McKinney v. Compton

888 F. Supp. 75, 1995 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8116, 1995 WL 353476
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Tennessee
DecidedMay 11, 1995
DocketNo. 95-2043-M1/Bro
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 888 F. Supp. 75 (McKinney v. Compton) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McKinney v. Compton, 888 F. Supp. 75, 1995 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8116, 1995 WL 353476 (W.D. Tenn. 1995).

Opinion

ORDER OF PARTIAL DISMISSAL AND ORDER TO ISSUE SERVICE FOR REMAINING DEFENDANT

McCALLA, District Judge.

Plaintiff, Brent McKinney, an inmate at the Special Neéds Facility (SNF) in Nashville, Tennessee, who was formerly confined at the West Tennessee High Security Facility (WTHSF) in Henning, Tennessee, has filed a complaint under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.

Plaintiff sues WTHSF Warden Billy Compton, WTHSF nurses Beverly Donvan and Dorothy Taylor, physicians assistants Bill Harbor, and Barry Mathews, Sergeant Aaron Tittle, officer Billy Kiestler, and a private physician, Doctor Fletcher Gooden.

Plaintiff alleges that on October 20, 1994, Kiestler grabbed plaintiff in a headlock while he and Tittle attempted to handcuff him, and that after he was handcuffed, Kiestler poked him in the eye. Harbor examined his eye that day and concluded that he had a minor scratch. On October 24 he was examined again, this time by Mathews, who diagnosed a burst blood vessel. On October 27, ophthalmologist Dr. Gooden pulled on plaintiffs eyelids while examining plaintiff.

On November 17 plaintiff filed a grievance against Kiestler and Mathews regarding being poked and the alleged delay in being referred to an ophthalmologist. Unspecified persons thereafter charged plaintiff with a disciplinary violation.

The complaint alleges no actions whatsoever by Compton, or nurses Taylor or Donvan. When a plaintiff completely fails to allege any action by a defendant, it necessarily “appears beyond doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts which would entitle him to relief.” Spruytte v. Walters, 753 F.2d 498, 500 (6th Cir.1985). The complaint as to Compton, Taylor, and Donvan lacks an arguable basis either in law or in fact, and is therefore frivolous. See Denton v. Hernandez, 504 U.S. 25, 31-33, 112 S.Ct. 1728, 1733, 118 L.Ed.2d 340 (1992); Neitzke v. Williams, 490 U.S. 319, 325, 109 S.Ct. 1827, 1831-32, 104 L.Ed.2d 338 (1989).

The claim that plaintiff was charged with a disciplinary violation is meritless. Prisoners have no liberty interest in freedom from being charged with a disciplinary violation. See generally Wolff v. McDonnell, 418 U.S. 539, 564-71, 94 S.Ct. 2963, 2978-82, 41 L.Ed.2d 935 (1974); Wolfel v. Morris, 972 F.2d 712 (6th Cir.1992). As plaintiff alleges no violation of the due process procedures enunciated in Wolff or its progeny, this claim also lacks an arguable basis either in law or in fact, and is therefore frivolous. See Denton, 504 U.S. at 31-33, 112 S.Ct. at 1733; Neitzke, 490 U.S. at 325, 109 S.Ct. at 1831-32.

The complaint as to Tittle is also frivolous, since it merely alleges that he was attempting to handcuff plaintiff. “It goes without saying that prisoners may be restrained.” Holloway v. Gunnell, 685 F.2d 150, 156 (5th Cir.1982). This claim also lacks an arguable basis either in law or in fact, and is therefore frivolous. See Denton, 504 U.S. at 31-33, 112 S.Ct. at 1733; Neitzke, 490 U.S. at 325, 109 S.Ct. at 1831-32.

The claims against Harbor, Mathews, and Gooden, are meritless. The Eighth Amendment prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. See generally Wilson v. Seiter, 501 U.S. 294, 111 S.Ct. 2321, 115 L.Ed.2d 271 (1991). The Eighth Amendment proscription on cruel and unusual punishment prohibits prison authorities from displaying deliberate indifference to the serious medical needs of prisoners, because such indifference consti[77]*77tutes the “unnecessary and wanton infliction of pain.” Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97, 104, 97 S.Ct. 285, 291, 50 L.Ed.2d 251 (1976).

An Eighth Amendment claim consists of both objective and subjective components. Farmer v. Brennan, — U.S. -, -, 114 S.Ct. 1970, 1977, 128 L.Ed.2d 811 (1994); Hudson v. McMillian, 503 U.S. 1, 6-8, 112 S.Ct. 995, 999, 117 L.Ed.2d 156 (1992); Wilson, 501 U.S. at 298, 111 S.Ct. at 2323-24; Hunt v. Reynolds, 974 F.2d 734, 735 (6th Cir.1992). The objective component requires that the deprivation be “sufficiently serious.” Farmer, — U.S. at -, 114 S.Ct. at 1977; Hudson, 503 U.S. at 6-8, 112 S.Ct. at 999; Wilson, 501 U.S. at 298, 111 S.Ct. at 2323-24. The subjective component requires that the official act with the requisite intent, that is, that he have a “sufficiently culpable state of mind.” Farmer, — U.S. at-, 114 S.Ct. at 1977; Wilson, 501 U.S. at 297, 302-03, 111 S.Ct. at 2323, 2326-27. The official’s intent must rise at least to the level of deliberate indifference. Farmer, — U.S. at -, 114 S.Ct. at 1977; Wilson, 501 U.S. at 303, 111 S.Ct. at 2326-27.

Within the context of Estelle claims, the objective component requires the medical need to be sufficiently serious. Hunt, 974 F.2d at 735. “A medical need is serious if it is ‘one that has been diagnosed by a physician as mandating treatment or one that is so obvious that even a lay person would easily recognize the necessity for a doctor’s attention.’ ” Ramos v. Lamm, 639 F.2d 559, 575 (10th Cir.1980), cert. denied, 450 U.S. 1041, 101 S.Ct. 1759, 68 L.Ed.2d 239 (1981) (quoting Laaman v. Helgemoe, 437 F.Supp. 269, 311 (D.N.H.1977)).

The Supreme Court has also clarified the subjective component: the intent of the prison official. See, e.g., Farmer, — U.S. at -, 114 S.Ct. at 1977. Cf. Wilson, 501 U.S. at 298-301, 111 S.Ct. at 2324-25; Caldwell v. Moore, 968 F.2d 595, 602 (6th Cir.1992).

According to Farmer, deliberate indifference requires that the inmate prove that an officer “knows of and disregards an excessive risk to inmate health or safety; the official must both be aware of facts from which the inference could be drawn that a substantial risk of serious harm exists, and he must also draw the inference.” Farmer v. Brennan, — U.S. at -, 114 S.Ct. at 1979.

Plaintiff has not established the subjective component of an Eighth Amendment claim. In order to make out a claim of an Eighth Amendment Estelle violation, a prisoner must plead facts showing that “prison authorities have denied reasonable requests for medical treatment in the face of an obvious need for such attention where the inmate is thereby exposed to undue suffering or the threat of tangible residual injury.”

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Bluebook (online)
888 F. Supp. 75, 1995 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8116, 1995 WL 353476, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mckinney-v-compton-tnwd-1995.