Johnson v. Wetzel

209 F.Supp.3d 766

Arthur JOHNSON, Plaintiff

v.John WETZEL, Secretary of The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, et al., Defendants

CIVIL ACTION NO. 1:16-CV-863

United States District Court, M.D. Pennsylvania.

Signed September 20, 2016

Bret D. Grote, Dustin McDaniel, Jules L. Lobel, Pittsburgh, PA, Peter D. Laun, Tarah E. Ackerman, Thomas S. Jones, Jones Day, for Plaintiff.

Theron R. Perez, Timothy A. Holmes, Chief Counsel's Office, Mechanicsburg, PA, Karen Mascio Romano, Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General, M. Abbegael Giunta, Office of Attorney General, Harrisburg, PA, for Defendant.

MEMORANDUM

Christopher C. Conner, Chief Judge United States District Court Middle District of Pennsylvania

Plaintiff Arthur Johnson ("Johnson" or "Mr. Johnson") is a convicted murderer. He has been in the custody of the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections ("the Department") since 1973, serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole. For the past thirty-six years, the Department has held Mr. Johnson in solitary confinement—his entire existence restricted, for at least twenty-three hours per day, to an area smaller than the average horse stall. Astoundingly, Mr. Johnson continues to endure this compounding punishment, despite the complete absence of major disciplinary infractions for more than a quarter century.

Mr. Johnson initiated this cause to challenge his institutional exile as violative of the United States Constitution. Presently, Mr. Johnson moves the court to compel the Department to: (1) stop his interminable isolation and (2) release him to general population.

I. Background

On May 12, 2016, Johnson commenced this matter with the filing of a three-count complaint, contemporaneous with a motion for preliminary injunction. (See Docs. 1, 3). Johnson challenges the constitutionality of his continued placement in solitary confinement pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. He asserts claims for violation of the Eighth Amendment's proscription against cruel and unusual punishment (Count I) as well as the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments' respective guarantees of substantive and procedural due process (Counts II and III). Johnson names as defendants John Wetzel, Secretary of the Department; Shirley Moore-Smeal, Executive Deputy Secretary of the Department; and Michael Wenerowicz, Regional Deputy Secretary of the Department; as well as Brenda Tritt, Superintendent of the State Correctional Institution ("SCI") in Frackville, Pennsylvania; James Meintel, Deputy Superintendent for Facilities Management at SCI Frackville; and Anthony Kovalchik, Deputy Superintendent for Centralized Services at SCI Frackville. (Doc. 1 ¶¶ 7-12). Johnson seeks a declaration that the defendants' conduct violates the United States Constitution, and he requests compensatory and punitive damages as well as permanent injunctive relief. (Id. at 24-25).

In the instant motion, Johnson petitions the court to compel his reintegration to general prison population. (Doc. 1-1). He also seeks psychological counseling to redress the deleterious psychological effects of his long-term isolation. (Id. ) The court convened a preliminary injunction hearing over the course of two separate days, taking Johnson's evidence on July 6, 2016, and defendants' evidence on August 11, 2016. Per the court's directive, the parties filed proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law (Docs. 65-66) on September 7, 2016. Johnson's motion (Doc. 3) for preliminary injunction is now ripe for disposition.

II. Findings of Fact¹

The predicate facts undergirding the instant dispute are largely uncontested. Johnson is serving a life sentence without possibility of parole for a homicide that occurred during a street fight in October 1970. See Commonwealth v. Johnson , No. CP–51–CR–110791–1971 (Pa.Ct.Com.Pl.Phila.Cty.); (Joint Stip. ¶ 2). Johnson has been in the Department's custody continuously since his conviction in August of 1973. (See Joint Stip. ¶ 1; Doc. 65 ¶ 1; Doc. 66 ¶ 1).

A. Johnson's History in Department Custody

According to Department records, Johnson was involved in a violent escape attempt at SCI Pittsburgh on December 22, 1979. (Joint Stip. ¶ 6). A corrections officer was bound, gagged, and locked in a prison cell during that attempt. (See id.) Records indicate that Johnson was in possession of two loaded zip guns at the time of his unsuccessful escape attempt. (Id.) Prison administrators subsequently removed Johnson from general population and placed him in a restricted housing unit ("RHU"), commonly referred to as "solitary confinement." (Id.; see Doc. 65 ¶ 2). Department records reflect that Johnson was accused of two additional escape attempts in 1984 and 1987. (Joint Stip. ¶¶ 7, 9). Johnson accrued "at least ninety class 1 misconducts" during the early years of his incarceration for escape, attempted escape, possession of contraband, and assaultive behavior. (Doc. 66 ¶ 9). Since 1987, Johnson has not been disciplined for any serious misconduct. (Joint Stip. ¶ 8; Doc. 65 ¶ 71). With the exception of a "very minor" infraction involving a multivitamin deemed "contraband," Johnson has been misconduct free for more than a decade. (Doc. 65 ¶ 72). Deputy Superintendent Meintel describes Johnson as "the model inmate." (Id. ¶ 74). Notwithstanding this decade of exemplary behavior, Johnson remains in isolation. (Doc. 66 ¶¶ 99-100).

B. The Restricted Release List

In approximately 2004, the Department instituted a Restricted Release List ("RRL") program designating certain categories of inmates to solitary confinement indefinitely. (See Joint Stip. ¶ 20). An inmate placed on the RRL is "held in the RHU unless and until they are taken off RRL status." (Id.) Only Secretary Wetzel is authorized to remove a prisoner from the RRL. (Id. ¶¶ 21, 30). The Department placed Johnson on the RRL in 2009, and he remains on the RRL to present day. (See id. ¶¶ 22, 32).

The Department amended its policy in October 2012 to mandate annual review of RRL designations by the Secretary. (Id. ¶ 23). The annual review process commences with circulation of a form referred to as a "DC-46 vote sheet." (Id. ¶ 24). Therein, select staff members and prison officials opine as to whether a particular prisoner should remain on the RRL. (Id.) The vote sheet is then forwarded to the Department's Central Office, where both the Regional Deputy Secretary and Executive Deputy Secretary provide additional input concerning the prisoner's continued RRL status. (Id. ¶ 25). As part of the review process, a Department psychological services specialist ("PSS") conducts psychological evaluations of RRL inmates. (See Doc. 66 ¶ 85). The PSS provides input on circulated vote sheets based on their observations. (See id. ¶ 84). According to Secretary Wetzel, the term "vote sheet" is something of a misnomer, because only the Secretary is authorized to make final RRL decisions. (Id. ¶ 82).

Inmates have an "opportunity to speak about" the RRL designation before a Program Review Committee (the "Review Committee") approximately every ninety days, (Joint Stip. ¶¶ 25-26), but the extent of that opportunity is not fully apparent from the record. The Review Committee "has no authority to release an inmate" from the RRL, but it may make a recommendation to a prison's facility manager "if it is believed that an inmate on the RRL could be safely released to general population or to a Specialized Housing Unit." (Id. ¶¶ 27-28).

The Department has reviewed Johnson's RRL designation annually since 2013, but Secretary Wetzel has not authorized Johnson's removal from the RRL. (See Joint Stip. ¶¶ 31-32). Johnson's annual psychological reviews for 2012 and 2013 identify "attempted escapes and staff assaults" as the basis for recommending Johnson's continued isolation. (Doc. 65 ¶ 49; see also Ex. P-11 at 3; Ex. P-12 at 3). The most recent review, which occurred in 2015, was fully explored by the parties during the preliminary injunction hearing.

The 2015 RRL review process began with circulation of a DC-46 vote sheet in August of 2015. (Doc. 65 ¶ 51; see Doc. 66 ¶¶ 80-84). The Superintendent and both Deputy Superintendents at SCI Frackville voted to remove Johnson from the RRL. (Doc. 65 ¶ 51; Ex. P-17). On August 24, 2015, Johnson's then-assigned PSS, Siena Smith ("PSS Smith"), voted to retain him on the RRL based on his escape history and "threats to harm others." (Ex. P-17). PSS Smith had just begun working with Johnson in March 2015, had not developed a communicative relationship with him at the time, and now concedes that her vote was based entirely on his decades-old escape attempts. (Doc. 65 ¶ 61).

On October 2, 2015, at Secretary Wetzel's request, PSS Smith conducted a psychological evaluation to supplement Johnson's RRL review. (Doc. 66 ¶ 89; see also Doc. 65 ¶ 62). PSS Smith observes in an accompanying report that, during the review, Johnson stated: "I have too much respect for you to lie and give you the answers I know they want to hear. I would prefer that someone else ask me the questions." (Ex. P-16 at 3). PSS Smith reports that Johnson made this comment while the "PSS was... asking [Johnson] about his escape attempts and assaults and his plans for doing them in the future." (Id. ) At the preliminary injunction hearing, however, PSS Smith testified that Johnson offered this remark in response to a question about prospective escape plans only.² (Tr. 2 at 39:17-24, 81:3-22).

Secretary Wetzel ultimately decided to retain Johnson on the RRL following the 2015 review, based in large part on PSS Smith's psychological evaluation. (Doc. 65 ¶ 54; Doc. 66 ¶¶ 98-100). In response to the undersigned's inquiry, Secretary Wetzel conceded that "short of eliminating his history and retracting his statements" as construed by PSS Smith, there is no hope for Johnson's removal from the RRL. (Doc. 65 ¶ 69).

C. Johnson's Mental Health

During the July 6, 2016 injunction hearing, Johnson testified at length to the effects of his prolonged isolation. He explained that he suffers...