Sosa v. Mass. Dep't of Corr.

80 F.4th 15

Che Blake SOSA, Plaintiff, Appellant, v. MASSACHUSETTS DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTION; Michael L. Rodrigues,former Superintendent, MCI Cedar Junction, in his official and individual capacities;Carol Higgins O'Brien, Commissioner of the Department of Corrections,in her official and individual capacities; Stephen Kennedy,former Deputy Superintendent of Operations, MCI-Cedar Junction,in his official and individual capacities; Vanessa Rattigan,MPCH Health Services Administration for MCI-Cedar Junction,in her official and individual capacities; Aysha Hameed,MPCH on-site Medical Director for MCI-Cedar Junction,in her official and individual capacities; Jennifer Vieira,former MPCH Nurse Practitioner for MCI-Cedar Junction,in her official and individual capacities; Ann Evans, MPCH Licensed Nurse for MCI-Cedar Junction,in her official and individual capacities; Joann Lynds,former Deputy Superintendent of Reentry and Americans with DisabilitiesAct Coordinator at MCI-Cedar Junction in her officialand individual capacities; James M. O'Gara, Jr., Department of Correction ADACoordinator for Inmates, in his official and individual capacities, Defendants, Appellees,James Saba, former Superintendent, MCI Cedar Junction,in his official and individual capacities; et al., Defendants.

No. 20-2051

United States Court of Appeals, First Circuit

August 14, 2023

APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS [Hon. Nathaniel M. Gorton, U.S. District Judge]

Jeffrey P. Wiesner, with whom Jennifer McKinnon and Wiesner McKinnon LLP were on brief, for appellant.

Margaret Melville, Senior Litigation Counsel, Massachusetts Department of Correction, with whom Nancy Ankers White, Special Assistant Attorney General, Massachusetts Attorney General's Office, was on brief, for appellees.

Before Barron, Chief Judge, Lipez and Howard, Circuit Judges.

LIPEZ, Circuit Judge.

Che Blake Sosa, an inmate in the custody of the Massachusetts Department of Correction ("DOC") who suffers from severe arthritis in his shoulder joints, appeals from a denial of preliminary injunctive relief. Initially, when restraining Sosa, the DOC used "rear cuffing" -- handcuffing with his hands positioned behind him -- with a single standard handcuff. Then he was rear cuffed using two standard handcuffs linked together, or "double cuffs." Still later, custom handcuffs modified to have the span of double cuffs were used. Before the district court, Sosa challenged these restraint procedures, arguing that because of the unnecessary pain they caused in his arthritic shoulders, the use of such restraints violated his rights under the Eighth Amendment and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 ("ADA").

As preliminary relief for the pain caused by these alleged violations, Sosa sought a court order requiring the DOC to adopt the following procedure to restrain him when he is moved within his correctional unit: initially rear cuffing him in his cell, but with custom handcuffs that are at least three inches longer than double cuffs; then transitioning him into waist chains once he is taken out of his cell. Approving as reasonable the DOC's procedure of rear cuffing Sosa with double cuffs-length custom handcuffs, the district court denied Sosa's request for preliminary relief. We affirm.

I.

Sosa is an inmate at MCI-Cedar Junction, a DOC facility, serving sentences for multiple counts of aggravated rape and related offenses. Inmates at MCI-Cedar Junction found guilty of serious misconduct while incarcerated may be administratively sanctioned to serve time in the Departmental Disciplinary Unit ("DDU"). DDU inmates are the most dangerous inmates in the DOC's custody; most have been sanctioned for causing serious physical injuries to staff or other inmates, or for attempting to escape. Sosa was held in the DDU from 2003 to 2020, having received multiple DDU sanctions for infractions such as stabbing two prison officers resulting in life-threatening injuries, punching and biting officers, and assaulting prison staff with urine and feces. Sosa has also been sanctioned for possession of homemade weapons, attempting an escape, assaulting correctional officers and medical staff on numerous occasions, and stabbing his attorney several times with a homemade weapon while in court.

Because DDU inmates are particularly dangerous, the standard restraint policy requires them to be rear cuffed with single handcuffs whenever they leave their cells. This restraint method restricts freedom of movement to the greatest extent compared to other commonly used methods, thereby providing enhanced security.

Following an MRI scan in 2004 that showed severe osteoarthritis of his right shoulder joint, Sosa underwent therapeutic surgery on that shoulder. Between 2010 and 2017, Sosa submitted numerous medical grievances to prison administrators and medical personnel, seeking a variance from the standard method used to restrain DDU inmates because of what he reported as agonizing shoulder pain from rear cuffing with single handcuffs. Sosa's medical grievances for relief from the standard DDU restraint method were consistently denied on the grounds that no medical personnel had indicated a need for Sosa to be restrained using alternative procedures.

In addition to submitting medical grievances to prison authorities, Sosa also submitted a request for a reasonable disability accommodation to the ADA coordinator at MCI-Cedar Junction in January 2017, seeking an alternative restraint procedure. After this request was denied, he appealed to the DOC's department-level ADA coordinator. The department-level ADA coordinator upheld the denial of Sosa's request in April 2017, noting his ability to perform all his activities of daily living even with the standard restraint procedure, the lack of a medical indication for alternative procedures, and the continuing threat he posed to institutional security.

In October 2018, Sosa brought suit pro se under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for two alleged violations of federal law by the DOC and various DOC personnel. Sosa first alleged that, given the severe pain he experienced in his arthritic shoulders from rear cuffing with single handcuffs, the use of the standard DDU restraint method on him was cruel and unusual punishment violative of the Eighth Amendment. He further alleged that this restraint procedure violated his rights under Title II of the ADA.

In February 2019, Sosa filed pro se a motion for a preliminary injunction ("February 2019 motion") to require the DOC and its personnel to change the procedure used to restrain him when he is removed from his cell. Specifically, Sosa requested an order for the defendants (1) to stop rear cuffing him with single handcuffs, and (2) to use waist chains to restrain him when he is taken out of his cell. In August 2019, the DOC filed an opposition. Among the exhibits attached to the DOC's opposition was an affidavit signed by Christopher Fallon, then the Deputy Commissioner of Prisons in Massachusetts, detailing Sosa's extensive history of violence and disciplinary infractions.

Following a hearing in September 2019 on Sosa's February 2019 motion, the district court appointed counsel to represent him in the matter of the pending motion. The court also ordered the DOC to arrange for Sosa to be examined by an independent physician to determine the condition of his shoulders.¹

In compliance with this order, the DOC retained the services of orthopedic specialist Dr. Michael Elman.² After reviewing the 2004 MRI scan and recent x-rays, as well as performing a physical examination, Elman concluded that Sosa "certainly has evidence of severe bilateral glenohumeral arthritis,"³ which limited his range of motion and was "clearly responsible for pain," particularly upon "internal rotation" of the shoulders. Elman also remarked that it seemed "understandable" that handcuffing behind the back would "stretch [Sosa's] shoulders into positions of discomfort."

Sosa retained a different orthopedic specialist, Dr. John Wixted, as an expert.⁴ Following a review of Sosa's medical records and a physical examination, Wixted concurred with Elman's diagnosis that Sosa has "severe end stage arthritis in bilateral glenohumeral joints." As a result, Sosa's shoulders had "very limited internal rotation," which was "worse on the right [shoulder] than the left." Specifically, Wixted determined that Sosa's right shoulder only had fifty degrees of passive internal rotation, while his left shoulder had eighty degrees of passive internal rotation.

He explained further that because "[p]lacing one's hands behind the back" without discomfort requires at least 100 degrees of internal shoulder rotation, restraining Sosa's hands behind his back would force his arthritic shoulder joint beyond their limited range of motion, causing pain. As an alternative to using rear restraints, Wixted proposed restraining Sosa's hands at his sides, which would avoid any shoulder rotation and hence be significantly less painful.

After both medical experts had filed their reports, the district court held a second hearing on Sosa's February 2019 motion on February 7, 2020. At this hearing, the DOC explained the procedure it had voluntarily begun to use in restraining Sosa upon removal from his cell. First, Sosa would back up to the closed cell door and put his hands through the "wicket" -- a slot -- in the door. His hands would then be cuffed behind him using double cuffs. With Sosa thus secured, the cell door would be opened and two prison officers would enter the cell, proceeding to transition him into waist chains.

At the same hearing, the DOC also proposed to have a set of custom handcuffs manufactured that would have a specially elongated chain. It planned to rear cuff Sosa with these custom handcuffs to initially secure him while in his cell, before transitioning him into waist chains upon being taken out of his cell. While the district court gave this...