Opinion ID: 727315
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Other Proffered Support for DOCS's Medical Keeplock Policy

Text: 12 Notwithstanding Sostre, Greifinger maintains that reasonable minds could differ as to whether DOCS's medical keeplock policy was constitutional as administered at the time of Williams's confinement. In support of this contention, he points to three opinions from trial courts which he claims approved the policy. 13 As an initial matter, we note that this court has previously indicated that the germane law in determining whether a right is clearly established for purposes of qualified immunity is the decisional law of the Supreme Court and the applicable circuit court. Ying Jing Gan v. City of New York, 996 F.2d 522, 532 (2d Cir.1993) (quoting Jermosen v. Smith, 945 F.2d 547, 550 (2d Cir.1991), cert. denied, 503 U.S. 962, 112 S.Ct. 1565, 118 L.Ed.2d 211 (1992)). Moreover, Greifinger is mistaken in believing that any of the opinions on which he relies found that the conditions of confinement of prisoners in medical keeplock did not violate the Eighth Amendment. Two of them (each the Report and Recommendation of a federal magistrate judge) never touched on this question. See Johnson v. Keane, No. 92 Civ. 4287 (S.D.N.Y. Apr. 30, 1993), adopted, 1994 WL 37790 (S.D.N.Y. Feb. 9, 1994); Payne v. Coughlin, No. 93 Civ. 3378 (S.D.N.Y. Oct. 12, 1994). 9 The third, a decision of the New York Supreme Court, Jolly v. Keane, No. 15385/92 (N.Y. Sup.Ct., Westchester County, Dec. 22, 1992), did state in dicta that DOCS was of course, free to exercise [its] discretion regarding visitation and shower privileges. Joint App. at 118. This statement, however, does not address DOCS's exercise policies, the question at issue in the present case. 10 14 In short, Greifinger has been unable to adduce any judicial support for his claim that the right to exercise was not clearly established by the time of Williams's confinement in medical keeplock. In light of Sostre and the other cases discussed above, we find that the right to exercise was by then indeed clearly established. 15