Lminggio v. English

Summary

The court screened a prisoner’s second amended complaint under 28 U.S.C. § 1915A concerning allegedly unsanitary holding-cell conditions, denial of bathroom access, and related due process and Eighth Amendment claims. The court concluded that the short duration of the confinement, the alleged mitigation, and the lack of allegations connecting most defendants to the conduct failed to state a constitutional claim. The case was dismissed for failure to state a claim upon which relief could be granted.

Holdings

1. A defendant cannot be held liable under § 1983 based solely on supervisory responsibility, inclusion in the caption, or failure to allege personal participation in the constitutional violation.
2. An approximately eight-and-a-half-hour placement in a shower cage, even under the alleged unsanitary conditions, did not constitute a substantial duration or an unusually harsh hardship sufficient to trigger a protected liberty interest and procedural due process protections.
3. The allegations that the plaintiff was temporarily held for approximately eight-and-a-half hours in an unsanitary shower cage without a toilet or seat, and was required to defecate on a tray, did not state an Eighth Amendment violation because the short duration and removal from the conditions sufficiently mitigated the alleged deprivation.
4. A one-time, short-term denial of toilet access requiring an inmate to defecate on a tray does not, without more, rise to the level of an Eighth Amendment violation.
5. The second amended complaint failed to state a claim upon which relief could be granted and was subject to dismissal under 28 U.S.C. § 1915A.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the complaint stated a Fourteenth Amendment due process claim based on the plaintiff's approximately eight-and-a-half-hour placement in a shower cage without a hearing.
2. Whether the alleged unsanitary holding-cell conditions and temporary denial of toilet access stated an Eighth Amendment conditions-of-confinement claim.
3. Whether supervisory or grievance-related defendants could be held liable absent allegations that they personally caused or participated in the alleged constitutional violations.
4. Whether the complaint stated a claim based on the plaintiff's later cell conditions, including cold temperature, lighting, and loss of property.

Disposition

dismissed