Perry brought a civil rights action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, claiming that given his health conditions (high blood pressure, high cholesterol) and the COVID-19 pandemic, his incarceration violated his Eighth Amendment rights, and thus seeking a temporary release from prison until the COVID-19 pandemic is under control. The court dismissed the claim for the following reasons. First, the court noted that under § 1983, Perry cannot be entitled to the only relief he sought--release from prison; a challenge to the fact or duration of confinement should be brought as a petition for habeas corpus and is not the proper subject of a civil rights action brought pursuant to § 1983. Moreover, even if Perry was not seeking to be released from prison, the court found that he failed to allege facts showing that his Eighth Amendment rights have been violated. Extensively citing the Sixth Circuit cases Wilson, et al. v. Williams, et al. and Cameron, et al. v. Bouchard, et al., the court held that the measures taken by the MDOC (providing masks for all prisoners and staff, limiting visitations, testing every prisoner and finding no confirmed case of COVID-19 in the facilities) are reasonable, and thus Perry failed to allege facts showing that the prison’s handling of the COVID-19 crisis violated his Eighth Amendment rights.
Perry v. Washington, No. 1:20-cv-530, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 113628 (W.D. Mich. June 30, 2020)
DETAILS
Decision
Date
6/30/2020
Practice Area
Criminal (State Charges)
Relief Requested
Release
Type of Court
Federal District Court
Location
Michigan
Type of Case
Individual
Case Characteristics
Post-Conviction Detention [jail or prison], Pre-Existing Health Conditions
Release Granted
No
Compassionate Release Case
No
Case Tracking Number
1:20-cv-00530-JTN-PJG
MORE CASE INFORMATION
Court Name
W.D. Mich.
Decision
Motion Denied
Place of Incarceration
State Prison
Name of Facility
Muskegon Correctional Facility
Legal Authority
Eighth Amendment - Deliberate Indifference
Legal Authority
Section 1983
Case Status
Decision Made
Pre-Existing Health Conditions
High Cholesterol, Hypertension (high blood pressure)
COVID-19 Positive or Symptomatic
No
COVID-19 in Jail Prison or Detention Center
No
Litigation Database
Crowdsourced legal documents from around the country related to COVID-19 and incarceration, organized, collected, and summarized for public defenders, litigators, and other advocates. Created and managed by Bronx Defenders, Columbia Law School’s Center for Institutional and Social Change, UCLA Law COVID-19 Behind Bars Data Project, and Zealous. Mostly federal court opinions, but now expanding to states and legal filings, declarations, and exhibits.
This resource is designed to help lawyers, advocates, researchers, journalists, and others interested in challenging, remedying, or drawing attention to the grave risk that Covid-19 poses to individuals who are detained.