A federal judge has ruled that a Tampa rape victim known as R.W. can sue the Hillsborough County Sheriff after a jail guard refused to give her an emergency contraception pill because it was against her religious beliefs. Jail employee Michele Spinelli explained to R.W. that she would not give her the pill approved by a doctor because she viewed them to be a sin.
R.W.says she was raped on Jan. 27, 2007 and went to Tampa’s Rape Crisis Center where a doctor gave R.W. gave two anti-contraception pills. She took one as instructed and was supposed to take the other 12 hours later. However, a Tampa police officer discovered that she had a warrant out for her arrest and took her into custody. When the time came to take the second pill, Spinelli refused.
R.W. did not get pregnant but sued for the violation of her right to privacy and denial of equal protection.
U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Kovachevich found the amended complaint to be sufficient to go to trial. In doing so, she found that “The single action of a final policy-maker can represent official government policy, even when the action is not meant to control later decisions.” The Sheriff allowed Spinelli to work at the jail without supervision or direction. Taking the allegations as true for the purposes of the motion, the court ruled that the lawsuit could proceed.
If true, the allegations could not be more disturbing. We have seen a debate over pharmacies and religious organizations opposed to supplying contraceptives. However, this is a state employee with a woman who is in custody. Had she given birth, it would have created a bizarre “wrongful birth” case where the defendant is the state. Even without a birth, if these allegations are true, this woman was put through a harrowing experience.
Source: Courthouse
The person at the jail, I don’t know if they are a medical practitioner which might have some mitigating advantage to him/her individually, could have simply referred the administration of the pill to another person to give to the rape victim and all would have been compliant.
In our state certain medical practitioners are allowed not to prescribe pregnancy terminating prescriptions if they have a moral objection to this, however another practitioner must be available to provide this service.
For this I might imagine there would be the possibility of Qualified Immunity on behalf of the jail employee/contractor but it could be articulated that as an agent of the state, which has an absolute duty to provide the medicine, she could be held to be liable in that she recklessly and intentionally did not seek out the assistence of another person to perform the administration of the pills. I don’t know if he/she did or not.
Ordinarily I take exception to many of the wrongful birth cases that we read about but in this case I believe it would have had merit.
Again, with the judge’s ruling about the Final policy-maker has an interesting way out for the state. If an employee makes a bad decision with regard to a civil rights issue upon a citizen, the liability could be mitigated or even eliminated (if possible) by a subsequent correction by another employee that restores the citizen’s situation. I would hope that would be taken to heart by every elected official subject to this court’s jurisdiction. I have seen it many times where a gov’t official makes some bad decision and just continues down the road to ruin because they mistakenly believe there is no alternative but to press on with the violation of the rights because if they changed course to do the right thing, they believe it would be a de factor admission of guilt of their past wrongdoing.
“Only hire Christan Scientists as guards! They can pray over sick or injured inmates at a surprisingly low cost.” (frankly)
Excellent idea as a cost cutter but then, Haldeman and Ehrlichman were both Christian Scientists and look how their prayers helped Nixon.
Spinelli should write a quick note to Scalia … she sounds like a perfect fit for his office.
I find the Judges’s words, “The single action of a final policy-maker can represent official government policy” particularly chilling for society as a whole.
BarkinDog, methinks you are a devil dog in disguise….
lotta,
Here’s a link to and an excerpt from a post I wrote last year:
Who’s Minding the Kids?: Have Profits Distorted the Mission of Rehabilitating Inmates at Mississippi’s Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility?
http://jonathanturley.org/2011/03/27/who%E2%80%99s-minding-the-kids-have-profits-distorted-the-mission-of-rehabilitating-inmates-at-mississippi%E2%80%99s-walnut-grove-youth-correctional-facility/
Excerpt:
A few days ago, I was listening to All Things Considered on NPR while I was driving in my car. Host John Burnett was talking about an investigation into Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility in Mississippi. The prison facility for youthful offenders is being run by a private company called GEO Group. According to NPR, privatized prison services are a $3 billion dollar industry in this country—and GEO Group is our nation’s second largest for-profit prison operator.
From NPR: “The Southern Poverty Law Center and the ACLU National Prison Project have filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of 13 inmates against the prison operator, GEO Group, the prison administration and state officials. The complaint describes rampant contraband brought in by guards, sex between female guards and male inmates, inadequate medical care, prisoners held inhumanely in isolation, guards brutalizing inmates and inmate-on-inmate violence that was so brutal it led to brain damage.”
The Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice began an investigation into some of these charges earlier this year. NPR says its own investigation has raised “the fundamental question of whether profits have distorted the mission of rehabilitating young inmates.”
Walnut Grove, the nation’s largest juvenile prison, houses 1,200 boys and young men. It is the only facility that locks up thirteen-year-olds with 22-year-olds. The typical guard-to-inmate ratio is 1 officer to 10 or 12 juvenile prisoners. A state audit of the Walnut Grove facility showed a guard-to-inmate ratio of 1 to 60! Salaries for prison staff are reportedly the largest expenditure of a correctional budget. Evidently, cutting staff is a good way of cutting costs.
lotta – well to be honest it was sort of a reprise of my coast saving measures for health insurance companies. Since some people feel pharmacists should be allowed to decide what drugs they are willing to dispense some enterprising insurance company should pay to send a bunch of CSs to parm school & open a chain of drug stores. Then all they have to do is only pay for Rx at those stores & they save a bundle!
Frankly, LOL, you type faster than I do! And get to the point more quickly- not a bad thing 🙂
God, save me from your followers.
There are too many contractors in the incarceration business IMO as Ms. Spinelli and the lack of oversight by the Sheriff attest. Cheap labor, poor training, a meandering chain of command/control and a relentless emphasis on the bottom line is a horrible idea. There’s this today:
“Xavius Scullark-Johnson, Prisoner, Dies After He’s Denied Health Care
A prisoner was left in his urine-soaked cell to die after a nurse turned away an ambulance, even though he had suffered several seizures, according to documents obtained by the Star Tribune. …
When a corrections officer later phoned the doctor after Scullark-Johnson’s condition seemed to worsen, the doctor advised the officer to call 911, documents said. But when an ambulance showed up to take Scullark-Johnson to a hospital, the nurse on duty, Denise Garin, turned it away. Scullark-Johnson was pronounced dead hours later.
The Tribune notes that ambulance runs are “strictly monitored” in “an effort to cut costs” by Corizon Inc., the for-profit company contracted by the DOC to care for its prisoners.
Berg said DOC has a contract with a private health care company “to help manage care in a cost-efficient manner while still complying with community standards of care.
“Like any healthcare consumer may experience, this includes formularies, utilization review and managed care,” Berg said. “It should be noted that the DOC does not train staff to consider costs when responding to life-threatening emergencies.” ”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/26/xavius-scullark-johnson-dead_n_1625547.html?utm_hp_ref=politics&ir=Politics
A few days ago Krugman did an excellent article about privatizing New Jersey’s halfway houses:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/22/opinion/krugman-prisons-privatization-patronage.html?_r=2
The belief patrol goofs again.
Add this to the deal in MN where a for profit jail refused to pay for an ambulance for an inmate who was seizing repeatedly and I think I have a cost cutting measure that will be a boon to state budgets and private jails across the country. Only hire Christan Scientists as guards! They can pray over sick or injured inmates at a surprisingly low cost.
DANG! I probably should have gotten a copyright on that idea before I said it out loud.
I thought Spinelli’s job was to do what she was required t do with respect to inmates. Often, I believe, jailers are required to point out to the inmates that THEY personally are not jailing the inmates and THEY personally have nothing to do with the innocence or guilt of the inmates; their job is quite simple and it has defined borders. So where does the idea that, “I cannot do something that I don’t believe is morally perfect” come into Spinelli’s job description? If she hasn’t been fired and blacklisted for all LEO work, she definitely should be. How irresponsible, insubordinate and outrageous can you get? Would a guard who was a Christian Scientist be justified to withhold all medication from every inmate? Would an Orthodox Jewish guard be justified to refuse to serve non-kosher food?
Good decision Judge…..and in Florida none the less…..
bettykath, we visited a friend in the Bradenton area for a few days a couple of months ago. Had the same idea: hey, what a great climate, lifestyle, maybe we should relocate here, etc.
I’m afraid trying to locate in a place with an enlightened government and populace is a lost cause. There’s always some drawback. Of course, myself, being wonderful, would never offend anyone. 😉
The order on the defendant’s motion to dismiss states that the person denying the MA pill was a contractor employee. I’m glad to see that this fact did not muddy the waters sufficiently to let the Sheriff, her boss, off the hook.
The whole religious exemption trend is burdensome on a secular society. If you can’t do the job don’t apply IMO.
It is again and perennially Florida- can we just saw that unfortunate spit of land off the country and set it adrift? In that way its literal status would reflect its figurative state.
—
“Michele Spinelli (hereinafter”Spinelli”) worked
at the jail for a private contractor, and”was charged with decisions involving the care of the
Plaintiff, including whether or not to dispense the previously prescribed medication to the
Plaintiff.” (Dkt. 16, atK36-37). Spinelli’s exact position and duties at the Jail are not clear
from the complaint.”
http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/03/15/Morning-after%20Pill.pdf
Hillsborough county jail has been in the news before. The fellow in this video is a victim, and has some pithy comments to say about his treatment and his opinion about their training:
The sheriff’s department should be raked over the coals on this. It is absolutely wrong for a jailer to refuse any prescribed medication to an inmate. Check your religious preferences at the door when you put on that badge.
Sounds to me like the state pushing a particular religious conviction. That’s a no-no.
Damn! We’re in Florida again. I’ve been a bit tired of the cold winters up north and so contemplated a move to Florida, at least during the winter. I no longer think that’s a good idea.
I was going to say unbelievable but it is not. Some people in the US have become so enamored with their own beliefs that there is no room in their minds for compassion or a recognition that others have a right to their beliefs and a right not to be victimized in the name of another’s religious beliefs. A state employee with this type of belief who cannot or will not do their job should be fired or not hired at all. Believe what you want but it cannot intrude on your resposibities. Even more disturbing is that in this circumstance the rape victim was incarcerated and had no where else to turn. Is the state liable? It sure looks like it to me but it is good that the court allow the case to go forward .
It would be a sin to give her the pill. But it was a sin to not give it to her. The first sin would get forgiven. The second one will not be. The Sinner will not get into heaven. She will not get into purgatory or limbo which is really a suburb of Saint Louis called Oakland. You see the second sin might result in a devil being born to the poor jailed woman. When the devil is born he will be laughing at jailor the rest of his life. The devil will do a lot of harm. The jailor is complicit in the birth of the devil. We dogs know these issues because we are all reincarnated from humanoids and sat through hours of interviews by Saint Peter awaiting our turn. We were good humans in the past life and hence Saint Peter let us come back as dogs. So take it from BarkinDog. That jailor is in a whole lot of trouble.
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