CHARLESTON – The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has sent a case for review, stating that the inmate should have a chance to prove his constitutional rights have been violated. Adrian F. King Jr. appealed the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia’s dismissal of his complaint for failure to state a claim.
“In reviewing a dismissal for failure to state a claim, we accept as true all the factual allegations contained in the complaint and draw all reasonable inferences in favor of the plaintiff,” the June 7 opinion states.
King, who is an inmate at Huttonsville Correctional Center and has been incarcerated since March 23, 2012, had marbles implanted in and tattoos drawn on his penis in 2008.
On Jan. 8, 2013, King was called to the control booth in his unit, where a corrections officer told him to report to medical to be examined because another inmate had reported seeing King and another inmate implanting marbles into their penises.
The nurse who examined King verified that the marbles were not recently implanted and that there was no sign of infection and he was escorted to the segregation unit, where an officer told him the implants were not noted in his file and he responded that he had informed the officer when he was processed at Mt. Olive.
King was subsequently found in violation of policy and sentences to 60 days of punitive segregation, 60 days loss of privileges and 90 days of loss of good time.
While in segregation, King was told to sign a paper without a chance to read it and was told he was signing a consent paper to go to Ruby Memorial Hospital to have his implants examined and, if necessary, removed. At the hospital, Dr. Henry Fooks Jr. examined him and determined the implants were not recently inserted and that there was no medical need to remove them.
King claims HCC officials threatened him with segregation for the remainder of his sentence and loss of parole eligibility if he did not consent to the surgery to have the marbles removed and, on June 19, 2013, he “gave in” and let them remove the marbles.
“As a result of the surgery, King now experiences physical symptoms,” the opinion states. “He has tingling and numbness in his penis; pain in the area where the marbles were removed; an ‘uncomfortable, stretching feeling where the cut was made’; pain in his penis when it rains, snows, or gets cold; and ‘stabbing pain [that] shoots into [his] stomach’ if he bumps into something or the scar on his penis is touched. “
King claimed he never experienced these symptoms until after his implants were removed.
The appeals court ruled that King properly stated his Fourth, Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection and Due Process claims.
“We reverse the district court’s decision on those bases, vacate the dismissal, and remand the case for further proceedings,” the opinion states.
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit case number: 15-6382