Lindell v. Meli

District Court, E.D. Wisconsin·Decided August 4, 2021·No. 2:18-cv-02027·Unknown

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF WISCONSIN

NATE A. LINDELL, Plaintiff,

v. Case No. 18-C-2027

ANTHONY MELI, BILL SEARLS, CAPTAIN JOHN O’DONOVAN, and KEVIN CARR, Defendants.

DECISION AND ORDER Plaintiff Nate Lindell, an inmate within the Wisconsin Department of Corrections (“DOC”), alleges that staff at the Waupun Correctional Institution violated his constitutional rights after he made a complaint under the institution’s procedures for complying with standards promulgated under the Prison Rape Elimination Act (“PREA”). Lindell alleges that Anthony Meli and Captain John O’Donovan did not afford him due process during his disciplinary hearing on a conduct report that accused him of lying about staff. Specifically, Lindell alleges that: (1) he was not afforded an opportunity to present all the testimony and documentary evidence he wished to present at the hearing, (2) O’Donovan was not an impartial decisionmaker, (3) O’Donovan’s decision was not supported by “some evidence,” and (4) Lindell did not receive a written explanation for the discipline. The plaintiff requests damages and injunctive relief. Before me now are the parties’ cross-motions for summary judgment on the due-process claims. I. BACKGROUND Lindell was housed at the Waupun Correctional Institution from January 4, 2013 to December 11, 2013. He states that, during his time at the institution, he heard from other inmates that staff followed a practice of performing strip searches and body-cavity searches on inmates. Pl. Prop. Findings of Fact (“PFOF”) ¶¶ 19–21. Lindell believed that this practice was improper. On August 24, 2013, he helped a fellow inmate in the segregation unit write a grievance about a staff-assisted strip search. Id. ¶ 22. According

to Lindell, while he was assisting the inmate, Correctional Officer Derek Schouten (who is not a defendant) “made an aggressive offer to ‘take Lindell for a walk.’” Id. Because Lindell was in segregation, he was not allowed to go for “walks” and would have had to have been shackled and handcuffed if he was removed from his cell. Based on Schouten’s statement and tone, plus Lindell’s belief that institution staff “concoct[ed] excuses to do staff-assisted strip searches,” Lindell “suspected[ed] that Schouten intended to do an abusive/retaliatory staff-assisted strip search.” Id. However, Lindell does not allege that Schouten removed him from his cell or performed a strip search. Indeed, Lindell does not allege that Schouten engaged with him further after offering to take him for a “walk.”

Lindell decided to complain about Schouten under the institution’s procedures for complying with the U.S. Department of Justice’s standards for the detection, prevention, reduction, and punishment of prison rape, which were issued under the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 (“PREA”), 34 U.S.C. §§ 30301–30309. Lindell made his complaint by placing a phone call to the institution’s hotline for reporting PREA violations and giving a recorded statement. Pl. PFOF ¶ 23. Lindell contends that, on the recording, he stated that “he was concerned that Schouten intended to abuse his authority by doing a staff- assisted strip search” pursuant to the institution’s practice of conducting such searches. Id. Two days later, a DOC staff member, Teri Nelson, retrieved the recording and 2 prepared a report containing the following summary of the call: “Inmate claims he had a verbal altercation with a CO Shuter (sp?). Later that night the captain took him out of his cell for no reason and he thinks his intent was to sexually abuse him.” ECF No. 105 at p. 23 of 43.

An electronic copy of the report of Lindell’s PREA complaint was provided to defendant Meli, among others. Id. On August 28, 2013, Meli initiated an investigation into Lindell’s complaint. He entered the summary of Lindell’s recorded statement into a document initiating the investigation, and thus the document made it appear as though Lindell was alleging that “the captain” intended to take him out of his cell to sexually abuse him. See ECF No. 120-1 at p. 12 of 12. PREA Investigators Bill Searls and Ann Turner were assigned to investigate this allegation. They determined that the captain on duty at the time of Lindell’s complaint was Captain James Olson. ECF No. 99-6 at 2. Thus, Searls and Turner believed that Lindell was alleging that Captain Olson had removed him from his cell with the intent to sexually abuse him.

On November 6, 2013, Searls and Turner attempted to interview Lindell about his PREA complaint. They intended to interview him in an area outside of the segregation unit. Under the institution’s policies, when an inmate enters or leaves the segregation unit, staff may perform a strip search. See Wis. Admin. Code § DOC 306.17(2)(c) (Westlaw 2013 version).1 Pursuant to this policy, Sergeant Price (who is not a defendant) informed Lindell that he would need to be strip searched before he left his cell to speak with the

1 Because the events that gave rise to this suit occurred in 2013, throughout this opinion, I cite to the 2013 version of the Wisconsin Administrative Code as it appears in Westlaw’s historical database. 3 investigators. Lindell did not want to be strip searched, and so he refused to leave his cell. Searls then went to Lindell’s cell to introduce himself and explain why he wanted to speak with him. Lindell contends that he informed Searls that he did not want to be strip searched and asked Searls to interview him at his cell. Searls refused his request and

told Lindell that he deemed him to be refusing to be interviewed. Pl. PFOF ¶¶ 33–34. Searls then completed a report stating that Lindell had refused to be interviewed and that his complaint about Captain Olson was unfounded. It stated: On 11/06/2013 myself and Inv. Turner attempted to interview inmate Lindell. Inmate Lindell advised Sgt. Price he did not want to be interviewed. I went to inmate Lindell’s cell and introduced myself and asked inmate Lindell if he would speak with me. Inmate Lindell asked if he was going to be stripsearch? [sic] Sgt. Price advised that per policy, he would be strip searched. Inmate Lindell then stated he did not want to speak with me. This investigation is concluded and is unfounded.

ECF 120-1 at p. 1 of 12. After Searls and Turner filed their report of the investigation, defendant Meli determined that Lindell’s PREA complaint violated a DOC rule prohibiting inmates from lying about staff. This rule made it an offense for an inmate to make “a false written or oral statement about a staff member which may affect the integrity, safety or security of the institution or staff,” if the false statement was made outside the complaint review system. See Wis. Admin. Code § DOC 303.271 (2013). Meli wrote a conduct report charging Lindell with violating this rule. He alleged: Information was received that on 8-24-13 Inmate Lindell, Nathaniel #303724 alleged that Capt. Olson took him out of his cell for no reason and that he thinks Capt. Olson’s intent was to sexually abuse him. This information was forwarded to the PREA Director and I was later informed that PREA investigators Bill Searls and Ann Turner were assigned to review his allegations.

4 I was later informed that after looking into the matter it had been determined that the Wisconsin Department of Correction Policies and Procedural Protocols were followed and that this allegation was unfounded. Two separate staff members approached Inmate Lindell to inform him the investigators wanted to interview him regarding his accusation about Capt. Olson. On both occasions it was reported he refused to be interviewed about his allegation. Based on the information provided to me I allege Inmate Lindell is in violation of 303.271 – lying about staff.

ECF No.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Lindell v. Meli, (E.D. Wis. 2021).

Lindell v. Meli (Lindell v. Meli) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Wolff v. McDonnell
418 U.S. 539 (Supreme Court, 1974)
James L. Cain v. Michael P. Lane
857 F.2d 1139 (Seventh Circuit, 1988)
Clyde Piggie v. Zettie Cotton
344 F.3d 674 (Seventh Circuit, 2003)
Todd A. Lagerstrom v. Phil Kingston
463 F.3d 621 (Seventh Circuit, 2006)
Aaron B. Scruggs v. D. Bruce Jordan
485 F.3d 934 (Seventh Circuit, 2007)
James Lewis v. Angela McLean
941 F.3d 886 (Seventh Circuit, 2019)
James Crawford v. Frank Littlejohn
963 F.3d 681 (Seventh Circuit, 2020)
Rowe v. DeBruyn
17 F.3d 1047 (Seventh Circuit, 1994)