Opinion ID: 3165721
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: September 27 Incident

Text: Ms. Henderson was booked into the Jail on June 3, 2011. Jail personnel recognized that she was a special needs inmate because she exhibited mental health issues. On September 27, 2011, she experienced chest pain and was taken to the Jail’s medical unit. The medical unit contains one main hallway that houses a desk where nurses and officers sit. When Ms. Henderson entered the medical unit, DO Johnson and DO Thomas were on desk duty. Two nurses, Susan Pinson and Charity Chumley, were also in the medical unit.3 Wearing handcuffs and leg restraints, Ms. Henderson was escorted to the tub room, a medical unit holding cell located near the desk. 4 The tub room door has a single, 3 The record does not clearly indicate the nurses’ whereabouts at all times relevant to this suit. We include here only the facts regarding the nurses that the district court relied upon. 4 DO Johnson and Nurse Pinson testified that a third officer escorted Ms. Henderson into the room. Ms. Henderson does not contest this fact, though Steven Continued . . . -3- small window that generally remains covered. Jail policy required the tub room to be locked when it was being used as a holding cell. Nurse Pinson saw Ms. Henderson placed in the tub room. Two male inmates were located in the hallway. Inmate Williams was receiving a breathing treatment. Inmate Johnson was seated in a chair next to the shower room, which is adjacent to the tub room. Inmate Johnson was in the Jail for assault and battery on a police officer. The Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office (“TCSO”)5 had identified him as an “extreme escape risk” and worthy of “extreme caution” when being moved. Aplt. App. at 718. Despite these cautions, Inmate Johnson was a trustee for the prison kitchen, which permitted him greater freedom to move about the Jail without an escort officer or restraints. At some point before 7:00 p.m., DO Johnson informed a nurse, apparently either Nurse Pinson or Nurse Chumley, that Ms. Henderson was in the tub room. The nurse responded, “Oh yeah, that’s right.” Aplt. Add. at 5. DO Johnson took this to mean that the nurse was ready to see Ms. Henderson, so DO Johnson unlocked the tub room door. DO Johnson was aware that Inmate Johnson was seated near the tub room and not Williams, another inmate, testified that DO Johnson escorted Ms. Henderson into the tub room. 5 TCSO supervised the Jail. Sheriff Glanz is TCSO’s top official. -4- secured or otherwise restrained.6 She also was aware that Inmate Johnson could see her unlock the tub room door. Shortly before 7:00 p.m., a medical emergency was declared in a separate area of the Jail. When a gurney was requested from the medical unit, DO Thomas left to deliver it, though having an inmate deliver it would have been permissible under Jail policy. Nurse Chumley also left the medical unit to respond to the medical emergency. When Nurse Chumley returned with the gurney holding an injured inmate, DO Johnson accompanied her and Nurse Pinson around the corner of the hallway and into an examination room to assist them. At this point, DO Thomas had not returned from delivering the gurney, so only Inmates Johnson and Williams remained in the hallway. Neither Inmate Johnson nor Inmate Williams was secured or locked down before DO Thomas and DO Johnson departed. Inmate Johnson told Inmate Williams that he intended to make sexual contact with Ms. Henderson. Inmate Williams observed Inmate Johnson enter the unlocked tub room and exit approximately ten minutes later. DO Johnson and DO Thomas returned to the hallway of the medical unit when Inmate Johnson was exiting the tub room. Both observed the tub room door closing. DO Johnson immediately confronted Inmate Johnson about being in the tub room. He denied having been there. 6 DO Johnson later testified at her deposition that officers are required to lock down unsecured inmates who are going to be unsupervised, but that they are not required to lock down trustees. She was unaware, however, that Mr. Johnson was a trustee. -5- According to the TCSO investigative report, DO Johnson then entered the tub room, where the following exchange took place: [DO Johnson] asked Henderson if the male inmate had been in the room. Henderson put her head down, shook her head and didn’t talk. Johnson then told Henderson she needed to talk and say what had happened. Johnson asked Henderson, “Did he touch you?” With this, Henderson shook her head yes. Johnson asked “Did he touch your breasts?” and Henderson shook her head no. Johnson asked “did he touch your crotch?” and Henderson said “Yes.” Aplt. Add. at 6. DO Johnson exited the tub room and informed DO Thomas of this exchange. DO Johnson and DO Thomas told their supervisor, Sergeant James Pirtle, about the incident, and TCSO initiated its investigation. Ms. Henderson was taken to a hospital for examination. She had bruising, swelling, and some mid-line tearing of her vagina that was consistent with forced intercourse. Inmate Johnson was subsequently charged with rape.7 The TCSO investigation reached the following conclusions regarding the officers’ adherence to Jail policies: After conducting interviews and reviewing reports, I found policy was violated. The Medical Unit is essentially a segregation unit, requiring two officers at all times. D.O. Thomas left his post to respond to a medical 7 The rape charge was ultimately dismissed because Ms. Henderson briefly recanted. The district court seemed to question her recanting because (1) Ms. Henderson later stated that she recanted because she was fearful for her mother’s safety; (2) Defendants’ own expert stated he believed the facts in the record showed that Ms. Henderson was raped; and (3) she recanted during an interview by TCSO deputies without her counsel present after filing this suit. Aplt. Add. at 7 n.6. -6- emergency when the inmate worker could have accomplished the same task. Additionally, D.O. Johnson and D.O. Thomas failed to maintain the log book in the Medical Unit, as required by policy. While this is a shared responsibility, Johnson knew Henderson was on the unit at some time around 17:30 hours and the log never reflected her arrival. Regarding the alleged sexual assault, two major causal factors were identified. First, the tub room was unsecured at the time of the incident. It appears this was due to D.O. Johnson failing to relock the door when the medical emergency was called. The second was D.O. Thomas failing to remain at his assigned post. Thomas left the unit to respond to a medical emergency, thereby diminishing the ability of officers to properly supervise the unit. When D.O. [Johnson] entered the examination room, as required by policy, the main hall of the medical unit was left unsupervised and inmates were unsecured. Aplt. App. at 605. When later asked how she could be unaware of a risk of assault to Ms. Henderson, DO Johnson stated, “I don’t know how to answer that.” Aplt. App. at 638. 2. Jail Policies and Previous Incidents of Sexual Misconduct TCSO policy requires constant double staffing in the medical unit. Despite this policy, both DO Thomas and DO Johnson testified it was common for one of the two medical unit officers to temporarily leave the unit to escort inmates or see to other duties. DO Thomas testified he was not trained on whether or when it was proper to leave the medical unit to perform other duties. DO Johnson and DO Thomas underwent 160 hours of training at TCSO’s Jail Academy. This training included prevention of sexual assaults. TCSO maintains a zerotolerance policy against inmate rape and sex-related offenses: The Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office has a zero tolerance standard for the incidence of inmate rape and sex-related offenses and attempts thereof and will make every effort to prevent these incidents. The Sheriff’s Office will -7- strictly enforce all federal and state laws regarding inmate sexual misconduct, threats of sexual assault or intimidation by providing clear definitions of prohibited conduct, establishing uniform methods of the prompt reporting and investigation of allegations of sex-related offenses or threats, identification of predators, protection of victims and prescribing sanctions for substantiated sexual offenses as well as false allegations. TCSO Policy 20-12.1, found at Aplt. App. at 324. In 2010, TCSO investigated two violations of its zero-tolerance sexual assault policy alleged by L.P. and L.S., who were juvenile female inmates housed in the medical unit. The investigation uncovered allegations that Officer Seth Bowers sexually assaulted L.P. at the Jail, and TCSO recommended that he be criminally prosecuted. Officer Bowers also allegedly subjected L.S. to sexually inappropriate behavior. Officer Bowers resigned because of the investigation. Former TCSO Officer Cherry Anjorin gave the following testimony in this case about the medical unit: [T]here were a lot of reported cases of the nurses having sex in the back medical rooms because there is nothing back there. I mean, you can go back there and sleep if you want to because there is no one to—and they are open to staff and to trustees that are in medical or inmates that come down to medical because the medical you had called down 80, 90—60, 70 inmates for physicals. That’s excluding the people that are housed in medical. And so you have inmates just moving around in medical, and it was mostly only one person in there so you couldn’t watch all the places. So there were inmates coming out of the rooms, the back rooms with nurses, and, of course, that’s why I say a lot of nurses were fired. Aplt. App. at 967. Other accounts of sexual misconduct in the medical unit included a nurse in the medical unit allegedly sexually assaulting Inmate D.P., a therapist subjecting female -8- inmates to inappropriate conduct, and a nurse having a sexual relationship with a male inmate. Former TCSO nurse Robin Mason, who worked at the Jail from March 2009 to October 2010, testified that there was “a persistent lack of security within the medical unit” because the inmates and staff were aware of the lack of video surveillance. Aplt. App. at 994. Officer Anjorin asserted, however, that when an inappropriate relationship between staff and an inmate was discovered, the staff member was immediately fired, and detention officers were reminded of that fact at the next staff meeting. All instances of sexual misconduct referenced by Officer Anjorin and Nurse Mason involved staff-oninmate sexual misconduct. When asked what remedial measures he took to address the allegations of sexual assault, Sheriff Glanz said he told the staff to be more attentive. When asked whether he took other measures, he responded, “I can’t specifically say that any that I’m aware of were made.” Aplt. App. at 852-53.