PHILLIPS v. EDMONDS

CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Indiana
DecidedFebruary 27, 2025
Docket1:22-cv-02184
StatusUnknown

This text of PHILLIPS v. EDMONDS (PHILLIPS v. EDMONDS) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Indiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
PHILLIPS v. EDMONDS, (S.D. Ind. 2025).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF INDIANA INDIANAPOLIS DIVISION

JAMES E. PHILLIPS, ) ) Plaintiff, ) ) v. ) No. 1:22-cv-02184-SEB-CSW ) REAGAL Warden, et al., ) ) Defendants. )

ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANTS' PARTIAL MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

Plaintiff James E. Phillips, an inmate at the Indiana Department of Corrections, alleges that twenty-six defendants subjected him to cruel and unusual conditions of confinement in violation of the Eighth Amendment and in retaliation for his previous civil case filings in violation of the First Amendment while he was incarcerated at Pendleton Correctional Facility ("PCF"). Dkt. 2. Defendants have moved for partial summary judgment. Dkt. 50. Mr. Phillips has responded, and the defendants have replied. The motion is now ripe for ruling. For the reasons below, the defendants' motion for summary judgment, dkt. 50, is GRANTED. I. Standard of Review A motion for summary judgment asks the Court to find that a trial is unnecessary because there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and, instead, the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). When reviewing a motion for summary judgment, the Court views the record and draws all reasonable inferences from it in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Khungar v. Access Cmty. Health Network, 985 F.3d 565, 572–73 (7th Cir. 2021). It cannot weigh evidence or make credibility determinations on summary judgment because those tasks are left to the fact-finder. Miller v. Gonzalez, 761 F.3d 822, 827 (7th Cir. 2014). A court only has to consider the materials cited by the parties, see Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c)(3); it need not "scour the record" for evidence that might be relevant. Grant v. Trs. of Ind. Univ., 870 F.3d 562, 573−74 (7th Cir. 2017) (cleaned up).

A party seeking summary judgment must inform the district court of the basis for its motion and identify the record evidence it contends demonstrates the absence of a genuine issue of material fact. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 323 (1986). Whether a party asserts that a fact is undisputed or genuinely disputed, the party must support the asserted fact by citing to particular parts of the record, including depositions, documents, or affidavits. Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c)(1)(A). Failure to properly support a fact in opposition to a movant's factual assertion can result in the movant's fact being considered undisputed, and potentially in the grant of summary judgment. Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(e). The Court need only consider the cited materials, Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c)(3), and is not required to "scour every inch of the record" for evidence that is potentially relevant to the summary

judgment motion. Grant v. Trustees of Indiana University, 870 F.3d 562, 572-73 (7th Cir. 2017). Here, Mr. Phillips' response to the defendants' summary judgment motion includes a section titled "Facts Not in Dispute and Argument Statement." Dkt. 61 at 7. However, the response was not verified, nor does it support any of the alleged material facts with citations to the record other than sparse 'catch-all' citations to almost all of Mr. Phillips' nearly 200 pages of grievance and court filing exhibits. Id. at 4, 5, 6, 10. Accordingly, the facts alleged in the defendants' statement of material facts not in dispute are "admitted without controversy" so long as support for them exists in the record. S.D. Ind. L.R. 56-1(f). II. Factual Background Because defendants have moved for summary judgment under Rule 56(a), the Court views and recites the evidence in the light most favorable to Mr. Phillips and draws all reasonable inferences in his favor. Khungar, 985 F.3d at 572–73. A. Parties and Claims At all relevant times, Mr. Phillips was an inmate incarcerated at Pendleton Correctional Facility. Dkt. 51-1 at 12 (Phillips' Deposition). After screening the complaint, the Court allowed Eighth Amendment and First Amendment retaliation claims to proceed against all twenty-six named defendants in Mr. Phillips' complaint.

Dkt. 14. All defendants were employed by the Indiana Department of Corrections at PCF. Dkt. 2 at 1-2, 18, 19. The named twenty-six defendants and their titles are as follows: 1) Dennis Reagle, Warden of PCF; 2) Smith, Executive Assistant at Pendleton; 3) Investigators with the PCF Office of Investigations and Intelligence ("OII"), Alicea, Cochran, and Ruiz; 4) Captain Boldman; 5) Lieutenant Pfleeger; 6) Counselor Goodnight; 7) Bishop and Davis, Property Officers at PCF; 8) Commissary Clerk Lyons, 9) Grievance Specialists Conyers and Watson; 10) Litigation Liaison Wargny; 11) Disciplinary Hearing Officers Miller and McDonald; and 11) Officers Canfield, Carter, Downs, Edmonds, Peters, Shaw, and Terry. Id.

B. Mr. Phillips' Previous Civil Action On June 24, 2021, Mr. Phillips filed a complaint alleging constitutional violations related to extreme temperatures at PCF against five defendants. See Phillips v. Pendleton Correctional Facility et al., 1:21-cv-01876-JPH-KMB (S.D. Ind.), Dkt. 1. The Court screened through Mr. Phillips' Eighth Amendment conditions of confinement claims against four defendants: Warden Reagle, Captain Boldman, Lt. Pfleeger, and Property Room Manager Davis. Id. at Dkt. 8. On July 8, 2022, all defendants filed for summary judgment in that matter. Dkt. 40. Mr. Phillips alleges that directly after this filing, all defendants in this current action began retaliating conspiratorially and 'as a collective' against him to prevent him from taking action or filing responses in that case.

Dkt. 51-1 at 24-25. On September 6, 2022, Mr. Phillips filed his own motion for summary judgment in Phillips v. Pendleton Correctional Facility et al., and he also successfully filed a subsequent response to the defendants' motion for summary judgment. 1:21-cv-01876-JPH-KMB (S.D. Ind) at Dkt. 55. C. Relevant IDOC Policies It is standard security protocol at PCF that all inmates are subject to cell searches on a regular basis and at any time to locate and eliminate contraband within the prison. Dkt. 51-6 at 2. Similarly, it is standard practice for inmates to be restrained in shakedown booths while a cell search is being conducted so that prisoners do not interfere with the search or assault staff during the shakedown. Id.

During strip searches, PCF procedure requires that inmates bend over and manually separate their buttocks to enable staff to visually search an inmate's rectal cavity for potential contraband. Id. If inmates refuse or do not consent to a body cavity search, they are escorted to a 'dry cell' or a cell that does not have plumbing or facilities. Id. at 3. These cells do not have toilets or plumbing to prevent inmates from destroying or disposing of hidden contraband. Id. Generally, surveillance cameras were present in the common areas of PCF, and OII agents and PCF staff did not install cameras in individual inmate cells. Dkt. 51-9 at 3. D. Claim 1: July 6, 2022, Searches and Dry Cell Placement - Cochran, Alecia, and Ruiz

On July 6, 2022, OII Investigators Cochran, Alicea, and Ruiz conducted a routine search of Mr. Phillips' cell for contraband. Dkt. 56-1 at 1-2. During the search, Mr.

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

Related

Santiago v. Walls
599 F.3d 749 (Seventh Circuit, 2010)
Bounds v. Smith
430 U.S. 817 (Supreme Court, 1977)
Hudson v. Palmer
468 U.S. 517 (Supreme Court, 1984)
Lewis v. Casey
518 U.S. 343 (Supreme Court, 1996)
Christopher v. Harbury
536 U.S. 403 (Supreme Court, 2002)
Ashcroft v. Iqbal
556 U.S. 662 (Supreme Court, 2009)
Owens v. Hinsley
635 F.3d 950 (Seventh Circuit, 2011)
United States v. James C. Dunkel
927 F.2d 955 (Seventh Circuit, 1991)
Greene v. Doruff
660 F.3d 975 (Seventh Circuit, 2011)
Michael C. Antonelli v. Michael F. Sheahan
81 F.3d 1422 (Seventh Circuit, 1996)
John C. Babcock v. R.L. White and G. McDaniel
102 F.3d 267 (Seventh Circuit, 1996)
Sanville v. Mccaughtry
266 F.3d 724 (Seventh Circuit, 2001)
Donald A. Lehn v. Michael L. Holmes
364 F.3d 862 (Seventh Circuit, 2004)
Gary B. Campbell v. David A. Clarke, Jr.
481 F.3d 967 (Seventh Circuit, 2007)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
PHILLIPS v. EDMONDS, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/phillips-v-edmonds-insd-2025.