Hopkins v. Ahern

Background

Keith M. Hopkins filed a civil-rights action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 while incarcerated. He proceeded without a lawyer and had previously been allowed to proceed without paying the filing fee. He sued Alameda County, Sheriff G. Ahern, Deputy Fred Lincoln, and Does 1–25, described as unnamed Alameda County Sheriff’s Office jail officials. He sought monetary and punitive damages.

The operative pleading was Hopkins’s Second Amended Complaint. He alleged that the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office housed him in unconstitutional conditions at Santa Rita Jail on three occasions between November 2017 and August 2018 while he was a pretrial defendant under federal custody.

Allegations

First, Hopkins alleged that on November 28, 2017, he endured the smell of human waste for about eight hours. He also alleged that he was placed in a cell used for his continuous positive airway pressure machine, which treats sleep apnea, and that the cell smelled strongly of urine. He said an extra bed in the cell reeked of human waste, that he asked Deputy Lincoln to remove it, and that Lincoln did not respond. Hopkins alleged that he could not use his breathing machine or sleep that night. He filed grievances about the sanitation issue, and he stated that the grievance was ultimately affirmed.

Second, Hopkins alleged that on January 26, 2018, he received a breakfast tray contaminated with mice feces. He ate fruit from the tray before noticing the contamination and later experienced nausea, for which he received treatment. He also alleged that the cell used for his breathing-machine treatment was filthy, that the sink and toilet were in very poor condition, and that his complaints about mice, sanitation, and cleaning supplies were dismissed by Lincoln.

Third, Hopkins alleged that on August 7, 2018, he received another contaminated breakfast tray. He said he did not eat anything from that tray, complained about it, and received treatment for nausea.

Court’s analysis

The court screened the complaint under 28 U.S.C. § 1915A, a law requiring an early review of claims brought by prisoners against governmental entities or their employees. The court explained that a claim under § 1983 requires an alleged violation of a federal constitutional or statutory right by someone acting under state law. It also explained that a complaint must give fair notice of what each defendant allegedly did.

The court analyzed the allegations under the Eighth Amendment’s protection against cruel and unusual punishment. It stated that prison officials must provide basic necessities such as food, shelter, sanitation, medical care, and personal safety, but that only sufficiently serious deprivations support an Eighth Amendment claim. The court considers the circumstances, nature, and duration of the deprivation.

The court held that the two contaminated food trays and the two occasions involving the smell of human feces and urine were not sufficiently serious to deny Hopkins the minimum necessities of life. It concluded that the Second Amended Complaint did not state an Eighth Amendment violation under § 1983 and that no amendment could cure the deficiency.

Disposition

The court dismissed the Second Amended Complaint for failure to state a claim. It also certified that any appeal without paying the filing fee would not be taken in good faith, ordered the clerk to terminate all pending motions, and closed the file. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers signed the order.