Tyhitt Bember v. Harris, et al.

CourtDistrict Court, D. Connecticut
DecidedJanuary 28, 2026
Docket3:25-cv-01354
StatusUnknown

This text of Tyhitt Bember v. Harris, et al. (Tyhitt Bember v. Harris, et al.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Connecticut primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Tyhitt Bember v. Harris, et al., (D. Conn. 2026).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF CONNECTICUT TYHITT BEMBER, : Case No. 3:25-cv-1354 Plaintiff, : : v. : : HARRIS, ET AL., : Defendants. : JANUARY 28, 2026 INITIAL REVIEW ORDER Pro se plaintiff Tyhitt Bember, a sentenced inmate,1 currently incarcerated at the MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution, filed this civil rights action bringing claims under section 1983 of title 42 of the U.S. Code, the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), and state law. See Complaint (“Compl.”) (Doc. No. 1). He seeks monetary damages and injunctive relief. Id. at 13-14. Mr. Bember’s claims center around conduct that he alleges amounted to indifference to his serious medical needs. He names five defendants: MacDougall Correctional Officer (“C.O.”) Harris; MacDougall Warden Jesus Guadarrama; District Administrator Nick Rodriguez; MacDougall Captain Masse; and MacDougall Deputy Warden Mangiafico. Id. ¶¶ 1, 3-4. He sues these defendants in their individual and official capacities. Id. After initial review of the Complaint, the court determines that Mr. Bember is permitted to proceed on: his ADA claim against C.O. Harris in his official capacity; his

1 The court may “take judicial notice of relevant matters of public record.” See Sanchez v. RN Debbie, 2018 WL 5314916, at *2 (D. Conn. Oct. 26, 2018) (citing Giraldo v. Kessler, 694 F.3d 161, 164 (2d Cir. 2012)). The publicly-available DOC website shows that Mr. Bember was sentenced on March 3, 2022, to fifty-five years of imprisonment. See DOC, Inmate Locator, available at https://www.ctinmateinfo.state.ct.us/detailsupv.asp?id_inmt_num=401344 (last visited 9 Jan, 2026). Eighth Amendment deliberate indifference claim against C.O. Harris in his individual and official capacities; his First Amendment retaliation claim against C.O. Harris in his individual capacity; and his ADA retaliation claim against C.O. Harris in his official capacity. All other claims are dismissed. If Mr. Bember can allege well pleaded facts supporting his claims against Warden Guadarrama, District Administrator Rodriguez,

Captain Masse, and Deputy Warden Mangiafico, he may replead within 21 days. I. STANDARD OF REVIEW The Prison Litigation Reform Act requires federal courts to review complaints brought by incarcerated plaintiffs seeking relief against a governmental entity or an officer or employee of a governmental entity. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(a). Upon review, the court must dismiss a complaint, or any portion of a complaint, over which the court concludes it lacks subject matter jurisdiction, is frivolous or malicious, fails to state a claim upon which relief may be granted, or seeks relief from a defendant who is immune from such relief. See 28 U.S.C. section 1915(e)(2)(B), 1915A(b); Dillon v.

Rosen, 2022 WL 4538397, at *5 (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 28, 2022) (citing Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(h)(3)). Dismissal may be with or without prejudice. See Shakur v. Selsky, 391 F.3d 106, 112 (2d Cir. 2004). A complaint must include sufficient facts to afford a defendant fair notice of the claims and the grounds upon which they are based and demonstrate a plausible right to relief. See Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555-56 (2007). Conclusory allegations are insufficient. See Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009). A plaintiff must plead “enough facts to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.” See Twombly, 550 U.S. at 570. “Pro se complaints ‘must be construed liberally and interpreted to raise the strongest arguments that they suggest.’” See Sykes v. Bank of Am., 723 F.3d 399, 403 (2d Cir. 2013) (quoting Triestman v. Fed. Bureau of Prisons, 470 F.3d 471, 474 (2d Cir. 2006)). Even self-represented parties, however, must satisfy the basic rules of pleading. See Wynder v. McMahon, 360 F.3d 73, 79 n.11 (2d Cir. 2004).

II. FACTUAL ALLEGATIONS Mr. Bember is diagnosed with Crohn’s disease. See Compl. at ¶ 11. A common symptom of Crohn’s disease is an urgent need to defecate. Id. On October 23, 2023, As the time relevant to his Complaint, Mr. Bember alleges that he was performing his job duties as a concourse worker in a MacDougall visiting room. Id. at ¶¶ 10, 12. He was locked in the visiting room while finishing his work, and he knocked on the control center window to gain C.O. Harris’s attention to unlock the visiting room because he had completed his duties. Id. at ¶¶ 12-13. After failing to obtain C.O. Harris’s attention, Mr. Bember tapped the window again. Id. at ¶ 14. C.O. Harris became upset and told

Mr. Bember he would have to wait to be moved from the visiting room. Id. at ¶ 15. Mr. Bember said he waited in the visiting room “an unnecessarily extended” time. Id. at ¶ 16. While waiting, Mr. Bember felt an urgent need to defecate. Id. Mr. Bember asked C.O. Harris to allow him to use the restroom and informed him of his condition, but C.O. Harris ignored his request and said “fuck you.” Id. at ¶ 17. Mr. Bember says he was forced to defecate in a trash bin, which left him feeling humiliated. Id. at ¶¶ 18- 19. C.O. Harris laughed at him and said, “you shouldn’t have gotten on my nerves.” Id. at ¶ 20. On October 24, 2023, Mr. Bember submitted a written complaint through the administrative grievance procedure to Captain Masse and Deputy Warden Mangiafico. Id. at ¶¶ 21-22. Mr. Bember says that, in the months after the October 23, 2023 incident, C.O. Harris “verbally tormented” Mr. Bember and told other inmates what had happened, leading to the other inmates laughing at and harassing him. Id. at ¶ 25. On May 3, 2024, Mr. Bember returned to his housing unit from work, but he was

locked out of the unit. Id. at ¶ 23. Mr. Bember asked C.O. Harris for help unlocking his unit C.O. Harris made him wait and said, “you been complaining, huh? Fuck you, go shit in a trash can again.” Id. at ¶ 24. On October 19, 2024, Mr. Bember had what he describes as a “negative verbal exchange” with another inmate, during which the other inmate “made vulgar, harassing comments to” him about what had happened on October 23, 2023. Id. at ¶ 26. Mr. Bember and that inmate engaged in a physical altercation, and Mr. Bember said the inmate assaulted him. Id. III. DISCUSSION

A. ADA Title II of the ADA provides that “no qualified individual with a disability shall, by reasons of such disability, be excluded from participation in or be denied the benefits of the services, programs, or activities of a public entity, or be subjected to discrimination by such entity.” See 42 U.S.C. § 12132. Mr. Bember “may not bring a claim pursuant to Title II of the ADA against a state actor in [the actor’s] individual capacity.” See Lenti v. Connecticut, No. 3:20-CV-127 (SRU), 2020 WL 4275600, at *7 (D. Conn. July 24, 2020) (citing Garcia v. S.U.N.Y. Health Scis. Ctr. of Brooklyn, 280 F.3d 98, 107 (2d Cir. 2001)). Any Title II claim against the defendants in their individual capacities is therefore dismissed. The court will therefore analyze whether Mr.

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