Ramirez v. Smith

CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedAugust 19, 2019
Docket1:18-cv-00283
StatusUnknown

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

Bluebook
Ramirez v. Smith, (S.D.N.Y. 2019).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK CARLOS GASPAR RAMIREZ, Plaintiff, -against- 18-CV-0283 (CM) WARDEN SMITH; DEPUTY OF SECURITY ORDER TO AMEND CAPUTO; ASSISTANT DEPUTY WARDEN OF SECURITY SANCHEZ; CAPTAIN OF SECURITY KINLOCH, Defendants. COLLEEN McMAHON, Chief United States District Judge: Plaintiff, currently a pretrial detainee in the Anna M. Kross Center on Rikers Island, brings this pro se action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging that Defendants violated his constitutional rights. By order dated June 18, 2019, the Court granted Plaintiff’s request to proceed without prepayment of fees, that is, in forma pauperis.1 For the reasons set forth below, the Court grants Plaintiff leave to file a second amended complaint within sixty days of the date of this order.2 STANDARD OF REVIEW The Court must dismiss a complaint, or portion thereof, that is frivolous or malicious, fails to state a claim upon which relief may be granted, or seeks monetary relief from a defendant who is immune from such relief. 28 U.S.C. §§ 1915(e)(2)(B), 1915A(b); see Abbas v. Dixon, 480 F.3d 636, 639 (2d Cir. 2007). The Court must also dismiss a complaint when the Court lacks subject matter jurisdiction. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(h)(3). While the law mandates dismissal on any

1 Prisoners are not exempt from paying the full filing fee even when they have been granted permission to proceed in forma pauperis. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1). 2 On May 3, 2018, Plaintiff amended his complaint, without direction from the Court. of these grounds, the Court is obliged to construe pro se pleadings liberally, Harris v. Mills, 572 F.3d 66, 72 (2d Cir. 2009), and interpret them to raise the “strongest [claims] that they suggest,” Triestman v. Fed. Bureau of Prisons, 470 F.3d 471, 474-75 (2d Cir. 2006) (internal quotation marks and citations omitted) (emphasis in original).

The Court’s “special solicitude,” Ruotolo v. I.R.S., 28 F.3d 6, 8 (2d Cir. 1994) (per curiam), has its limits, however, because pro se pleadings still must comply with Rule 8 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Rule 8 requires a complaint to make a short and plain statement showing that the pleader is entitled to relief. A complaint states a claim for relief if the claim is plausible. Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678-79 (2009) (citing Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555 (2007)). To review a complaint for plausibility, the Court accepts all well-pleaded factual allegations as true and draws all reasonable inferences in the pleader’s favor. Id. But the Court need not accept “[t]hreadbare recitals of the elements of a cause of action,” which are essentially legal conclusions. Id. at 678 (citing Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555). As set forth in Iqbal:

[T]he pleading standard Rule 8 announces does not require detailed factual allegations, but it demands more than an unadorned, the-defendant-unlawfully- harmed-me accusation. A pleading that offers labels and conclusions or a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action will not do. Nor does a complaint suffice if it tenders naked assertions devoid of further factual enhancement. Id. (internal citations, quotation marks, and alteration omitted). After separating legal conclusions from well-pleaded factual allegations, the court must determine whether those facts make it plausible – not merely possible – that the pleader is entitled to relief. Id. BACKGROUND Plaintiff Carlos Gaspar Ramirez is currently detained by the New York City Department of Correction (DOC). He brings this action alleging that his constitutional rights have been violated. Plaintiff’s 13-page amended complaint3 consists almost entirely of quotes from the Constitution and from case law. In his original complaint, he alleges that he is classified as “Red

I.D.” and that as a result, he has to wear a used orange jumper and be shackled when he is transported to court proceedings. He characterizes these procedures as “uncomfortable” and “inhumane.” The handcuffs and ankle cuffs were too tight and caused pain and burning. In his amended complaint, Plaintiff asserts that he has been transported “in enhanced restraints like an animal,” but that he “was never given a single hearing to properly address the severe deprivation and infliction of punishment.” (Am. Compl.at 9.) Plaintiff further alleges that he has been “illegally enslaved against his will without his consent.” (Id. at 4.) Plaintiff does not specify when these alleged events occurred or identify the prison officials involved. A review of the Court’s records reveals that on May 22, 2018, Plaintiff filed a complaint, raising many of the same claims that he raises in this complaint. By order dated July

23, 2018, Plaintiff was directed to amend his complaint in that case to detail his claims that he was subjected to unconstitutional searches and unconstitutional conditions of confinement. See Ramirez v. City of New York, No. 18-CV-4528 (CM) (S.D.N.Y. July 23, 2018). Plaintiff did not amend his claims, and on October 12, 2018, the action was dismissed for failure to state a claim. See Ramirez, No. 18-CV-4528 (CM) (S.D.N.Y. Oct. 12, 2018).

3 Plaintiff filed an amended complaint on May 3, 2018. In it, he states his intention to incorporate the facts from his original complaint. The Court therefore treats the original and amended complaints as the operative pleading. DISCUSSION A. Thirteenth Amendment Claim Under the Thirteenth Amendment, “[n]either slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” U.S. Const., Art. XIII. In United States v. Kozminski, 487 U.S. 931, 952 (1988), the Supreme Court defined involuntary servitude as “a

condition of servitude in which the victim is forced to work for the defendant by the use or threat of physical restraint or physical injury, or by the use or threat of coercion through law or the legal process.” Plaintiff, who is in the custody of the New York City Department of Correction following his August 1, 2017 arrest for conspiracy, does not provide any support for his claim that he is enslaved at Rikers Island.4 See, e.g., Dunn v. Prince, 327 F. App’x 452, 454 (5th Cir. 2009) (rejecting the petitioner’s “conclusional assertion that he was ‘sold’ into slavery because [the municipality] receive[d] payment from the [department of corrections] for all individuals held in the [county jail]”). Instead, Plaintiff asserts that he is subject to “any and all ‘Institutional’ rules

set by the oppressive defendants.” (Am. Compl.

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Ramirez v. Smith, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ramirez-v-smith-nysd-2019.