim against Smith. The Court will therefore grant summary judgment on Richardson's Eighth Amendment claim. And because that is her sole federal claim, the Court will remand the rest of the case to the District of Columbia Superior Court.
I. Background
The District of Columbia's Department of Corrections has a formal policy for housing "transgender, transsexual, inter-sex, and gender variant persons who are incarcerated." Defs.' Mot. Summ. J. Ex. G ("Housing Policy"), at 1. It enacted these protocols in the wake of the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 ("PREA"),
At the time of Richardson's incarceration, the Department's policy provided as follows: When individuals arrived in D.C. jail whose "gender-related expression, identity, appearance, or behavior differ[ed] from their biological sex," those individuals were to be housed alone during the intake process and assessed to determine whether they should be designated as transgender. Housing Policy at 3-4. Inmates designated as transgender then had a right to go before the Transgender Housing Committee within 72 hours of their arrival.
The Committee would forward its housing recommendation to the jail's warden for final approval. If the warden disagreed with the Committee's recommendation, he needed to explain his disagreement in writing to the Director of the Department, who then had the power to override the Committee.
Inmates could also waive the right to a hearing by agreeing to be housed with the general population of their biological sex and signing a form to that effect. That is what Richardson did when she arrived at D.C.'s Central Detention Facility in June 2014. At that time, she identified as female and was undergoing hormone therapy in preparation for sex-reassignment surgery. She had fully developed breasts, dressed in traditionally feminine clothing, and wore make-up. In her interactions with inmates and prison employees, she went by Andrea rather than by her legal name, Andre. During her intake, Richardson opted to waive her hearing and to be housed in the general male population, and she signed the required form indicating that. Defs.' Mot. Summ. J. Ex. A. She testified that she made this choice because she believed, based on statements of Committee members, that she was choosing between (1) being celled alone or with another transgender female within the larger male population or (2) being housed "essentially in isolation." Pl.'s Opp'n at 6; see Defs.' Mot. Summ. J. Ex. D ("Richardson Depo."), at 79 (Richardson testifying that the Housing Committee told her "that if you wanted to be housed with your sexual expression ... you would be segregated from everyone else").
Warden William Smith, who had begun his tenure at the Central Detention Facility only a few months before Richardson's arrival, signed off on her decision. He testified in his deposition that he was not particularly aware of Richardson or of any attributes that placed her at a high risk of sexual violence relative to other transgender inmates. Pl.'s Opp'n Ex. 2 ("Smith Depo."), at 25-26, 28-29.
Richardson had her own cell for the first few months of her detention. But on July 18, 2014,
Richardson alleges that as soon as the two began sharing a cell, Glover began *181sexually harassing her, groping her, and even telling her that "one day I am going to rape you." Compl. ¶ 15. She says that on several occasions she complained to at least three guards and her case manager about Glover's behavior and asked to be moved to a different cell. Richardson Dep. at 82-88. She also claims to have submitted three written grievances, though no written records of these grievances were produced during discovery.
According to Richardson, her complaints were to no avail because on August 25, 2014, Glover raped her. Compl. ¶ 22. Glover purportedly threatened to kill Richardson if she told anyone.
Before the alleged assault, there was no express indication in Glover's record that he posed a high risk of committing sexual abuse. See Defs' Mot. Summ. J. Ex. F, at 4-5. (The jail's policies, consistent with the PREA, require that officials evaluate inmates for a risk of sexual violence and indicate any such risk in their records. See 28 C.F.R. 115.41(e).) A penological expert, however, has opined that because Glover was "a fully sexual functioning male career criminal, who was facing a lengthy stay in federal prison," it was "eminently foreseeable that at some time [he] might sexually assault Ms. Richardson." Pl.'s Opp'n Ex. 3, at 4.
In November 2015, Richardson filed suit in D.C. Superior Court against the District of Columbia, Warden Smith in his individual and official capacities, and ten unknown Department of Corrections employees (designated "John Does I-X") in their individual and official capacities. She brought tort claims under D.C. law for negligence; intentional infliction of emotional distress; negligent infliction of emotional distress; and negligent supervision, retention, and training. She also alleged, pursuant to
After discovery, the defendants filed a motion for partial summary judgment. They sought judgment on Richardson's claims for negligent infliction of emotional distress; negligent supervision, retention, and training; and violation of the Eighth Amendment. Richardson agrees that her negligent-supervision claim should be dismissed, Pl.'s Opp'n Mot. Summ. J. at 26, but she opposes summary judgment on the other two claims.
Once the defendants' motion was ripe, the Court directed Richardson to show cause why her claims against the John Doe defendants-who had not been identified during discovery-should not be dismissed. Minute Order (May 18, 2018). Because while a plaintiff "may bring an action against unknown John Doe defendants," she "must substitute named defendants for those unknown defendants after the completion of discovery." Simmons v. District of Columbia,
*182II. Standard of Review
The Court will grant a motion for summary judgment if "the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). The Court must accept as true any evidence supporting the party who opposes summary judgment and must draw all reasonable inferences in her favor. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc.,
III. Analysis
The Court begins (and ends) with Richardson's Eighth Amendment claim, which she brings under
The reason to start here is that this is Richardson's sole federal claim. Federal courts can exercise supplemental jurisdiction over claims brought under District of Columbia law "that are so related to" federal claims "that they form part of the same case or controversy."
The Eighth Amendment prohibits the infliction of "cruel and unusual punishments." This prohibition has been interpreted to place some restrictions on the government's treatment of prisoners. See Farmer v. Brennan,
"Deliberate indifference" is a high bar. The official being sued must "know[ ] of and disregard[ ] an excessive risk to inmate health or safety." Farmer,
Again, Richardson brings her Eighth Amendment claim against Warden Smith and ten "John Doe" prison employees. She concedes that because the identities of the Doe defendants were not established during discovery, the Court should dismiss her claims against the Doe defendants without prejudice. The Court will do so, but only with respect to her Eighth Amendment claim, as that is the only claim being resolved here.
This leaves Warden Smith. Richardson nominally sues Smith in both his individual and official capacities. Compl. ¶ 5; id. at 14 (Count Four). The defendants raise a threshold issue of whether Richardson adequately pled an official-capacity claim. Before turning to that contention, however, the Court will address whether her claim against Smith in his individual capacity-which the defendants concede was adequately pled-survives summary judgment.
1. Individual Capacity
A § 1983 claim against an officer in his individual capacity is a claim that the officer personally caused a deprivation of the plaintiff's constitutional rights. See Kentucky v. Graham,
In the Court's view, the record would not support a jury finding of deliberate indifference under the first and last of these theories. As a matter of undisputed fact, Warden Smith was not responsible for determining inmates' risk of committing sexual assault, and there is no evidence in the current record that Smith was aware of concerns about Glover that Richardson purportedly relayed to several guards. Thus, no reasonable jury could find that he had subjective knowledge of Glover's particular risk of sexual assault and kept Richardson in his cell notwithstanding that knowledge, as would be required to support a determination of deliberate indifference under her first theory of liability. As to Richardson's allegation that Smith maintained a hostile environment that contributed to her risk of being assaulted, she has offered no evidence that Smith ever observed or otherwise had knowledge of said environment, and it is well established that a plaintiff may not hold a supervisor liable under § 1983 based solely on his status as a supervisor-i.e. , under a respondeat superior theory of liability. Ashcroft v. Iqbal,
On the other hand, the record more plausibly supports Richardson's second theory: that Warden Smith acted with deliberate indifference by failing to prevent transgender female inmates from being housed with heterosexual male inmates, period. But the Court finds that, even if the Eighth Amendment barred *184Smith from allowing Richardson to be housed with male inmates generally, he is entitled to qualified immunity on a claim to that effect.
The defense of qualified immunity "gives government officials breathing room to make reasonable but mistaken judgments about open legal questions" by "protect[ing] 'all but the plainly incompetent or those who knowingly violate the law.' " Ashcroft v. al-Kidd,
" 'Clearly established' means that, at the time of the officer's conduct, the law was 'sufficiently clear' that every 'reasonable official would understand that what he is doing' is unlawful." Wesby,
It may seem odd to speak of qualified immunity in the context of the Eighth Amendment. After all, to hold an officer liable for deliberate indifference, a court must find that the officer disregarded a risk of harm that he subjectively knew about. Moreover, it was clearly established in Farmer v. Brennan that disregarding a risk of inmate-on-inmate sexual assault amounts to unconstitutional deliberate indifference. So if the record were to support a jury finding that Warden Smith disregarded the risk that an inmate like Richardson might be assaulted if placed in a cell with a heterosexual male, wouldn't the record necessarily also support a finding that Smith violated clearly established law?
Not necessarily. Farmer put correctional officers on notice that they cannot house together a transgender female inmate who they know faces a particularly high risk of assault with a male inmate. See Doe,
The Supreme Court's unanimous decision in Taylor v. Barkes, --- U.S. ----,
By the same token, Farmer does not dictate the outcome here. The clearly established right to be free from deliberate indifference to sexual assault does not mean that it is clearly established what procedures a supervisor must put in place to prevent assault. And the Court finds that, as a matter of undisputed fact, Warden Smith's actions did not violate clearly established Eighth Amendment law. It is undisputed that Smith played a limited role in the chain of events that led to Richardson's purported assault. He testified that he did not participate in creating or implementing the two policies that Richardson takes issue with-the one that allowed transgender inmates to be housed in the general male prison population, see Smith Depo. at 13-15, or the one that presumptively double-celled inmates, including transgender inmates, absent a specific finding that they belonged in protective custody, see id. at 21-22. Richardson identifies no evidence undermining that testimony, and indeed she concedes that the policies were instituted not by Smith, but by the Department's Director. Pl.'s Opp'n at 6, ¶¶ 6-7. Nor is there any evidence suggesting that Smith selected Glover as Richardson's cellmate or was aware of Richardson's concerns about Glover, which she claims to have expressed to several prison guards after being moved into his cell.
Rather, the record, read in the light most favorable to Richardson, supports the following narrative with respect to Warden Smith's state of mind: Smith knew that, pursuant to Department of Corrections policy, an inmate could circumvent the Transgender Housing Committee's hearing process by signing a form agreeing to be housed according to her birth sex. Defs.' Mot. Summ. J. Exs. A, B, G. Smith could override any initial determination related to housing-including the inmate's election of birth-sex housing-by making a recommendation to the Director in writing. Id. Ex. G, at 5. Smith also knew that any transgender female inmate who was housed in the general male population would presumptively be double-celled based on a suicide-prevention policy instituted by the Director. Id. at 26-27. Smith could register disagreement with that policy but could not unilaterally change it.
*186Id. at 28. A jury could also infer that Smith knew generally that transgender female inmates-particularly those exhibiting traditionally feminine characteristics-faced a higher risk of sexual assault when celled with male inmates. There is no evidence, however, that Smith had any information indicating that Richardson faced a particularly high risk of abuse. Nor is there evidence that Smith knew that Glover, beyond his substantial criminal history, posed an especially high threat of sexual assault.
Obviously, Richardson need not point to a case finding liability under that exact set of facts in order to overcome qualified immunity. See Hope v. Pelzer,
2. Official Capacity
That leaves whether Richardson has pled a claim against Smith in his official capacity and, if so, whether that claim survives summary judgment.
A § 1983 claim for damages against a D.C. officer in his official capacity is, in effect, a claim against the District itself. See Graham,
In other words, a plaintiff cannot hold a municipality vicariously liable for the constitutional violations of its employees. Monell v. Dep't of Soc. Servs.,
The defendants contend that Richardson's complaint did not put them *187on notice that she was challenging a District policy or practice in addition to targeting Warden Smith's individual actions. The Court disagrees. "If a complaint alleging municipal liability under § 1983 may be read in a way that can support a claim for relief, thereby giving the defendant fair notice of the claim, that is sufficient" to survive dismissal. Baker,
But that does not mean that her municipal-liability claim survives summary judgment. For it to do so, the record would need to support a finding that (1) at least one official behaved with deliberate indifference toward the risk that Richardson would be sexually assaulted, and (2) the indifference was caused by the District of Columbia's policy, practice, or custom of failing to act on inmate's reported fears of assault. While the record read in the light most favorable to Richardson amply supports the first of these requirements,
*188All of the evidence regarding officials' failure to heed Richardson's complaints about Glover go to her particular case-the allegation being that, despite her pleas to several employees, she was not removed from Glover's cell. The Court can find no evidence suggesting that jail guards ignored complaints so routinely that it amounted to an official policy or custom or, relatedly, that a policymaking official had "actual or constructive knowledge" that the guards would "probably violate constitutional rights" and yet did nothing about it. Jones v. Horne,
IV. Conclusion
The Court will therefore grant the defendants' motion for partial summary judgment as to Count Four of the complaint, which alleges an Eighth Amendment violation. It will also dismiss Count Five given Richardson's consent to its dismissal. And, Count Four being her only federal claim, the Court will remand Richardson's remaining claims-Counts One, Two, and Three-to the District of Columbia Superior Court. A separate order accompanies this memorandum opinion.
Richardson was sentenced to time served for misdemeanor second-degree theft around this time. But she was held at the jail after her sentencing because she was being investigated for a possible parole violation.
In the Court's view, the complaint's allegations may have supported another theory of municipal liability. Again, Richardson alleges that Smith failed "to initiate a policy whereby transgender females would be housed in their own cells, an[d]/or housed with other transgenders or gay males and/or did not have a reasonable alternative to segregation that did not involve protective custody or solitary confinement in violation of PREA and in violation of Plaintiff's constitutional rights to be free from cruel and unusual punishment." Id. ¶ 52. As the Court explained, Smith himself is protected from this allegation by qualified immunity-no clearly established law required him to institute such policies. But that does not necessarily mean that the District's policies regarding transgender housing at the time of Richardson's alleged assault complied with the Eighth Amendment. Nevertheless, in defending against the contention that she did not state an official-capacity Eighth Amendment claim, Richardson focuses solely on the allegation that the District engaged in a policy or practice of turning a blind eye toward complaints about the risk of sexual assault. See Pl.'s Opp'n at 7, 26-27. The Court therefore considers her to have forfeited other routes of establishing municipal liability.
Contrary to the District's argument, the Court's conclusion that Warden Smith is entitled to qualified immunity does not automatically defeat the first part of her official-capacity claim. In establishing that a municipality is liable for causing a constitutional violation, a plaintiff may rely on a predicate constitutional violation that has been dismissed on the basis of qualified immunity. And here, the record undoubtedly supports the existence of an Eighth Amendment claim against at least one official. Richardson testified that Glover made sexually aggressive comments toward her, that she told several guards and her case manager that she feared he would assault her, that her pleas were ignored, and that she was ultimately assaulted. That is deliberate indifference to a T.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Andrea RICHARDSON v. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, Warden William Smith, and John Does I-X
- Cited By
- 11 cases
- Status
- Published