On August 29, 2011, plaintiff, a male Muslim prisoner, filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of the Middle District of Pennsylvania under Bivens and the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) against the Federal Bureau of Prisons. The plaintiff, represented by public interest lawyers, asked the court for compensatory and punitive damages on behalf of himself and an injunction preventing defendants from continuing their unconstitutional housing, recreation, and restraint patterns, practices and policies on behalf of all current and future United States Penitentiary (USP) Lewisburg prisoners. Specifically, the plaintiff claimed that the defendants violated plaintiff's right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution by placing him with cellmates with whom he had a documented hostile relationship, placing him in restraints on multiple occasions as punishment for refusing dangerous cell assignments, and failing to react in a timely manner to stop assaults. Plaintiff claimed that defendants engaged in a pattern, practice, or policy of carrying out these actions.

In 2008, the Bureau of Prisons created the Special Management Unit (SMU) at USP Lewisburg to serve prisoners who present unique security and management concerns including prisoners who participated in or led group/gang-related activity. Plaintiff was incarcerated at USP Lewisburg in 2005 and 2006, and returned to join to the SMU in 2009, at which time he had an intake review and expressed his separation needs.

On October 24, 2012, the U.S. District Court (Judge William B. Nealon) issued an order denying the plaintiff's motion to certify the class and an order granting defendants' motion to dismiss and for summary judgment, directing the Clerk of Court to enter judgment in favor of defendants and against plaintiff on all claims. On November 20, 2012, plaintiff submitted a notice of appeal. On March 2, 2015, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit vacated the district court's order denying class certification and grant of summary judgment in favor of the defendants on the Eighth Amendment claim. The Court of Appeals upheld the district court's judgment dismissing the plaintiff's FTCA claim. The case was reopened in the district court on March 5, 2015.

The parties reached a settlement and the case was dismissed without prejudice to either party on July 20, 2017. Judge Nealon left open the possibility that the case could be reopened if the terms of the settlement agreement were not consummated within 60 days. The exact terms of the settlement agreement are not available. Since the case has not been reopened, it is presumably closed.

Julie Singer - 10/01/2014
Elizabeth Heise - 10/15/2018


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