Russell v. Enser

496 F. Supp. 320, 1979 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11217
CourtDistrict Court, D. South Carolina
DecidedJuly 6, 1979
DocketCiv. A. 78-1167
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 496 F. Supp. 320 (Russell v. Enser) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. South Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Russell v. Enser, 496 F. Supp. 320, 1979 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11217 (D.S.C. 1979).

Opinion

ORDER

HEMPHILL, District Judge.

This § 1983 case is before the court on a motion for summary judgment for the defendants. 1 The plaintiff, who is proceeding pro se, 2 has availed himself of the opportunity to respond to the affidavits which are the basis for the defendants’ motion. 3 The plaintiff has also served two sets of interrogatories which have been answered, but such discovery sheds no new light on the facts revealed by the pleadings and affidavits on file.

The complaint in this case was filed on July 14, 1978 after the court by Order filed June 19,1978 granted plaintiff and another prisoner leave to submit amended complaints to clarify certain factual allegations contained in an earlier complaint submitted by them. 4 Because of confusion in the handling of the summons and complaint, the defendants in this case did not file a timely response, and the Clerk entered a default on August 21, 1978. After a properly supported motion to set aside the entry of default was filed by the defendants, the court set the default aside by Order filed herein on September 8, 1978. See Watson v. Herndon, 599 F.2d 1050, (4th Cir., 1979), and cases cited therein. Thereafter, the motion now before the court was filed.

The plaintiff requests only “punitive” damages from three defendants, who are Herman Enser (Enzor), Dale Cousy (Causey), and Gordon Hendrex (James A. Hen *323 drick). Enzor is Chief of the Horry County Police, and Causey and Hendrick were jailers at the Horry County Jail at the times alleged in the complaint. Plaintiff was a convicted prisoner committed to the South Carolina Department of Corrections when he was transferred to the Horry County Jail on April 18,1978 for a hearing in Horry County in a post-conviction case then on file there. 5 Plaintiff alleges he was in the Horry County Jail for eight days, and he is requesting damages for what he alleges to be violations of his constitutional rights while he was there. Contrary to the clear instructions set out in the Order granting him leave to resubmit a complaint concerning conditions at the jail during his short stay in Horry County, plaintiff has failed to allege the personal involvement of a specific defendant in every alleged violation recited in his complaint, and he has also failed to comply with an instruction that he should describe damages to him that were caused by the conditions of which he complains. 6

Although there is some redundancy in his complaint, Russell has alleged the following claims. 7

(1) Denied access to the courts because of the denial of a right to telephone the attorney who represented him in the post — conviction case.

(2) Denied access to courts because, when he attempted to write his attorney after being refused permission to telephone him, defendant Causey refused to mail the letter unless it was delivered for mailing in an unsealed envelope so as to facilitate inspection and censorship of the letter.

(3) Denied water to drink for four days.

(4) Denied canteen privileges after three days confinement in the jail.

(5) Denied all bedding except for a soiled mattress.

(6) Denied a soft diet prescribed by SCDC physicians for an ulcer.

(7) Denied medication prescribed by SCDC. physicians on three occasions, by Causey on April 18 and April 22, and by Enzor on an undisclosed date.

(8) Denied a shower bath for entire period spent in the jail.

(9) Absence of medical facilities at jail.

(10) No fresh air circulation in jail.

(11) Forced to sleep in the cold because air conditioning operated twenty-four hours a day at the jail.

(12) The visiting window at the jail was too small.

The defendants in their answer generally deny all material averments of the complaint. Defendants allege that Russell was confined in the maximum security portion of the jail because of his record of prior escapes, which history necessitated the employment of stricter security measures as to him. Defendants deny, however, that the conditions of his confinement at the jail violated Russell’s constitutional rights. In his reply, plaintiff incorporates certain color photographs which purportedly depict scenes in the Horry County Jail, 8 and three *324 affidavits to substantiate his claim that defendant Causey refused to mail plaintiff’s letter to his attorney unless the letter was unsealed.

The motion of the defendants was filed on November 1, 1978. Attached to the motion are affidavits by James Arnold Hendrick, Jennings Dale Causey, and Herman Enzor, the three defendants.

Hendrick avers that he is one of the jailers at the Horry County Jail, and he denies that prisoners confined in that institution awaiting post-conviction hearings are treated differently than other prisoners. He alleges that all cells at the jail contain both drinking water and shower facilities which are maintained in workable and sanitary condition. He states that if any of the plumbing in plaintiff’s cell was inoperable at the time plaintiff was there, the plaintiff never informed the affiant of such malfunction. He further denies that any jail officials censor mail except for incoming packages for prisoners. He further states that no one brought to his attention any special medical needs on behalf of the plaintiff, and he avers that if such medical needs had been called to his attention, they would have been provided. He avers that all attorneys are afforded access to their clients at the jail upon request, and that plaintiff’s attorney had such access to plaintiff. Hendrick also avers that prisoners in the Horry County Jail receive clean mattress covers upon admission, and blankets upon request during cool weather. He concludes that if the jail was too cold for the plaintiff while he was there, the plaintiff did not inform him of his discomfort, nor did he ask for a blanket.

Causey, who is also a jailer, states that no one called to his attention any need by the plaintiff for medical attention. He repeats the averments contained in Hendrick’s affidavit concerning the availability of drinking water and bathing facilities at the Horry County Jail. He states that plaintiff did receive canteen privileges while in Horry County, and corroborates that the jail has no policy to censor any prisoner’s mail. He states that prisoners are afforded free use of the mails, and that attorneys have unrestricted access to their clients, either during or after visiting hours there. 9

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
496 F. Supp. 320, 1979 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11217, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/russell-v-enser-scd-1979.