On September 24, 1998, a Rastafarian inmate at the Green Haven Correctional Facility in New York filed a pro se lawsuit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against the New York Department of Corrections in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. He asked the Court for declaratory and injunctive relief, as well as damages, alleging that the defendants' policy of requiring all inmates to submit to an annual tuberculosis ("TB") screening violated his religious convictions. He argued that when they forced him to have a purified protein derivative injected into his body, the defendants violated his First and Eighth Amendment rights.

After the discovery phase of the litigation, the defendants asked the Court to dismiss the plaintiff's claims. On March 1, 2000, the District Court (Judge Cote) dismissed the plaintiff's Eighth Amendment claim, but denied the motion to dismiss in all other respects. The Court then agreed to appoint an attorney to represent the plaintiff in the litigation. Reynolds v. Goord, 2000 WL 235278 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 1, 2000).

The plaintiff asked the Court for a preliminary injunction, and on June 26, 2000, the District Court (Judge Cote) appointed Dr. Ronald Shansky to be the Court's expert witness for the preliminary injunction hearing. Reynolds v. Goord, 2000 WL 825690 (S.D.N.Y. Jun. 26, 2000). After the hearing, on July 13, 2000, the District Court (Judge Cote) issued a preliminary injunction, finding that plaintiff had shown a substantial likelihood of succeeding on the merits. Reynolds v. Goord, 103 F.2d 316 (S.D.N.Y. 2000). On February 13, 2001, the Court granted the plaintiff an award of his attorneys' fees for the cost of obtaining the preliminary injunction. Reynolds v. Goord, 2001 WL 118564 (S.D.N.Y. Feb. 13, 2001).

According to our PACER docket, the District Court entered judgment for the plaintiff on March 13, 2001, and closed the case. We have no further information, as this is the end of the docket record.

Kristen Sagar - 10/02/2007


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