Kucinsky v. Baldwin

2023 IL App (1st) 230230-U
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedMarch 9, 2023
Docket1-23-0230
StatusUnpublished

This text of 2023 IL App (1st) 230230-U (Kucinsky v. Baldwin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kucinsky v. Baldwin, 2023 IL App (1st) 230230-U (Ill. Ct. App. 2023).

Opinion

2023 IL App (1st) 230230-U No. 1-23-0230 Order filed March 9, 2023 Fourth Division

NOTICE: This order was filed under Supreme Court Rule 23 and is not precedent except in the limited circumstances allowed under Rule 23(e)(1). ______________________________________________________________________________ IN THE APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS FIRST DISTRICT ______________________________________________________________________________

CHARLES KUCINSKY, ) Appeal from the ) Circuit Court of Plaintiff-Appellant, ) Sangamon County. ) v. ) No. 19 MR 00119 ) JOHN BALDWIN, NICK LAMB, KEVIN KINK, and ) MICHAEL ATCHISON, ) Honorable ) Jennifer Ascher, Defendants-Appellees. ) Judge, presiding.

JUSTICE HOFFMAN delivered the judgment of the court. Presiding Justice Lampkin and Justice Martin concurred in the judgment.

ORDER

¶ 1 Held: The dismissal of the plaintiff’s second amended complaint is affirmed in part and reversed in part. We affirmed the dismissal of the plaintiff’s action against the defendants John Baldwin and Michael Atchison. We reversed the dismissal of the action against the defendants Nick Lamb and Kevin Kink in their individual capacities only, finding that the plaintiff’s second amended complaint adequately alleged an action against Lamb under 42 U.S.C. §1983 predicated upon violations of the plaintiff’s rights under the first, eighth, and fourteenth amendments to the No. 1-23-0230

United States Constitution, and adequately alleged an action against Kirk under 42 U.S.C. §1983 predicated upon a violations of the plaintiff’s rights under the eighth and fourteenth amendments to the United States Constitution.

¶2 The plaintiff, Charles Kucinsky, acting pro se, appeals from an order of the Circuit Court of

Sangamon County dismissing his action against the defendants John Baldwin, Nick Lamb, Kevin

Kink, and Michael Atchison brought pursuant to section 1983 of the federal Civil Rights Act (42

U.S.C. § 1983 (2018)) (herein after referred to as “section 1983”). For the reasons which follow, we

affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand to the circuit court for further proceedings.

¶3 The plaintiff’s pro se second amended complaint (complaint), which is the subject of the

instant appeal, is a prolix, 49-page pleading, consisting of in excess of 130 paragraphs. The

complaint asserts section 1983 claims against Baldwin, the former director of the Illinois Department

of Corrections (IDOC), Atchison, IDOC’s former Chief of Operations, Lamb the former warden of

the Lawrence Correctional Facility (Lawrence), and Kink, also a former warden of Lawrence,

alleging violations of the plaintiff’s rights under the first, eighth, and fourteenth amendments to the

United States Constitution (U.S. Const., amend. I, VIII, XIV). From that complaint we are able to

glean the following allegations.

¶4 The plaintiff is an inmate in IDOC, serving an 85-year sentence. At all times relevant, he

was incarcerated at Lawrence. On August 21, 2016, the plaintiff was placed in extreme disciplinary

segregation for allegedly violating prison rules during an assault on a staff member at Pontiac

Correctional Center. The plaintiff filed a grievance challenging his placement in disciplinary

segregation which he won and was released from disciplinary segregation on December 9, 2016.

That same day the plaintiff was placed in administrative detention (A.D.). The complaint alleged

that the plaintiff was “served inadequate notice” of the pending A.D. placement hearing. Lamb told

him that, because “[he] filed a grievance, he was gonna [sic] be placed in A.D. extreme isolation.”

-2- No. 1-23-0230

The plaintiff was confined in A.D. extreme isolation from August 21, 2016 until after the filing of

his complaint in the instant action. The complaint defined “extreme isolation” as segregation where

a prisoner is confined to his cell for more than 22 hours per day and given only extremely limited or

no opportunities for “direct and normal” social contact. The plaintiff alleged that extreme isolation

has been shown to cause a severe risk of physical and psychological harm. IDOC’s data shows that

prisoners in extreme isolation are nine times more likely to commit suicide.

¶5 The cell block where the plaintiff was being held in A.D. also held “crisis” cells for prisoners

with “extreme mental health problems.” Those prisoners yelled, screamed, and banged on their cell

doors for hours. They also threw feces and urine. The plaintiff was subjected to constant noise and

an “extremely putrid” smell. His cell was two to three “steps” long and one and one-half steps wide.

It was “bug/vermin infested,” and the plaintiff had no access to cleaning supplies.

¶6 The plaintiff was allowed two two-hour yard periods each week. The yard periods were

allowed in a “dog kennel” type of cage area with no equipment and a solid concrete floor. The cage

measured 4 steps by 15 steps. Whenever the plaintiff left his cell, he was placed in multiple restraints,

escorted by multiple staff members, and strip searched. According to the complaint, these conditions

were an “atypical and significant hardship.”

¶7 As a result of being subjected to noise and putrid smells, the plaintiff suffers from headaches,

loss of appetite, dizziness, vomiting, loss of sleep, and poor concentration. As the result of being

confined to a small cell and being forced to sit on the bed, he suffers from lower back pain, muscle

spasms, and muscle pain. The plaintiff has a history of mental illness since he was seven years old,

including mood disorders, ADHD, PTSD, extreme depression, and anxiety. The Complaint alleged

that confinement in A.D. exacerbated the plaintiff’s mental illness.

-3- No. 1-23-0230

¶8 The plaintiff was offered what he described as “sham/farce” A.D. hearings approximately

once every 90 days. He received “inadequate” notice that failed to state the evidence that would be

presented against him.

¶9 The plaintiff alleged that the John Howard Association (JHA), an advocacy group, publishes

reports on Illinois prisons. The JHA reports detailed the size of cells and the amount of time prisoners

were allowed out of their cells. He alleged that Baldwin authorized a report on the IDOC’s use of

extreme isolation in 2015 and 2106 in association with Yale College [sic] and the Association of

State Correctional Administrators (Yale Report). The Yale report identified the physical and mental

injury caused by extreme isolation. Kink and Lamb reviewed the 2013 and 2016 JHA Reports and

were able to draw an inference that extreme isolation caused physical and mental injury. Kink and

Lamb ignored the reports and their findings. Atchison, Kink, and Lamb reviewed the Yale report

and were able to draw the inference that extreme isolation caused the plaintiff physical and mental

injury. Atchison, Kink, and Lamb turned a “blind eye” to the report and ignored its findings.

¶ 10 On August 17, 2017, the plaintiff “personally notified” Lamb that he felt his mental health

“was being exsasberated [sic] including his paranoia, depression anxiety and hopelessness.” Lamb

told him to “go to hell and to kill himself.”

¶ 11 On October 10, 2017, Lamb toured the A.D. unit and observed the conditions, but turned a

“blind eye” to them.

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Bluebook (online)
2023 IL App (1st) 230230-U, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kucinsky-v-baldwin-illappct-2023.