Paykina ex rel. E.L. v. Lewin

387 F.Supp.3d 225

Natalya PAYKINA, ON BEHALF OF her minor child, E.L., Plaintiff,

v.Donna LEWIN, in her individual and official capacities as Superintendent of Hudson Correctional Facility; Anthony J. Annucci, in his individual and official capacities as Acting Commissioner of the New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision ; John Doe 1, in his individual and official capacities as Deputy Commissioner of the New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision ; and John Doe 2, in his individual and official capacities as Unit Supervisor for the Hudson Correctional Facility Adolescent Offender Segregation Unit, Defendants.

9:19-cv-00061 (BKS/DJS)

United States District Court, N.D. New York.

Signed May 31, 2019

For Plaintiff: Mario B. Williams, Dallas S. LePierre, Nexus Derechos Humanos Attorneys, Inc., 44 Broad Street, NW, Suite 200, Atlanta, GA 30303.

For Defendants Donna Lewin and Anthony J. Annucci: Letitia A. James, Attorney General of the State of New York, Helena O. Pederson, Shannan C. Krasnokutski, Assistant Attorneys General, The Capitol, Albany, NY 12224.

MEMORANDUM-DECISION AND ORDER

Hon. Brenda K. Sannes, United States District Judge:

I. INTRODUCTION

Plaintiff Natalya Paykina brings this action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 on behalf of her son, E.L., a minor who is in the custody of the New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision ("DOCCS") and who allegedly suffers from severe mental illness. (See generally Dkt. No. 1). The Complaint alleges that E.L.'s confinement in a segregated unit at Hudson Correctional Facility ("Hudson") constitutes cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. (Id. at 1–2, 6–7, 15).¹ Plaintiff seeks declaratory and injunctive relief, as well as punitive damages, against four DOCCS officers: Defendant Donna Lewin, Hudson's Superintendent; Defendant Anthony J. Annucci, Acting Commissioner of DOCCS; an unnamed officer whose title is Deputy Commissioner of DOCCS; and another unnamed officer whose title is Unit Supervisor for Hudson's Adolescent Offender Separation Unit ("AOSU"). (Dkt. No. 1, at 17).

Presently before the Court is Plaintiff's motion for preliminary injunctive relief under Rule 65 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, seeking an order directing the release of E.L. from disciplinary segregation. (Dkt. No. 5). After an initial hearing, the Court granted Plaintiff's requests for limited discovery, permitted supplemental briefing, and scheduled an evidentiary hearing on the motion. (Dkt. Nos. 28–36). On May 16 and 17, 2019, the Court held an evidentiary hearing at which eight witnesses, including E.L., testified. The following constitutes the Court's findings of fact and conclusions of law in accordance with Rule 52(a)(2).

II. FINDINGS OF FACT²

A. E.L.'s Background

1. History of Mental Illness and Behavioral Issues

E.L. is a 17-year-old male adolescent offender ("AO")³ in the custody of DOCCS. E.L. has exhibited symptoms of mental illness since early childhood, but he received his first diagnosis at age 10 while hospitalized at Four Winds after "a violent act in the house." Plaintiff testified that she and E.L.'s father tried various approaches to help E.L. after his hospitalization:

We saw therapists, we saw psychiatrists, tried to be supportive. At some point ... we decided to send him to a therapeutic boarding school called Diamond Ranch Academy. We tried two military schools, back then it was popular to believe that behavior could be modified by discipline, and people like E.L. would be commended to be sent to a structured disciplinarian setting, but unfortunately it did not work.

Both military academies expelled him. When he was 15 years old, E.L. was arrested and placed in the custody of the New York State Office of Children and Family Services ("OCFS"). [redacted].⁴

[redacted]. Plaintiff recounted that E.L. "seemed to be doing remarkably better" at Red Hook and benefitted from its trauma-based therapy approach and very safe environment. [redacted]

E.L.'s parents tried to keep E.L. on his medications and treatment, but E.L. did not want to continue. According to Plaintiff, E.L. "also went to day camp treatment center ... for his drug addition," but "that didn't work out well either." He "got in touch with his peers from OCFS from the first facility, Highland, and he gravitated toward that crowd and he was introduced to drugs and drug distribution, basically got mixed in, started skipping school, being defiant, not coming home." Plaintiff stated it was "very hard for [E.L.] to fit in the community after he was released from OCFS." He was "having nervous breakdowns" and was "very anxious." He was "self medicating" with Xanax, marijuana, alcohol, and "probably" other drugs as well. Eventually, a few months after his release from Red Hook, E.L. was arrested for firing a shot in a neighbor's house. According to Plaintiff, the circumstances were murky, but apparently E.L. had a dispute with drug dealers who had taken his drugs. [redacted] Rockland County Correctional Facility for approximately nine months [redacted]

2. Medication History

E.L. has been on various medications over the years. When he was first hospitalized and diagnosed with a mental illness, his doctors prescribed Abilify. [redacted]. E.L. was not taking medication at the time he was arrested in 2017. Within one week of being placed at Rockland County Correctional Facility, E.L. was put back on medication. During his detention there, he was prescribed Zyprexa, Lithium, Depakote, and various other drugs.

B. E.L.'s Confinement at Hudson

1. Placement in General Population and AOSU

E.L. was admitted to Hudson in August 2018 after his conviction. (D-4). Hudson is a correctional facility in New York that house AOs—inmates that are either 16 or 17 years old. The AOs are housed in single-room units in cottages that are separate from the adult population. From August to early November 2018, E.L. was placed in a cottage in "general population" along with other AOs. While in general population, E.L. was caught "cheeking" his medications. On November 3, 2018, as a result of this disciplinary violation, he was placed in the Adolescent Offender Separation Unit ("AOSU"); he has remained there for almost seven months. The AOSU contains approximately 20 cells. At the time of the evidentiary hearing, there were approximately 33 or 34 AOs at Hudson, 11 of which were in the AOSU.

2. DOCCS Directives Relating to Adolescent Offender Separation Unit

According to DOCCS Directive No. 4933C, the AOSU "consists of single occupancy cells grouped so as to provide separation from the general population, and may be used to house AOs confined to such units" in accordance with DOCCS policies. (P-18, § I.C). AOs admitted to the AOSU are to "be confined in a cell/room for no more than eighteen hours per day, five days per week (excluding holidays), with six hours of out-of-cell time consisting of a minimum of four hours of out-of-cell programming for education, or other appropriate out-of-cell programming," as well as "two hours out-of-cell outdoor activities (weather permitting) seven days a week." (Id. § I.B.2). Describing differences between the general population cottages and the AOSU, Defendant Lewin testified:

General population, inmates are able to move around freely, they go to school, they go to their meals, they go to their programs, they go to recreation, any other program that is established for them. In AOSU, they don't have free movement. The movement is supervised, they're moved singly from their cell to their classrooms, they're moved singly from their cells to the recreation area, and for any other program, they are supervised directly.

For movements in and out of their cells, AOs in the AOSU are placed in handcuffs and escorted by prison staff. Anita Tomlin, Hudson's deputy superintendent of programs, explained that AOs in general population receive six hours of programming and one hour of structured recreation time, whereas AOs in the AOSU have four hours of programming and two hours of unstructured recreation time in the recreation pens. She stated that AOs in the AOSU, unlike those in general population, do not have access to vocational training.

As relevant here, admission to the AOSU is a disciplinary sanction for AO misbehavior. (See P-18, § II.B, II.F). As Defendant Hudson Superintendent Lewin testified, if AOs "break any of the rules, if they don't conduct themselves according to the rules that we have established, they'll get a misbehavior report, we'll do a hearing, and they'll be sanctioned to the AOSU." Under DOCCS Directive No. 4932A, "[e]very incident of AO misbehavior involving danger to life, health, security, or property" must be reported in a misbehavior report, (P-19, § IV.B.6), which constitutes the "formal charge" at a "Disciplinary Hearing" (also known as a Tier II Hearing), (id. § IV.D.3), or "Superintendent's Hearing" (also known as a Tier III Hearing), (id. § IV.E.3). Defendant Lewin explained that the different tiers "represent the severity of the infraction," with Tier III being the most severe. A Tier II violation "could be something that comes from repeated direction from an officer, a staff, a teacher, that [the AOs] continue to ignore," or it "could be something that they have been disciplined for before" but continue doing. A Tier III violation is "more serious" and involves "something that calls into ... the safety of the other inmates or staff or breaking of a rule that ... we feel is very serious."

If the charge is affirmed at a Tier II hearing, the hearing officer may order the confinement of an AO to the AOSU "under keeplock admission" for up to 30 days. (P-19, § IV.D.7.a(1)(c)). If the charge is affirmed at a Tier III hearing, the hearing officer may confine an AO to the AOSU "for a specified period." (Id. § IV.E.7.a(1)(c)). In both cases, any penalty imposed runs "consecutively to any other like penalty previously...