WYATT v. PLASSE

CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Indiana
DecidedFebruary 3, 2023
Docket2:20-cv-00535
StatusUnknown

This text of WYATT v. PLASSE (WYATT v. PLASSE) 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
WYATT v. PLASSE, (S.D. Ind. 2023).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF INDIANA TERRE HAUTE DIVISION KYLE JORDON WYATT, ) ) Plaintiff, ) ) v. ) No. 2:20-cv-00535-JMS-MJD ) JOHN PLASSE, ) LEE Lt., ) FUNK Captain, ) ) Defendants. ) ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART DEFENDANTS' MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT Kyle Wyatt, at all relevant times a pretrial detainee housed in the Vigo County Jail, filed this civil rights suit alleging that he was subjected to unconstitutional conditions of confinement. The defendants have filed a motion for summary judgment. Dkt. 42. For the reasons explained below, the motion is granted as to all defendants in their individual capacities and granted in part and denied in part as to Sheriff John Plasse in his official capacity. I. Standard of Review Parties in a civil dispute may move for summary judgment, which is a way of resolving a case short of a trial. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). Summary judgment is appropriate when there is no genuine dispute as to any of the material facts, and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Id.; Pack v. Middlebury Comm. Sch., 990 F.3d 1013, 1017 (7th Cir. 2021). A "genuine dispute" exists when a reasonable factfinder could return a verdict for the nonmoving party. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248 (1986). "Material facts" are those that might affect the outcome of the suit. Id. 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). The Court is only required to consider the materials cited by the parties, see Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c)(3); it is not required to "scour every inch of the record" for evidence that is potentially relevant. Grant v. Tr. of Ind. Univ., 870 F.3d 562, 573-74 (7th Cir. 2017). "[A] party seeking summary judgment always bears the initial responsibility of informing the district court of the basis for its motion, and identifying those portions of 'the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any,' which it believes demonstrate the absence of a genuine issue of material fact." Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 323 (1986). "[T]he burden on the moving party may be discharged by 'showing'—that is, pointing out to the district court—that there is an absence of evidence to support

the nonmoving party's case." Id. at 325. In this case, Mr. Wyatt failed to respond to the summary judgment motion. Accordingly, facts alleged in the motion are "admitted without controversy" so long as support for them exists in the record. S.D. Ind. L.R. 56-1(f); see S.D. Ind. L.R. 56-1(b) (party opposing judgment must file response brief and identify disputed facts). "Even where a non-movant fails to respond to a motion for summary judgment, the movant still has to show that summary judgment is proper given the undisputed facts." Robinson v. Waterman, 1 F.4th 480, 483 (7th Cir. 2021) (cleaned up). II. Factual Background At screening, the Court permitted Mr. Wyatt to proceed on claims related to his conditions of confinement including: (1) conditions that may have contributed to him catching COVID-19; (2) conditions related to time out of cell, access to showers, and mold; (3) an incident in which he found a tooth in his food; and (4) access to psychiatric medication. Dkt. 19. The Court breaks up the facts topically, although some areas overlap. The Vigo County Jail is overcrowded. Dkt. 34-3 at ¶ 9. Mr. Wyatt was a detainee at the jail from January 2020 to July 2021. Dkt. 34-1 at 8, 15. He was a pretrial detainee until June 13, 2021, when he pleaded guilty to child molestation and was sentenced. Id. at 9. During his first five

months of incarceration, he was housed in P pod in the jail. Id. at 16. He was then housed in L pod. A. Precautionary Measures for COVID-19 On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic.1 The jail issued masks to inmates attending court hearings in June 2020. Dkt. 34-3 at ¶ 21. Jail staff began wearing masks in August 2020. Id. at ¶ 22. According to the jail's administrative sergeant, masks were given to inmates who were in quarantine, leaving general population, moving around the facility, and in common areas in November 2020. Id. at ¶ 24. After a COVID-19 outbreak in December 2020, all inmates were required to wear masks. Id. at ¶ 25. Mr. Wyatt tested positive for COVID-19 during this outbreak, and he testified he was not issued a mask and had not seen

other inmates receive masks prior to the outbreak. Dkt. 34-1 at 18, 21. The outbreak was identified when the Indiana Department of Health Strike Force tested every inmate in the Vigo County Jail

1 See Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "CDC Museum COVID-19 Timeline," https://www.cdc.gov/museum/timeline/covid19.html (last visited Jan. 13, 2022). after inmate Frederick Whitlock died of the virus.2 Cheesman v. Switzer, et al., case number 2:21- cv-00045-JMS-MJD (S.D. Ind.), Affidavit of Charles Funk, dkt. 72-4 at ¶ 16. Over 100 inmates tested positive during that testing. Id. at ¶ 17. Inmates are provided with cleaning supplies each day, which include a mop, a mop bucket

with a cleaning solution with disinfectant, dust mop, toilet brush, spray bottle, and rags. Dkt. 34-3 at ¶¶ 14−15. Trustees began disinfecting hard surfaces and holding cells in March 2020, and trustees and jail staff sprayed the shower with bleach on a weekly basis. Id. at ¶¶ 18, 20. More cleaning materials were provided after the December 2020 outbreak. Id. at ¶ 18. Recreation was suspended after the outbreak. Id. at ¶ 26. Mr. Wyatt was quarantined for 15 days after he tested positive for COVID-19, which caused him to experience body aches, chills, fevers, and loss of taste. Dkt. 34-1 at 17−18. He received over-the-counter pain medication, which relieved his symptoms of body aches. Id. at 19. Mr. Wyatt testified that he believed more should have been done at the jail to prevent the COVID-19 outbreak. Id. at 24. He said that inmates should have been issued masks, and the jail

should have done more to prevent overcrowding in the cells. Id. at 21 ("[T]hey shouldn't have had us bunched up. . . [W]e was in a four-man cell and there was eight of us. Sometimes there was nine[.]"). He said that staff members were not wearing masks as they came and went. Id. at 24. He believed the inmates should have been provided more cleaning supplies, including bleach to disinfect the pods. Id.

2 The Court takes judicial notice of the docket in Cheesman v. Switzer, et al., case number 2:21-cv-00045- JMS-MJD (S.D. Ind.) and the affidavit of Charles Funk at docket 72-4. B. Conditions in P Pod EZ boats, which are plastic liners within which a mattress is placed, are offered to inmates when there are not enough bunks available. Dkt. 34-3 at ¶ 11. For the first few weeks of Mr.

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