M.T. v. City of N.Y.

325 F. Supp. 3d 487
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Illinois
DecidedSeptember 5, 2018
Docket15-cv-6737 (SHS)
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 325 F. Supp. 3d 487 (M.T. v. City of N.Y.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
M.T. v. City of N.Y., 325 F. Supp. 3d 487 (S.D. Ill. 2018).

Opinion

SIDNEY H. STEIN, U.S. District Judge

This action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and state law arises out of a rape that allegedly occurred while plaintiff M.T. was an inmate at the Robert N. Davoren Complex ("RNDC") on Rikers Island. The defendants are: the City of New York; Luis Galan, the correction officer who is alleged to have raped plaintiff; and Corizon, Inc. and Corizon Health, Inc. (together, "Corizon"), which operated the RNDC clinic pursuant to a City contract.

The City seeks summary judgment in its favor dismissing M.T.'s section 1983 claim against the City, and all defendants seek summary judgment on M.T.'s state-law claims.1 Because the Court finds that a jury could reasonably conclude that municipal policymakers were aware of, and deliberately indifferent to, the inadequacy of their existing policies to deter sexual misconduct, and that M.T.'s injury was a result of their deliberate indifference, defendants' motion is denied as to her section 1983 claim. The motion is also denied as to the intentional tort claim against Officer Galan, and granted as to the remaining state-law claims.2

I. BACKGROUND

The facts presented here are construed - as they must be on a motion for summary judgment - in the light most favorable to M.T., with all inferences drawn in her favor. See Centro de la Comunidad Hispana de Locust Valley v. Town of Oyster Bay , 868 F.3d 104, 109 (2d Cir. 2017) ; Castilla v. City of New York , No. 09-O-5446, 2012 WL 5510910, at *1 (S.D.N.Y. Nov. 14, 2012).

A. M.T.'s Alleged Rape by Correction Officer Galan

At approximately 2:15 a.m. on December 2, 2012, plaintiff M.T.,3 then an inmate at *491RNDC on Rikers Island, was in the RNDC clinic having just been seen by medical staff following an incident with other inmates. (M.T. Dep. 44:1-45:3, ECF No. 67, Ex. E.) The only other people in the clinic at that early hour were two nurses and a correction officer, as well as inmates in a holding cell. (Id. 46:6-19.)

While M.T. was in the clinic, Correction Officer Luis Galan arrived and began talking with M.T. and another inmate.4 After the other inmate left, Officer Galan told M.T. to follow him to a back room. (Id. 45:3-19.) Alone in the room with Galan, M.T. made small talk, watched shows on a DVD player, and ate candy provided by Galan. (Id. 47:2-25, 48:13-14.)

Eventually, Galan asked M.T. to perform oral sex on him, and M.T. complied. (Id. 48:2-9.)

When M.T. denied repeated requests for anal sex, Galan told her: "We can do this the easy way or the hard way." Ultimately, M.T. complied. (Id. 49:7-50:6.)

When their encounter finished, M.T. left the back room and waited to be escorted out of the medical area. Galan returned, gave M.T. an iPod, charger, and case, and told her not to tell anyone what had happened. (Id. 51:12-18.)

M.T. reported to RNDC staff that she had been raped5 the next day, December 3, 2018, and the matter was immediately referred to the City's Department of Investigation. (Id. 55:15-22, 59:25-62:21, 72:2-73:18; Defs.' 56.1 Statement ¶¶ 25-27, ECF No. 66.) It is undisputed that: Galan was never interviewed in the course of the City's investigation of the incident, (Pl.'s 56.1 Counterstatement ¶ 21, ECF No. 72; Defs.' 56.1 Statement ¶ 30); no rape kit was performed on M.T., (M.T. Dep. 61:12-21; Zdrojeski Dep. 65:21-23, ECF No. 61, Ex. E); and video from the camera monitoring the entryway to the clinic was not preserved by the City's Department of Correction (see generally Pl.'s Mem. in Supp. of Mot. for Sanctions for Spoliation of Evidence, ECF No. 62; Defs.' Opp'n to Pl.'s Mot. for Spoliation and Sanctions, ECF No. 64).

B. City Policy With Respect to Staff-Inmate Sexual Misconduct in its Prisons

Pursuant to a 2007 directive of the New York City Department of Correction (DOC), the City has a "zero tolerance policy" with regard to both "inmate-on-inmate and staff-on-inmate sexual abuse and sexual threats." (DOC Directive 5010 on Preventing Inmate Sexual Abuse ("Directive 5010"), May 1, 2007, ECF No. 67, Ex. C; see Cussen Dep. 62:4-10, ECF No. 67, Ex. B.) The directive makes all DOC employees mandatory reporters of staff-inmate sexual abuse and advises them that a failure to report will result in disciplinary action. (Defs.' 56.1 Statement ¶¶ 14-15; see Directive 5010 at IV.)

State and federal law also recognize and seek to eliminate such conduct. Specifically, New York State law provides that inmates are legally incapable of consenting to sexual contact with correction officers, *492and defines any such contact as sexual abuse or rape. N.Y. Penal Law §§ 130.05(3)(e)-(f), .25(1), .60(1). In addition, Congress enacted the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) in 2003 to "establish a zero-tolerance standard for the incidence of prison rape." 34 U.S.C. § 30302(1).

In 2012, the City had a number of policies in place to implement its zero-tolerance policy. At that time, inmates could report allegations of sexual misconduct to DOC staff, medical staff, and to the City's Department of Investigation through a grievance system or via a hotline, assuming that hotline was working. Third-parties could also make allegations on an inmate's behalf. The DOC's Investigation Division was charged with responding daily to all PREA-related allegations. (Defs.' 56.1 Statement ¶¶ 7-10, 14, 24 (citing Cussen Dep. 25:8-21, 58:17-25, 59:4-60:24, 62:4-10).)

Nonetheless, during the period between 2011 and 2012, 3.1 percent of inmates at RNDC responded to a survey by the Bureau of Justice Statistics of the United States Department of Justice that they had been sexually victimized by staff while at RNDC. (Allen J. Beck et al., Bureau of Justice Statistics, NCJ 241399, Sexual Victimization in Prisons and Jails Reported by Inmates, 2011-12 ("DOJ Survey") at 79 (May 2013), ECF No. 73, Ex. B.)6 This DOJ Survey reported with a 95 percent confidence level that the reports of sexual victimization would be as high as 5.8 percent or as low as 1.6 percent, if different sample RNDC populations were used. (See id.

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

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
325 F. Supp. 3d 487, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mt-v-city-of-ny-ilsd-2018.