Justice Allah v. Greg Bartkowski , 574 F. App'x 135 ( 2014 )

NOT PRECEDENTIAL
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT
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No. 13-3466
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JUSTICE RASIDEEN ALLAH,
Appellant
v.
GREG BARTKOWSKI, Administrator New Jersey State Prison; MICHELE R. RICCI,
Director of the Division of Operations New Jersey Department of Corrections/Former
Administrator of New Jersey State Prison; CHRISTOPHER HOLMES, Associate
Administrator, New Jersey State Prison; WILLIAM MOLIENS, Former Associate
Administrator, New Jersey State Prison; JAMES (JIMMY) BARNES, Assistant
Superintendent New Jersey State Prison; CRYSTAL ANN RAUPP, Record Keeper
Management Control Unit Review Committee/Acting Supervisor of Social Services New
Jersey State Prison; DR. FLORA DEFILIPPO, Supervisor of Mental Health Services for
UMDNJ and/or New Jersey State Prison; MR. ZELL, Professional Services
Representative, New Jersey State Prison; THOMAS STECKEL, Former Social Services
Supervisor New Jersey State Prison; HATIMA ISMAIL, Professional Services
Representative, New Jersey State Prison; CAPTAIN RICHARD ORTIZ, Custody
Supervisor, New Jersey State Prison; CAPTAIN B. KENNEDY, Custody Supervisor,
New Jersey State Prison; LIEUTENANT ALAIMO, Custody Supervisor, New Jersey
State Prison
____________________________________
On Appeal from the United States District Court
for the District of New Jersey
(D.C. Civil Action No. 3-11-cv-03153)
District Judge: Honorable Michael A. Shipp
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Submitted Pursuant to Third Circuit LAR 34.1(a)
July 16, 2014
Before: HARDIMAN, NYGAARD and ROTH, Circuit Judges
(Opinion filed: July 18, 2014)
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OPINION
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PER CURIAM
Justice Rasideen Allah, proceeding pro se and in forma pauperis, appeals from the
United States District Court for the District of New Jersey’s order sua sponte dismissing
with prejudice and without leave to amend his civil action brought pursuant to 42 U.S.C.
§ 1983 and an order denying his motion for reconsideration. For the foregoing reasons,
we will vacate and remand for further proceedings.
I.
Allah, a prisoner at New Jersey State Prison, alleged that in November 2006 he
was assigned to Management Control Unit Detention (“MCU”), a close-custody unit in a
separate wing of the prison where prisoners are kept in solitary confinement. See N.J.
Admin. Code § 10A:5-1.3. The Management Control Unit Review Committee
(“MCURC”) held a hearing in January 2007 to determine whether Allah should be
housed in the MCU. At that hearing, the MCURC determined that Allah should be
placed in the MCU because, inter alia, he had masterminded a scheme to launder money
and introduce contraband into the prison. After the MCURC’s initial decision to place
Allah in the MCU was upheld on administrative appeal, Allah sought review with the
Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division. The Superior Court affirmed the
MCURC’s decision and the New Jersey Supreme Court denied his petition for
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certification. Allah v. N.J. Dep’t of Corr., No. A-4422-06T1, 2008 WL 2245599 (N.J.
Super. Ct. App. Div. June 3, 2008), cert. denied, 957 A.2d 1172 (N.J. 2008) (table). On
at least one occasion, Allah has appealed a determination of the MCURC that continued
his placement in the MCU. See Allah v. N.J. Dep’t of Corr., 2012 WL 2345390 (N.J.
Super. Ct. App. Div. June 21, 2012).
In 2011, Allah filed a complaint in the District Court, generally raising two sets of
claims: (1) that hearings reviewing his placement in the MCU violated his Fourteenth
Amendment due process rights, and (2) that his confinement in the MCU was cruel and
unusual in violation of his Eighth Amendment rights. 1 Allah’s due process claims
primarily relate to the January 2007 hearing that resulted in his placement in the MCU,
subsequent routine hearings reviewing his placement in the MCU, and his administrative
appeals from those hearings. Allah’s claims of cruel and unusual punishment relate to
the conditions of his confinement in the MCU. Allah alleged that he is confined almost
entirely to his cell; that other inmates on the block are mentally ill and create
disturbances; and that other inmates are unsanitary, resulting in unsanitary common
areas, rodent infestation, and noxious stenches.
The District Court reviewed Allah’s complaint pursuant to 28 U.S.C.
§ 1915(e)(2)(B)(ii), and dismissed it for failure to state claim. The District Court did not
1
Allah also raised several New Jersey state law claims concerning his
confinement. However, after dismissing Allah’s federal claims the District Court
declined to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over Allah’s state law claims.
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grant leave to amend after determining that amendment would be futile. Allah filed a
motion for reconsideration. In the motion, Allah contended that the District Court
overlooked several of his claims. Allah also argued that the District Court’s treatment of
his due process claim violated Wilkinson v. Austin, which held that, in conjunction with
other factors, prolonged solitary confinement can create a liberty interest. 545 U.S. 209,
223-24 (2005). The District Court denied Allah’s motion for reconsideration. Allah
timely appealed both the order denying his motion for reconsideration and the order
dismissing his complaint.
II.
We have jurisdiction over this appeal pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291. We exercise
plenary review over the District Court’s order dismissing a complaint under 28 U.S.C.
§ 1915(e)(2)(B). See Allah v. Seiverling, 229 F.3d 220, 223 (3d Cir. 2000). The legal
standard for dismissing a complaint for failure to state a claim under § 1915(e)(2)(B) is
the same as that for dismissing a complaint pursuant to a motion filed under Rule
12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. See id. “To survive a motion to
dismiss, a complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to ‘state a
claim to relief that is plausible on its face.’” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009)
(quoting Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570 (2007)). We review the denial
of a motion for reconsideration for abuse of discretion. See Lazaridis v. Wehmer, 591
F.3d 666, 669 (3d Cir. 2010) (per curiam).
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III.
We will vacate the District Court’s dismissal of Allah’s Eighth Amendment
claims. The Eighth Amendment imposes upon prison officials a duty to provide
‘“humane conditions of confinement.”’ Betts v. New Castle Youth Dev. Ctr., 621 F.3d
249, 256 (3d Cir. 2010) (quoting Farmer v. Brennan, 511 U.S. 825, 832 (1994)). “For the
conditions of confinement to rise to the level of an Eighth Amendment violation, they
must deny the ‘“minimal civilized measure of life's necessities.’” Id. (quoting Farmer,
511 U.S. at 835). Unsanitary conditions can be cruel and unusual. Young v. Quinlan,
960 F.2d 351, 364 (3d Cir. 1992), superseded by statute, Prison Litigation Reform Act of
1996, Pub. L. No. 104-134, 110 Stat. 1321, as recognized in Nyhuis v. Reno, 204 F.3d
65, 71 n.7 (3d Cir. 2000). To assert an Eighth Amendment conditions of confinement
claim, a prisoner must satisfy both an objective (“Was the deprivation sufficiently
serious?”) and subjective (“Did the officials act with a sufficiently culpable state of
mind?”) test. Wilson v. Seiter, 501 U.S. 294, 298 (1991). Allah alleged that he was
allowed a 10-minute shower every day and a 90-minute yard period every second or third
day. The remaining time he was confined to a small cell in a cell block that held
mentally ill inmates who banged and kicked on the cell doors throughout the day. The
noise caused headaches and sleep deprivation. Allah also alleged that the mentally ill
inmates did not clean themselves or their cells. Due to the unsanitary conditions, the cell
block smelled of urine and excrement, and was infested with pests. Further contributing
to the unsanitary conditions was the fact that inmates were not permitted access to toilets
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during the 90-minute yard period, which caused some inmates to relieve themselves on
the ground.
The District Court concluded that Allah failed to state an Eighth Amendment
claim because “[h]e does not allege that he is not given toiletries and cleaning products to
keep himself and his own cell clean. His alleged denial of drinking water and a toilet is
limited to a 90-minute yard exercise that occurs only several days a week.” In his motion
for reconsideration, Allah alleged that the District Court overlooked his claims of sleep
deprivation and unsanitary conditions. In its opinion denying Allah’s motion, the District
Court determined that Allah’s allegations did not establish that the conditions
contributing to his sleep deprivation had persisted “for a lengthy or consistent period of
time,” and that its earlier opinion adequately considered Allah’s “surrounding sanitary
environment.” We conclude that the unsanitary conditions in the surrounding
environment that Allah alleges “serve[] no ‘legitimate penological objectiv[e].’” Farmer,
511 U.S. at 833 (quoting Hudson v. Palmer, 468 U.S. 517, 548 (1984)) (second alteration
in original). We also conclude that Allah’s allegation that “special needs inmates . . .
kick and bang on the cell doors and walls nearly every single day, for hours at a time, at
all times of the day,” sufficiently alleges that the disturbance was consistent and ongoing.
Compl. 48, June 2, 2011, ECF No. 1. Allah has alleged that prison officials were aware
of the conditions in the MCU, but failed to remedy them. See id. at 837 (holding that to
establish deliberate indifference a prison official must both know of and disregard an
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excessive risk to an inmate’s health or safety). In light of these allegations, we conclude
that it was error to dismiss Allah’s Eighth Amendment claim for failure to state a claim.
We will also vacate the District Court’s dismissal of Allah’s Fourteenth
Amendment claims. The District Court concluded that Allah’s confinement in the MCU
did not give rise to a liberty interest in avoiding such confinement. A liberty interest is
created when a prison’s action imposes “atypical and significant hardship on the inmate
in relation to the ordinary incidents of prison life.” Sandin v. Conner, 515 U.S. 472, 484
(1995). When considering whether an inmate’s placement in segregated housing triggers
a legally cognizable interest courts should consider: (1) the amount of time spent in
segregation; and (2) whether the conditions of segregation were significantly more
restrictive than those imposed on other inmates in segregation. Shoats v. Horn, 213 F.3d
140, 144 (3d Cir. 2000) (citing Sandin, 515 U.S. at 486). In its opinion denying Allah’s
motion for reconsideration, the District Court noted that Allah has been confined in the
MCU for six years. While housed in the MCU, Allah was strictly confined to his cell,
less the aforementioned periods to shower and exercise in the yard. According to his
complaint, inmates placed in the MCU face harsher restrictions than inmates placed in
administrative segregation. For example, inmates in administrative segregation, unlike
those in the MCU, can receive “window visits,” purchase canteen items, and have
outdoor recreation in an area that is not caged. Read together, Allah’s allegations of the
duration and conditions of confinement in the MCU state an atypical and significant
hardship that implicates a liberty interest. See, e.g., Wilkinson, 545 U.S. at 223-24.
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However, as the District Court noted, establishment of a liberty interest does not
end the procedural due process inquiry. In its November 2012 opinion, the District
Court, after concluding that Allah’s confinement did not implicate a liberty interest,
nevertheless examined whether he was provided with the process he would have been
due had a liberty interest been implicated. The District Court concluded that Allah was
given a meaningful opportunity to respond and be heard at the initial MCU placement
hearing, at the routine reviews every 90 days, and at the annual reviews. However, Allah
alleged a litany of defects during these hearings that violated his due process rights.
Primarily, Allah alleged that several of his administrative appeals were ignored; that
members of the MCURC were unfamiliar with and often violated, inter alia, Sections
10A:5-2.3 to .5 of the New Jersey Administrative Code governing MCURC proceedings;
that MCURC hearings were perfunctory and without substance; that at least one MCURC
member, Dr. Flora DeFillipo, was unaware that she was an MCURC member; that Dr.
DeFillipo signed off on MCURC decisions without realizing she had done so; and that
Dr. DeFillipo never engaged in factfinding or weighing of the evidence. 2 Reading these
2
In his motion for reconsideration, Allah addressed his allegations concerning Dr.
DeFillipo, which were derived from deposition testimony that she gave in a separate civil
action. In its opinion denying Allah’s motion for reconsideration, the District Court
concluded that Allah’s allegations concerning Dr. DeFillipo were not proper for review
because the deposition testimony did not qualify as “new evidence.” However, excerpts
of the deposition testimony were attached to Allah’s complaint, and he raised allegations
derived from that testimony in his complaint. See Compl. 45 to 46, ECF No. 1; Compl.
Ex. 1-84 47 to 55, June 2, 2011, ECF No. 1-5. Despite concluding that the evidence was
not new, the District Court determined that the evidence did not alter its conclusion that
the MCURC’s placement and review of Allah’s confinement in the MCU comported with
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allegations, we determine that Allah has stated Fourteenth Amendment claims that should
not have been dismissed for failure to state a claim. 3 See City of W. Covina v. Perkins,
525 U.S. 234, 239 (1999) (holding that due process requirements include a meaningful
opportunity to be heard); Sourbeer v. Robinson, 791 F.2d 1094, 1101 (3d Cir. 1986).
III.
For the foregoing reasons, we will vacate the District Court’s November 8, 2012
and July 30, 2013 orders and remand for further proceedings. Allah’s motion to
supplement the record is denied as moot. 4
due process.
3
We note that in determining that Allah did not state a due process claim, the
District Court relied on decisions from the New Jersey Superior Court in which Allah had
appealed his initial placement hearing and one of his review hearings. See Allah v. N.J.
Dep’t of Corr., 2012 WL 2345390; Allah v. N.J. Dep’t of Corr., 2008 WL 2245599. It
appears that in those cases Allah presented similar claims of due process violations.
While we express no opinion on the matter, we note that on remand these cases may have
a preclusive effect on Allah’s Fourteenth Amendment claims.
4
Judge Roth would have affirmed the District Court’s dismissal of Allah’s
Fourteenth Amendment claims.
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