In re: Shadaya Miller

Summary

The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania grants Shadaya Miller leave to proceed in forma pauperis and dismisses her amended complaint with prejudice under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B)(ii). The court holds that Chester County Prison is not a person subject to suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and that requiring an inmate to eat in a cell near a toilet does not plausibly establish an unconstitutional condition of confinement. The court declines to grant leave to amend because amendment would be futile.

Holdings

1. A jail or correctional facility is not a person subject to suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and therefore is not a proper defendant in a § 1983 action.
2. The allegations that Miller was required to eat in a cell containing a toilet, even accompanied by allegations of sickness and MRSA, did not plausibly allege an objectively sufficiently serious deprivation or deliberate indifference in violation of the Eighth Amendment.
3. Even if the amended complaint were construed as challenging conditions during a period when Miller was a pretrial detainee, the allegations would not state a constitutional claim.
4. The amended complaint was dismissed with prejudice because amendment would be futile.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Chester County Prison is a proper defendant under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.
2. Whether requiring an inmate to eat in a cell with a toilet approximately six feet from the bedding area, together with alleged sickness and MRSA, plausibly states an unconstitutional conditions-of-confinement claim.
3. Whether the allegations would state a claim under the Fourteenth Amendment if they concerned a period when Miller was a pretrial detainee.
4. Whether the amended complaint should be dismissed with prejudice without leave to amend.

Disposition

dismissed