The court denied the petitioner's request for a preliminary injunction/TRO related to allegations of racial misconduct under § 1983 and his request for a default judgment "in response to prison officials’ refusal to grant him additional access to the prison law library." Petitioner alleged that "prison officials are denying him access to his medical records, legal research materials and medical services for the purpose of severely injuring, maiming, crippling, kill or murdering him" and that "prison staff continue to taunt him about his lawsuit and yell racial slurs at him." The court denied his request for injunctive relief due in part to his failure to show that "Defendants withheld medical care, or interfered with prescribed medical or mental health care, for racially or retaliatory reasons." His request for access to the prison law library was denied on the grounds that Covid-19 required state prisons to limit access based on need, meaning that "[i]nmates with active criminal and habeas matters will take priority over civil actions such as Mr. Tunsil’s." The court also noted that "Mr. Tunsil’s lack of access to the law library at this moment will not hamper his ability to respond to Defendants’ pending motions."
Tunsil v. Wolf, 1:19-CV-0386, 2020 WL 2794602 (M.D. Pa. May 29, 2020)
DETAILS
Decision
Date
5/29/2020
Practice Area
Criminal (State Charges)
Relief Requested
Improved Conditions, Preliminary Injunction (PI), Release, Temporary Restraining Order (TRO)
Type of Court
Federal District Court
Location
Pennsylvania
Type of Case
Individual
Case Characteristics
Elderly, Immigrant Detention, Parole or Probation Violations, Post-Conviction Detention [jail or prison], Pre-Existing Health Conditions, Pretrial Detention [jail], Significant Criminal History
Compassionate Release Case
No
Compassionate Release Specific Characteristics
Has a significant criminal history
Case Tracking Number
19-cv-00386-SHR
MORE CASE INFORMATION
Court Name
W.D.N.Y.
Decision
Motion Denied
Place of Incarceration
State Prison, Not specified
Name of Facility
Coal Township State Correctional Institution (SCI-Coal Township)
Legal Authority
Substantive Due Process - Deliberate Indifference (both 14th and 5th Amendments), Substantive Due Process - Punitive Detention (both 14th and 5th Amendments)
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.