Sykes v. Genesee Cnty.

1

DORIAN TREVOR SYKES, Plaintiff, v. COUNTY OF GENESEE, CORIZON HEALTH CORPORATION, and TAQUANA SCALES, Defendants.

No. 20-13361

United States District Court, E.D. Michigan, Southern Division

November 29, 2022

Shalina D. Kumar United States District Judge

REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION ON MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT (ECF NOS. 242, 243, 246)

Curtis Ivy, Jr. United States Magistrate Judge

I. BACKGROUND

A. Procedural History

Plaintiff Dorian Trevor Sykes filed this prisoner civil rights suit on December 1, 2020, without the assistance of counsel. (ECF No. 1). This matter was referred to the undersigned for all pretrial proceedings. (ECF No. 28). All three parties moved for summary judgment. (ECF Nos. 242, 243, 246). The motions are fully briefed and ready for report and recommendation.

For the reasons explained below, the undersigned recommends that defendant Corizon Health Corporation (“Corizon”) and defendant Genesee County's motions for summary judgment be GRANTED, and Plaintiff's motion for partial summary judgment be DENIED.

B. Factual Background

The central issue in Plaintiff's case is his alleged sexual assault by a LPN, former defendant Scales. Plaintiff sues Genesee County and Corizon for their alleged policies and customs that made it possible for Scales to sexually assault him repeatedly between June and August 2020. At the time of the alleged assault, Plaintiff was a federal pretrial detainee at the Genesee County Jail beginning June 8, 2020. He was transferred to the jail to receive mental health treatment. (ECF No. 35, PageID.183, Second Amended Complaint).

1. The Alleged Assault

Plaintiff testified that the first instance of sexual assault occurred on June 18, 2020. (ECF No. 242, PageID.2314). He said he was assaulted again two to four days later, (ECF No. 242-4, PageID.2465, at p. 21), and through August 2020. Corizon does not dispute that Plaintiff was sexually assaulted. (ECF No. 242, PageID.2314). Genesee County does.

Plaintiff alleges that Scales would fabricate a reason to have him removed from his cell and brought to the medical exam room where Scales would perform sexual acts on Plaintiff. (ECF No. 35, PageID.183). To accomplish this, he alleges that Scales would add his name to a handwritten list of inmates who needed to be seen by medical personnel. (ECF No. 35, PageID.183, 210).

In response to Plaintiff's motion for summary judgment, Genesee County provided an affidavit from Scales in which she denies having had sexual contact with Plaintiff. She stated that she recalled only two times when she was alone with Plaintiff in the exam room; at all other times a deputy was present. During those two occasions, she stated she performed legitimate physical examinations and that she never touched him sexually or inappropriately. (ECF No. 257-1, PageID.2751). She furthered that Plaintiff had a cellular telephone in the jail that he used to call her and send flirtatious texts while she was not at work, including naked pictures of himself. (Id. at PageID.2752).

Plaintiff insists the assaults occurred and that Scales already admitted to it during an investigation into contraband at the jail. Plaintiff does not dispute that there was an investigation into the presence of contraband cellular telephones in the jail and that he participated in the illegal activity. On October 22, 2020, Plaintiff spoke to jail Lieutenant Todd Lanning asking for help to prevent a transfer out of the Genesee County Jail. To obtain Lanning's help, Plaintiff offered him information that there were five cellular devices in a particular area of the jail. Plaintiff told Lanning to check the commissary, or store, in the jail. He also asked Lanning to throw away of the items he had bought from the commissary before he was transferred to another facility. Lanning reviewed video of the commissary and saw a breach of protocol with an inmate. He searched that inmate's cell and found a cellular device, batteries, and cellular telephone charger.

Lanning later drove to the Saginaw County Jail, where Plaintiff had been transferred, to get more information from Plaintiff. Plaintiff gave Lanning a telephone number of a person he claimed was bringing the telephones to the jail- Tracy Frazier. Frazier was employed by Aramark, the company that operated the commissary. Frazier admitted to bringing two cellular telephones into the jail and giving them to the prisoner who was caught with the telephone. She said she got the telephones from Scales. She also said Scales and Plaintiff were involved in a sexual relationship. (ECF No. 165-3, PageID.1455-57, Lanning Affidavit).

Scales was interviewed by Genesee County Sheriff's Lieutenant Kennamer. During that interview, Scales admitted to bringing contraband into the jail and to one instance of sexual contact with Plaintiff. Plaintiff's cell at Saginaw County Jail was searched; a cellular device was found in a jar of peanut butter he bought at the Genesee County Jail commissary. Scales and Plaintiff were charged with smuggling contraband into the jail. (ECF No. 165-3, PageID.1457). Scales was also charged with criminal sexual conduct. The County says that charge was dropped when she pleaded guilty to the smuggling charge.^[1] (ECF No. 257, PageID.2741).

2. Reporting the Assaults

Plaintiff stated under penalty of perjury that he reported the assaults to Genesee County Jail mental health counselor Julie Rexroth and Dr. McCarthy, both Corizon employees during July 2020, but neither further reported the assaults to appropriate authorities. (ECF No. 35, PageID.211). During July 2020, Plaintiff alleges he sent a letter to Corizon Health Corp., Corporate Headquarters, detailing the sexual assaults, but he did not receive a response. (ECF No. 35, PageID.184). He also asserts that he wrote a letter addressed to the Genesee County “Chief Executive Officer” detailing the sexual assault and placed it in the outgoing mail at the jail on July 7, 2020. (ECF No. 35, PageID.208). He did not receive a response.

Both Rexroth and Dr. McCarthy deny that Plaintiff told them about the assaults. (ECF No. 242-9, PageID.2525, Rexroth Affidavit; ECF No. 242-8, PageID.2521, McCarthy Affidavit).^[2] Corizon provided health care records reflecting treatment or encounters with Rexroth and Dr. McCarthy. (ECF No. 2421). Neither provider made a note about a report of sexual assault, nor is there any such notation from another provider.

Both defendants deny that they ever received a letter from Plaintiff. (ECF No. 242-7, PageID.2505, Requests to Produce to Corizon). Genesee County says that mail addressed to the “CEO,” a position that does not exist, would be forwarded to the County Corporate Counsel, Brian MacMillan. (ECF No. 243, PageID.2538). In an affidavit, Mr. MacMillan stated he never received a letter from Plaintiff about being sexually assaulted. (ECF No. 165-4, PageID.1461).

Corizon asserts that, rather than report the sexual assaults, Plaintiff did not want the assaults uncovered. It points to text messages between Plaintiff and Scales after he was transferred from the Genesee County Jail. He said things such as encouraging Scales to follow his lead so they could pull through together and to not be fearful, that when it is over with (presumably the criminal charges against Scales), they would be together. (ECF No. 242-3, PageID.2449-50). When asked at his deposition whether he recalled telling Scales not to say anything about a sexual relationship, Plaintiff refused to answer and pleaded the Fifth Amendment. (ECF No. 242-4, PageID.2488-89). In his response to the motion for summary judgment in which these messages were discussed, Plaintiff did not dispute that the messages were between himself and Scales. (See ECF No. 248).

3. PREA Education and Training

Among the claims against Corizon and the County are that Plaintiff was not given information about the Prison Rape Elimination Act (“PREA”) when he arrived at the jail (specifically, his right to be free from sexual abuse by jail staff and to report abuse) and that Corizon and jail employees were not adequately trained on PREA (specifically to not sexually assault inmates or to report sexual assault to the appropriate authorities).

He says that when he arrived at the jail, he was not shown a PREA video or given documents educating him about PREA similar to other jails in which he was previously incarcerated. (ECF No. 35, PageID.187). Corizon attached a PREA inmate acknowledgment form purportedly signed by Plaintiff. (ECF No. 242-1, PageID.2346). Plaintiff asserted in his response briefs that his signature was forged, that he never signed such a document.^[3] (ECF No. 248, PageID.2662; ECF No. 249, PageID.2670). His assertion is not supported by an affidavit, deposition testimony, or other admissible evidence. Genesee County responded to discovery stating that Plaintiff was given a pamphlet regarding PREA, and that inmates were not required to sign for the pamphlet or to otherwise indicate receipt of it. Plaintiff says he did not receive a pamphlet. (ECF No. 246, PageID.2265-66, 2630).

Plaintiff alleged that the defendants did not train their employees on PREA.

Corizon provided a document listing the training Scales enrolled in and completed during March 2020. Among these trainings is “Corrections Environment.” (ECF No. 234-2 PageID.2227). This training listed behaviors that are prohibited for medical staff, including “[h]aving a personal or intimate relationship with an inmate patient.” (ECF No. 234-1, PageID.2211). The training elaborated that the employee may not engage in any sexual behavior with a patient. (Id. at PageID.2212). The training also explained that employees are “required to report any staff misconduct towards offenders,” and...