Davi v. Cook

District Court, D. South Dakota·Decided November 3, 2021·No. 4:21-cv-04160·Unknown

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF SOUTH DAKOTA SOUTHERN DIVISION

SCOTT WILLIAM DAVI, 4:21-CV-04160-RAL Plaintiff, 1915A SCREENING DISMISSING IN PART VS. AND DIRECTING SERVICE IN PART DARRIN YOUNG, IN HIS INDIVIDUAL AND OFFICIAL CAPACITY; ACTING WARDEN DOUG CLARK, IN HIS INDIVIDUAL AND OFFICIAL CAPACITY; WARDEN JESSICA COOK, IN HER INDIVIDUAL AND OFFICIAL CAPACITY; MEDICAL DIRECTOR MARY CARPENTER, IN HER INDIVIDUAL AND OFFICIAL CAPACITY; ASSOCIATE WARDEN TROY PONTO, IN HIS INDIVIDUAL AND OFFICIAL CAPACITY; AND D-UNIT COORDINATOR ANGELA PECHOUS, IN HER INDIVIDUAL AND OFFICIAL CAPACITY, Defendants.

Plaintiff Scott William Davi filed a pro se lawsuit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Doc. 1. This Court granted Davi leave to proceed in forma pauperis and ordered him to pay an initial filing fee, Doc. 5. Davi timely paid his entire fee on October 8, 2021. Davi filed an amended complaint

on October 21, 2021, in which he included Doug Clark as a named defendant and changed which of his Constitutional rights he claims were violated. Doc. 6. This Court grants Davi leave to amend his complaint. Thus, this Court’s § 1915A screening focuses on Davi’s amended complaint, Doc. 6. IL 1915A Screening

A. Factual Allegations of Davi’s Complaint Davi is an inmate at the South Dakota State Penitentiary. See doc. 6 at 1. He has suffered

from right knee pain, including locking and popping in the knee, since 2014. Id. at 5. He claims

that doctors told him he needed an MRI, but that Mary Carpenter, the medical director of the

South Dakota Department of Corrections, refused to allow him to receive an MRI. Id. at 2, 5. He

eventually received an MRI in 2018 that showed a bone-on-bone condition in his knee. Id. at 5.

Davi was told to see a specialist, who recommended a full knee replacement. Id. Davi did not

receive the full knee replacement surgery until 2019. Jd. He claims that he had to suffer many

years without pain medication and that if he had been treated earlier, he might not have needed a

full knee replacement. Id. He also claims that he was recommended for regrowth shots, but the

shots were denied. Id. According to a filing attached to his initial complaint, Davi only received

eight physical therapy sessions instead of eighteen. Doc. 1-1 at 6. He was told by a prison nurse

that he didn’t need his wheelchair or ice, so his wheelchair was taken away. Id, He also wasn’t

allowed to have a cane. Id. He claims he was once stuffed into a transport van and that his

Gabapentin was cut from 600 mg to 300 mg. Id. Davi attempted to use the prison grievance process to address these issues. Doc. 6 at 6.

He filed an informal resolution with Unit Coordinator Angela Pechous after his knee replacement on January 10, 2020. Id. at 13. Pechous yelled at him that he should be grateful because she paid for his surgery, that the prison owned him and could do whatever they wanted,

and that they didn’t need to follow the surgeon's recommendations, especially regarding narcotics. Id. at 6, 13. Davi told Pechous that maybe the courts should figure this out. Id, at 13.

Davi then went to Deputy Warden Troy Ponto, who told him he would talk to Pechous. Id. at 14.

After answering Davi’s informal resolution, Pechous would not let Davi file a formal resolution. Doc. 6 at 6. Before his surgery, Davi had a job at the prison working with dogs from the Humane

Society, and he returned to that job around February 3, 2020. Doc 1-1 at 14. He claims that he

had been doing this job for five and a half years without any trouble until he went to Ponto about

his troubles with Pechous. Id. at 12. Around April 10, 2020, he discovered that he had been paid just under half of the correct amount for his work in March. Id. at 14. He pointed this out to

Pechous, who did not do anything about it. Id, Davi alleges that in early June, Pechous told a

fellow prison officer, Officer Moore, that the dogs Davi had been working with were urinating in

the shower. Id, at 15. Davi claims that Pechous told Moore not to warn Davi and instead to wait

for Davi to allow the dogs to urinate in the shower so that she could write him up and take away

his job. Id, Davi claims that he told Ponto about this, but nothing was done except for Moore

losing his floor training job. Doc. 6 at 6-7. Another officer, Officer Brucher, then accused Davi

of slamming a dog into the ground, but when Assistant Warden Cook and some other staff

members reviewed the video, they found this was not true. Doc. 1-1 at 15. Davi later got written

up by a different officer, Officer Knutson, because he asked to let a dog off the yard when it was

100 degrees out. Id. He was accused of failing to give the dog water, abusing the dogs, and using

dogs to go where he wanted in the prison. Id. He claims that Knutson wrote that she would “go

over and above her job” to get him fired. Id. When Davi spoke with Cook about Knutson’s

accusations, Cook said that there were no issues. Id. at 16. Around August 13, 2020, Davi alleges that he was told by Pechous to leave a dog with

Lint, a fellow inmate, when he went to therapy, but that he was written up for doing so. Id. He

also was written up for not using a gentle lead with the dog, although he feels that was a

violation of humane society rules, not a posted prison rule or regulation, Id. About a week later, Davi tried to speak with Ponto and Warden Young about his issues with Pechous before he got in any further trouble that could result in him losing his job with the dogs or being transferred. Id. at 17. The humane society shut down the dog program in mid-September 2020, at which point Davi was given a job bleaching doors until the dogs returned. Id. Davi alleges that Pechous gave him certain work hours, then denied doing so and accused him of lying. Id. As a result, she did not pay him for the work hours given, only the ones she claimed she would have given him. Id. He then alleges that, around February 26, 2021, she reduced his hours and failed to tell him of a new job assignment doing laundry. Id, at 18. On or around March 17, 2021, Davi was told that he was being transferred to “the Hill,” a higher security facility at the prison. Id. at 18; Doc. 6 at 8. Although Davi acknowledges that his classification is such that the Hill may be an appropriate place for him to be housed, he claims there are many other inmates with the same classification who are not being moved there. Doc, 6 at 8. He specifically claims that other inmates at the Hill would be a threat to his safety because of their alleged involvement in a kidnapping plot against the family of former South Dakota governor Bill Janklow. Id. at 8-9. Construing his complaint liberally, Davi brings several claims regarding these incidents. First, he alleges that defendants provided inadequate medical care in violation of the Eighth Amendment. Id. at 5. Second, he alleges that defendants would not allow him to file a formal grievance in violation of his Fourteenth Amendment right to due process. See id, at 6. Third, he alleges that defendants retaliated against him for filing grievances in violation of his First Amendment rights. Id. Fourth, he alleges that he was denied access to the courts in violation of his First Amendment rights. See id. at 8. Fifth, he alleges that he has been treated differently than

similarly situated inmates in violation of his equal protection rights under the Fourteenth Amendment. Id. Although he makes clear that his first claim is brought against Carpenter, Davi

does not otherwise specify which claims are brought against which defendants. See id. at 2-3. He

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