Asiam v. Lonis

District Court, D. Connecticut·Decided August 15, 2025·No. 3:25-cv-00494·Unknown

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF CONNECTICUT

PRINCE M. ASIAM, Plaintiff,

v. No. 3:25-cv-00494 (VAB)

LONIS, et al., Defendants.

INITIAL REVIEW ORDER

Prince M. Asiam, a sentenced inmate housed at Osborn Correctional Institution (“Osborn”),1 has filed a pro se Complaint under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. See Compl., ECF No. 1. He sues four Defendants for civil rights violations related to an alleged deliberate indifference to his serious medical needs. Id. ¶¶ 4-8. Mr. Asiam names as Defendants, Advance Practice Registered Nurse (“APRN”) Lonis, Chief Operating Officer of Health Services (“COO”) Robert Richeson, Acting Warden Robert Martin; and Department Of Correction (“DOC“) Commissioner Angel Quiros. Id. ¶¶ 4-7. He sues them in both their individual and official capacities. Id. For the following reasons, Mr. Asiam’s Eighth Amendment deliberate indifference and related negligence claims may proceed against APRN Lonis in her individual and official capacity. Mr. Asiam’s claims against COO Richeson, Acting Warden Martin, and Commissioner Quiros in their individual and official capacities are dismissed.

1 See DOC, Inmate Locator, available at https://www.ctinmateinfo.state.ct.us/detailsupv.asp?id_inmt_num=409846 (last accessed August 7, 2025). I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND Mr. Asiam alleges that, as of the time of filing this Complaint in March 2025, he had been waiting for a medical appointment for “nearly five months.” Id. ¶ 8. He alleges his need for a medical appointment stems from an August 21, 2024, car accident during which he suffered

injuries while being transported by a DOC transport vehicle. Id. ¶¶ 8-9. Mr. Asiam allegedly suffered a loss of consciousness in the crash, and injuries to his lower back, shoulder, and neck. Id. ¶¶ 9-10. Mr. Asiam allegedly received immediate treatment at the hospital, but Osborn officials allegedly denied him follow-up treatment once he returned to the facility. Id. ¶ 8. Mr. Asiam alleges that his back, shoulder, and neck pain persisted upon his return to Osborn. Id. ¶ 10. He alleges he has submitted “numerous written request[s] to [Osborn’s] medical department, seeking follow-up care, rehabilitation, and physical therapy.” Id. Without receiving that treatment, Mr. Asiam alleges he has been in “constant, unbearable pain.” Id. Mr. Asiam alleges that APRN Lonis is aware of Mr. Asiam’s requests and his resulting pain. Id. ¶ 11.

Mr. Asiam alleges that COO Richeson should be “held accountable” for Mr. Asiam’s lack of treatment because he is the “individual responsible for overseeing inmate healthcare” and he “failed to ensure any follow-up care or monitoring of [Mr. Asiam’s] injuries.” Id. ¶¶ 12-13; id. ¶¶ 13-14 (alleging generally that Defendant Richeson failed to address or respond to Mr. Asiam’s needs, despite bearing “direct responsibility”). Mr. Asiam alleges that Acting Warden Martin had a “clear obligation to ensure the safety and well-being of individuals in DOC custody,” but “failed to implement or enforce appropriate policies to provide adequate medical care” to Mr. Asiam. Id. ¶ 15. Mr. Asiam alleges that Commissioner Quiros similarly was “responsible for establishing and overseeing policies that ensure incarcerated individuals receive adequate medical care,” but “fail[ed] to address systematic deficiencies” within the DOC medical system. Id. ¶ 16. As the “primary policy maker,” Mr. Asiam alleges that Commissioner Quiros “bears ultimate

responsibility” for Mr. Asiam’s allegedly inadequate treatment. Id. He seeks compensatory damages, a declaratory judgment, and injunctive relief. Id. at 10- 11. II. STANDARD OF REVIEW Under 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(b), district courts must review prisoners’ civil complaints against governmental actors and sua sponte “dismiss . . . any portion of [a] complaint [that] is frivolous, malicious, or fails to state a claim upon which relief may be granted,” or that “seeks monetary relief from a defendant who is immune from such relief.” 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(b); see also Liner v. Goord, 196 F.3d 132, 134 & n.1 (2d Cir. 1999) (explaining that, under the Prisoner Litigation Reform Act, sua sponte dismissal of frivolous prisoner complaints is mandatory);

Tapia-Ortiz v. Winter, 185 F.3d 8, 11 (2d Cir. 1999) (“Section 1915A requires that a district court screen a civil complaint brought by a prisoner against a governmental entity or its agents and dismiss the complaint sua sponte if, inter alia, the complaint is ‘frivolous, malicious, or fails to state a claim upon which relief may be granted.’” (quoting 28 U.S.C. § 1915A)). Rule 8 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure requires that a plaintiff plead only “a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief,” see Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2), to provide the defendant “fair notice of what the . . . claim is and the grounds upon which it rests,” see Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555 (2007). A plaintiff’s “[f]actual allegations must be enough to raise a right to relief above the speculative level” and assert a cause of action with enough heft to show entitlement to relief and “enough facts to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.” Id. at 555, 570. A claim is facially plausible if “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, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009). Although the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure do not require “detailed factual allegations,” a complaint must offer more than “labels and conclusions,” “a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action,” or “naked assertion[s]” devoid of “further factual enhancement.” Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555-57. Plausibility at the pleading stage is nonetheless distinct from probability, and “a well-pleaded complaint may proceed even if it strikes a savvy judge that actual proof of [the claim] is improbable, and . . . recovery is very remote and unlikely.” Id. at 556 (internal quotation marks omitted). Complaints filed by pro se plaintiffs, however, “must be construed liberally and

interpreted to raise the strongest arguments that they suggest.” Sykes v. Bank of Am., 723 F.3d 399, 403 (2d Cir. 2013) (quoting Triestman v. Fed. Bureau of Prisons, 470 F. 3d 471, 474 (2d Cir. 2006)) (internal quotation marks omitted); see also Tracy v. Freshwater, 623 F. 3d 90, 101– 02 (2d Cir. 2010) (discussing the “special solicitude” courts afford pro se litigants). III. DISCUSSION The Court will review Mr. Asiam’s Eighth Amendment deliberate indifference to serious medical needs claims and his related state law negligence claims. See Bibiloni v. Doe, No.

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