(PC) Anderson v. Kernan

District Court, E.D. California·Decided December 27, 2021·No. 1:19-cv-00255·Unknown

Opinion

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 HECTOR CLARENCE ANDERSON, Case No. 1:19-cv-255-JLT (PC) 12 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANT’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT 13 v. 14 H. ANGLEA, (Doc. 98)

15 Defendant. Clerk of Court to close the case. 16 17 Hector Clarence Anderson has filed this civil rights action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for 18 injuries sustained during a prison riot. (Doc. 1.) This matter proceeds on Plaintiff’s Eighth 19 Amendment failure to protect claim against Warden Anglea as alleged in the complaint. (See 20 Doc. 24 at 6, 7; Doc. 26.) Defendant has filed a motion for summary judgment, arguing that he 21 was not deliberately indifferent to Plaintiff’s safety, or in the alternative, Defendant is entitled to 22 qualified immunity. (Doc. 98.) Plaintiff filed a response in opposition to summary judgment 23 based on the existence of genuine issues of material fact. (Doc. 101.)1 Defendants filed a reply. 24 (Docs. 102.) The parties in this action have previously consented to Magistrate Judge jurisdiction 25 for all purposes. See 28 U.S.C. § 636(c). For the reasons set forth below, the Court GRANTS 26 1 Plaintiff filed a motion to submit staff incident reports as exhibits in support of his opposition to summary 27 judgment. (Doc. 103.) Based on his representation that these documents were previously unavailable, (see Doc. 101 at 10, ⁋ 6), and their relevance to summary judgment issues, the Court GRANTS Plaintiff’s motion. (Doc. 103.) See 28 also Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(d) (“If a nonmovant shows . . . it cannot present facts essential to justify its opposition, the court may . . . allow time to obtain affidavits or declarations or . . . issue any other appropriate order. 2 I. UNDISPUTED FACTS

3 At all relevant times, Plaintiff was an inmate housed at the Sierra Conservation Center 4 (SCC). Defendant was the Chief Deputy Warden at SCC from between April 2017 to December 5 2017 and the Warden at SCC from December 2017 through December 2019. As the warden, 6 Defendant had overall responsibility for the operation of the institution, he was not involved in 7 making daily staff assignments at SCC.2 8 On May 17, 2018, an inmate riot started in the SCC Facility B dining hall during 9 breakfast. Plaintiff was inside the dining hall before the riot started, and he did not observe any 10 indications that a riot was about to occur. Plaintiff had no prior knowledge that a riot was going to 11 occur, and he is unaware of any prior fights that started in the dining hall. Plaintiff acknowledges 12 that the riot was a spontaneous event. He believes the riot started when a Hispanic inmate under 13 the influence of drugs punched a Black inmate in a dispute over a drug deal. 14 Correctional Officer Lupian-Hernandez observed the fighting begin and announced the 15 incident through institutional radio, requesting a Code 1 response. CO R. Petree attempted to 16 contain the riot by trying to secure the door and deploying a dispersion grenade, but he was 17 unsuccessful. Riot Sergeant, J. Fell, requested Code 2 and Code 3 responders come to the area 18 and an assembly area was designated with a skirmish line formed by responding staff. Tower 19 Officer McKnight heard the initial radio call and sounded the facility alarm. Ten to twelve 20 officers in protective gear responded to the alarm, deployed chemical agents, used pneumatic 21 weapons and less-lethal 40 mm weapons, and formed a skirmish line in two minutes. 22 When Plaintiff finished eating, he went from the dining hall to the basketball court on the 23 Facility B exercise yard. He was at the bleachers on the basketball court when he heard the alarm 24 sounded by McKnight. Plaintiff complied by getting down on the ground, consistent with SCC 25 riot procedures. Approximately one minute after the inmates came from the dining hall, a group 26 of inmates assaulted Plaintiff by punching and kicking him. Plaintiff returned to the bleachers and 27

28 2 Plaintiff disputes this fact and asserts that Defendant was involved in making staff assignments. However, Plaintiff’s citation to Anglea’s declaration does not support this proposition. (See Doc. 98-3 at 12; Doc. 101 at 13.) 2 To Defendant’s knowledge, on May 17, 2018, there were no unstaffed custody positions

3 at Facility B. Defendant was unaware of prior inmate fights that had started in the Facility B 4 dining hall. Defendant had no prior information that the May 17, 2018, riot would occur.3 5 A previous riot occurred at SCC on August 17, 2017 on the Facility B yard. Plaintiff was 6 present at that riot, which started near the phones concerning sign-ups for the use of phones 7 between Black and Hispanic inmates. Following the incident, Investigative Services Unit at SCC 8 investigated by conducting inmate interviews, reviewing video, and conducting threat 9 assessments. Officials conducted meetings with the Men’s Advisory Committee to discuss the 10 incident and how to avoid future incidents. Officials searched for weapons and contraband in the 11 dorms and on the yard. Approximately 320 inmates involved in the riot were issued Rules 12 Violation Reports and referrals were made to the Tuolumne County District Attorney’s Office for 13 possible prosecution. Consideration was given to transfer inmates likely to be involved in future 14 incidents. Inmate movement on Facility B was restricted through August 23, 2017. Authorization 15 was obtained to hire additional correctional staff. Ten additional video cameras were installed in 16 the yard. As the Chief Deputy Warden at SCC at the time, Defendant recommended to the warden 17 to stagger the release of inmates onto the Facility B yard to prevent future incidents. 18 Another incident occurred in June 2017 in front of Dorm 68. Three or four inmates were 19 fighting. Correctional staff responded by sounding an alarm and deploying blast grenades. The 20 fight stopped after about a minute. The incident did not escalate into a riot, as they did on May 21 17, 2018. 22 I. LEGAL STANDARD 23 A. Summary Judgment 24 Summary judgment is appropriate when the moving party “shows that there is no genuine 25 dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R. 26 Civ. P. 56(a). The moving party bears the initial burden of proving the absence of a genuine issue 27 3 Plaintiff disputes Defendant’s assertion and states: “Anglea had the sufficient signal intelligence or clues, based on 28 the/his endless and deep prison’s politics.” (Doc. 101 at 21–22.) This assertion is vague, conclusory, and unsupported by the record. 2 accomplish this by presenting evidence that negates an essential element of the non-moving

3 party’s case. Id. Alternatively, the movant can demonstrate that the non-moving party cannot 4 produce evidence to support an essential element of his claim that must be proven at trial. Id.; 5 Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c)(1)(B). “[A] complete failure of proof concerning an essential element of the 6 non-moving party’s case necessarily renders all other facts immaterial.” Celotex, 477 U.S. at 7 322–23. 8 If the moving party meets this initial showing, the burden shifts to the non-moving party 9 to establish “specific facts showing a genuine issue for trial.” Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 10 477 U.S. 242, 250 (1986). The non-moving party cannot simply rely on the pleadings and 11 conclusory allegations in an affidavit. Lujan v.

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