Murphy v. Wisconsin Department of Corrections

District Court, E.D. Wisconsin·Decided April 20, 2021·No. 2:21-cv-00052·Unknown

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF WISCONSIN ______________________________________________________________________________ SHAWN MURPHY,

Plaintiff, v. Case No. 21-cv-52-pp

WISCONSIN DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, WISCONSIN DIVISION OF COMMUNITY CORRECTIONS, KENDRA HEEREY, and ROSEMARIE BARANEK,

Defendants. ______________________________________________________________________________

ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR LEAVE TO PROCEED WITHOUT PREPAYING FILING FEE (DKT. NO. 2), SCREENING COMPLAINT UNDER 28 U.S.C. §1915A AND DISMISSING CASE ______________________________________________________________________________

Shawn Murphy, a person incarcerated at Waupun Correctional Institution who is representing himself, filed a complaint under 42 U.S.C. §1983, alleging that the defendants violated his right to due process before and during his probation revocation proceedings. This decision resolves the plaintiff’s motion for leave to proceed without prepaying the filing fee, dkt. no. 2, and screens his complaint, dkt. no. 1. I. Motion for Leave to Proceed without Prepaying the Filing Fee (Dkt. No. 2)

The Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) applies to this case because the plaintiff was a prisoner when he filed his complaint. See 28 U.S.C. §1915(h). The PLRA allows the court to let an incarcerated plaintiff proceed without prepaying the civil case filing fee. 28 U.S.C. §1915(a)(2). When funds exist, the incarcerated person must pay an initial partial filing fee. 28 U.S.C. §1915(b)(1). He then must pay the balance of the $350 filing fee over time, through deductions from his institution account. Id. On January 13, 2021, the court ordered the plaintiff to pay an initial partial filing fee of $1.71. Dkt. No. 6. On February 22, 2021, the court granted the plaintiff’s request to pay the initial partial filing fee from his release account. Dkt. No. 13. On March 1, 2021, the court granted his request to pay only $0.94—the balance of his release account—of the initial partial filing fee. Dkt. No. 15. The court received that reduced fee on March 16, 2021. The court will grant the plaintiff’s motion for leave to proceed without prepaying the filing fee and will require him to pay the remainder of the filing fee over time in the manner explained at the end of this order. II. Screening the Complaint A. Federal Screening Standard Under the PLRA, the court must screen complaints brought by incarcerated persons seeking relief from a governmental entity or officer or employee of a governmental entity. 28 U.S.C. §1915A(a). The court must dismiss a complaint if the incarcerated person raises claims that are legally “frivolous or malicious,” that fail to state a claim upon which relief may be granted or that seek monetary relief from a defendant who is immune from such relief. 28 U.S.C. §1915A(b). In determining whether the complaint states a claim, the court applies the same standard that it applies when considering whether to dismiss a case under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). See Cesal v. Moats, 851 F.3d 714, 720 (7th Cir. 2017) (citing Booker-El v. Superintendent, Ind. State Prison, 668 F.3d 896, 899 (7th Cir. 2012)). To state a claim, a complaint must include “a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2). The complaint must contain enough facts, “accepted as true, to ‘state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.’” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009) (quoting Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570 (2007)). “A claim has facial plausibility when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows a court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” Id. (citing Twombly, 550 U.S. at 556). To state a claim for relief under 42 U.S.C. §1983, a plaintiff must allege that someone deprived him of a right secured by the Constitution or the laws of the United States, and that whoever deprived him of this right was acting under the color of state law. D.S. v. E. Porter Cty. Sch. Corp., 799 F.3d 793, 798 (7th Cir. 2015) (citing Buchanan–Moore v. Cty. of Milwaukee, 570 F.3d 824, 827 (7th Cir. 2009)). The court construes liberally complaints filed by plaintiffs who are representing themselves and holds such complaints to a less stringent standard than pleadings drafted by lawyers. Cesal, 851 F.3d at 720 (citing Perez v. Fenoglio, 792 F.3d 768, 776 (7th Cir. 2015)). B. The Plaintiff’s Allegations The plaintiff has sued the Wisconsin Department of Corrections (DOC), the Wisconsin Division of Community Corrections (DCC), Corrections Field Supervisor Kendra Heerey and Probation Agent Rosemarie Baranek. Dkt. No. 1 at 2. He alleges that Heerey and Baranek worked for the DOC at the time of the events described in the complaint. Id. The complaint asserts that on July 8, 2013, the plaintiff was on probation from a 2000 state criminal conviction. Id. at 3. The plaintiff alleges that he went to St. Joseph’s Hospital in West Bend, Wisconsin for crisis treatment because of mental health disorders, including obsessive-compulsive disorder, borderline personality disorder, antisocial personality disorder, a history of psychological trauma and pedophilic disorder. Id. Dr. Stephanie Post (not a defendant) saw the plaintiff, put him on the “narcotic psychiatric” medication clonazepam, set up a “safety plan” and scheduled him for after-care with social worker Lori Landy (not a defendant). Id. at 4. The plaintiff says that he was to go to “acute crisis services” to find out about placement at Calm Harbor “safe house.” Id. The plaintiff says that when he left St. Joseph’s hospital, he’d been found not to be a danger to himself or others, but that when he got to the acute crisis services it was decided that Calm Harbor was not the proper placement for him. Id. The plaintiff went home and called the St. Joseph’s emergency room—he says it was the only thing he could think of—hoping to speak with Ms. Landy about some kind of placement. Id. Later that day, police came to the plaintiff’s home and took him to Washington County Jail on a probation hold. Id. Some days later, the plaintiff’s probation agent, defendant Baranek came to the jail to ask the plaintiff about behavior at his July 8, 2013 hospital visit “alleged to be violations of [his] rules of supervi

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Murphy v. Wisconsin Department of Corrections, (E.D. Wis. 2021).

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