Braggs v. Dunn

383 F.Supp.3d 1218

Edward BRAGGS, et al., Plaintiffs,

v.Jefferson S. DUNN, in his official capacity as Commissioner of the Alabama Department of Corrections, et al., Defendants.

CIVIL ACTION NO. 2:14cv601-MHT (WO)

United States District Court, M.D. Alabama, Northern Division.

Signed May 4, 2019

Andrew Philip Walsh, Patricia Clotfelter, William Glassell Somerville, III, Lisa Wright Borden, Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz PC, Anil Ashok Mujumdar, Gregory Martin Zarzaur, Denise Wiginton, Zarzaur Mujumdar & Debrosse, Birmingham, AL, Jack Richard Cohen, Latasha Lanette McCrary, Maria Viette Morris, Rhonda C. Brownstein, Caitlin J. Sandley, Grace Graham, David Clay Washington, Jonathan Michael Barry-Blocker, Southern Poverty Law Center, Montgomery, AL, William Van Der Pol, Jr., Glenn Nelson Baxter, Andrea Jane Mixson, Ashley Nicole Austin, Barbara Ann Lawrence, Lonnie Jason Williams, Alabama Disabilities Advocacy Program, Tuscaloosa, AL, Diandra S. Debrosse Zimmermann, Grant & Eisenhofer P.A., Wilmington, DE, for Plaintiffs.

Anne Adams Hill, Elizabeth Anne Sees, Gary Lee Willford, Jr., Joseph Gordon Stewart, Jr., Alabama Dept. of Corrections, Stephanie Lynn Dodd Smithee, Alabama Department of Corrections Legal, David Randall Boyd, John W. Naramore, John Garland Smith, Balch & Bingham LLP, Montgomery, AL, Luther Maxwell Dorr, Jr., Mitesh Bansilal Shah, Maynard, Cooper & Gale, PC, Steven C. Corhern, Balch & Bingham, Birmingham, AL, Matthew Reeves, William Richard Lunsford, Alyson Lee Smith, Melissa K. Marler, Melissa Neri, Pro Hac Vice, Stephen Clarence Rogers, Maynard Cooper and Gale PC, Huntsville, AL, for Defendants.

PHASE 2A REMEDIAL OPINION ON IMMEDIATE RELIEF FOR SUICIDE PREVENTION

Myron H. Thompson, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

In this long-standing lawsuit, the court previously found that the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) has failed to provide adequate mental-health care to inmates in its custody in violation of the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution. See Braggs v. Dunn , 257 F. Supp. 3d 1171 (M.D. Ala. 2017) (Thompson, J.), Braggs v. Dunn , No. 2:14CV601-MHT, 2019 WL 539050, 367 F. Supp. 3d 1340 (M.D. Ala. Feb. 11, 2019) (Thompson, J.). More recently, in the wake of 15 inmate suicides in a 15-month period, the plaintiffs asked for immediate suicide-prevention relief. For reasons that follow, the court concludes that these suicides, as well as other evidence in the record, show that ADOC continues to fail to provide adequate suicide-prevention measures and, thus, subjects inmates to a substantial risk of serious harm, including self-harm, continued pain and suffering, and suicide. The risk of suicide is so severe and imminent that the court must redress it immediately. Therefore, the court will grant the plaintiffs' motion for immediate relief by making permanent most provisions of an interim suicide-prevention agreement that the parties reached early in this litigation; by adopting, in large measure, the recommendations proposed by experts for both parties; and by requiring court monitoring that is limited to the immediate relief ordered here. By agreement of the parties, the issue of non-immediate suicide-prevention relief will be resolved by the court later.

I. PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

The plaintiffs in this class-action lawsuit include a group of seriously mentally ill state prisoners and the Alabama Disabilities Advocacy Program (ADAP), which represents mentally ill prisoners in Alabama. During the liability trial, and in response to the suicide of class member Jamie Wallace just days after he testified, the parties agreed to a series of interim suicide-prevention measures. See Interim Agreement (doc. no. 1106-1). The court reduced this ‘interim agreement’ to an order. See Interim Relief Order (doc. nos. 1106, 1106-1).

In June 2017, the court issued a liability opinion in which it found that ADOC's mental-health care for prisoners in its custody was, "[s]imply put, ... horrendously inadequate" and violated the Eighth Amendment. Braggs , 257 F. Supp. 3d at 1267. The court more specifically found that "ADOC's inadequate crisis care and long-term suicide-prevention measures have created a substantial risk of serious harm, including self-harm, suicide, and continued pain and suffering." Id. at 1220. The "serious" suicide-prevention deficiencies identified by the court included ADOC's failure to provide crisis care to those who need it; placement of prisoners in crisis in dangerous and harmful settings, including unsafe crisis cells; inadequate treatment for prisoners in crisis care; inadequate monitoring of suicidal prisoners; inappropriate release of prisoners from suicide watch; and inadequate follow-up care for prisoners released from suicide watch. See id. at 1218-31. Moreover, the court found that these risks are particularly heightened for prisoners with serious mental illnesses. "Serious mental illness" (SMI) is a term of art used in the field of psychiatry which refers to "a subset of particularly disabling conditions ... defined by the diagnosis, duration, and severity of the symptoms." Id. at 1246. Certain conditions are always considered SMIs, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depressive disorder. See id. at 1186 n.6.

Over a period of months, the court adopted several ‘remedial orders’ regarding mental-health care that touched on suicide prevention.¹ To fashion a comprehensive suicide-prevention remedy, the parties agreed to, and the court accepted, a process whereby Drs. Mary Perrien and Kathryn Burns, the defendants' and plaintiffs' correctional mental-health experts, respectively, would "assess ADOC facilities and operations related to suicide prevention and provide a report with recommendations to resolve the constitutional violation determined by the Court in the Liability Opinion and Order." Joint Notice (doc. no. 2014) at 1; Order (doc. no. 2020) (adopting the parties' plan for assessing suicide-prevention measures).

On January 18, 2019, before the parties' experts completed their report, and in response to a series of suicides, the plaintiffs filed an emergency motion regarding the placement of high-risk prisoners in segregation. See Motion for Preliminary Injunction (doc. no. 2276) at 1. The court construed it as seeking permanent, albeit immediate, relief. See Order (doc. no. 2345).

On March 8, the experts filed (1) a report with recommendations for relief, (2) a report identifying a subsection of those recommendations to be implemented immediately in light of the recent suicide crisis plaguing ADOC, and (3) case summaries of many of the recent suicides. See Joint Expert Report and Recommendations, Immediate Relief Recommendations, Joint Expert Case Summaries (doc. nos. 2416-1, 2416-4, 2416-2). Their reports were the product of an extensive and thorough study, in which they reviewed thousands of documents from ADOC, toured multiple facilities, and interviewed both prisoners and staff.

In March and April, the court held a trial to determine whether immediate and non-immediate suicide-prevention relief is needed and, if so, what it should be. The parties and the court decided during the hearing that the portion of the hearing on non-immediate suicide-prevention relief would be continued to a future date. This opinion addresses only immediate relief in response to the ongoing substantial and pervasive inadequacies in ADOC's suicide-prevention efforts, exemplified by the 15 suicides that have occurred since December 2017.

As immediate relief, the plaintiffs first request that the court enter an order making permanent most of the provisions of the interim agreement. The agreement addressed licensing of mental-health professionals; suicide-watch procedures, including inmates' placement on and discharge from suicide watch, follow-up appointments upon discharge, and documentation requirements; and suicide risk assessments, including a monthly evaluation of assessments.

The plaintiffs also request that the court adopt as an order the experts' second report. This report identifies a subsection of their recommendations that should be implemented on an immediate and permanent basis. These ‘immediate relief recommendations’ address suicide-watch follow-ups, referrals to higher levels of care, preventing discharge from suicide watch to segregation, training for staff, security checks in segregation, confidentiality, and immediate life-saving intervention. In addition, the plaintiffs seek interim monitoring of the immediate relief.

Finally, the plaintiffs also argue that the defendants are placing mentally ill prisoners in units that, while not labelled as segregation or restrictive housing, impose equally severe restrictions on out-of-cell time, and the same accompanying risk of serious harm, particularly suicide. Therefore, they contend, the court's relief should extend to these "segregation like" settings.

The court heard substantial evidence suggesting that prisoners in certain units receive very little out-of-cell time. However, the court needs more time to consider the evidence, and may decide to solicit additional input from the parties before deciding this critical issue. Therefore, the court's findings remain open as to this discrete issue, and the court will take it up after this opinion is issued.

II. RECENT SUICIDES²

Fifteen men in ADOC custody have committed suicide since December 30, 2017, an average of almost one suicide per month. An examination of their cases illustrates severe and systemic inadequacies in ADOC's suicide-prevention efforts. Many of the inadequacies, detailed in the 15 cases below, are instances of ADOC's pervasive and substantial noncompliance with the interim agreement and other remedial measures that they agreed to implement; that is, they are examples of what ADOC recognized are "systemic failures to comply with court orders." Pls. Ex. 2710 at ADOC0475738.³ Other inadequacies, while not necessarily constituting noncompliance...