McCullough v. Holy Cross College

          OPINION AND ORDER

          Robert L. Miller, Jr. Judge

         Anthony Kevin McCullough, a prisoner without a lawyer, filed an amended complaint (ECF 7) that is nearly identical to his earlier complaint but names ten defendants instead of seven. “A document filed pro se is to be liberally construed, and a pro se complaint, however inartfully pleaded, must be held to less stringent standards than formal pleadings drafted by lawyers.” Erickson v. Pardus, 551 U.S. 89, 94 (2007) (quotation marks and citations omitted). Nevertheless, the court must review prisoner complaints pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915A.

         Mr. McCullough is the only source of information at this point, and here is what he says happened. Mr. McCullough was taking college classes through the Holy Cross, University of Notre Dame, Westville Education Initiative, while he was housed at the Westville Correctional Center.^[1] He was on course to graduate with an associate's degree in liberal studies on December 16, 2017.

         This would have enabled him to be released from prison one year earlier. He planned to then work toward a bachelor's degree, which would have resulted in a further reduction in his sentence. But Mr. McCullough experienced a status change at the prison, was banned from using the Jpay system to send and receive messages, and wasn't awarded a degree. He has sued Holy Cross College, Jamie Bush (a Holy Cross College Volunteer), Alicia Serocynski, Ph.D. (Director of the Westville Education Initiative), David T. Tyson (President of Holy Cross College), Justin Watson, Ph.D. (Provost of Holy Cross College), the University of Notre Dame, Hiroko Harrison (Registrar of Holy Cross College), Kenneth Watts (GSC Complex Director at Westville Correctional Facility), Warden Mark Sevier, and John Hicks (an administrative assistant at Westville Correctional Facility). He asks that his Jpay privileges be restored, that an associate's degree be awarded, that he be readmitted to the program so he can pursue his bachelor's degree, and that he be awarded monetary damages.

         Mr. McCullough's problems began on November 14, 2017, when it was discovered that one of the Holy Cross College volunteers, Jamie Bush, was having a sexual relationship with one of Mr. McCullough's classmates. Ms. Bush was removed from the facility. A few days later, Mr. McCullough received an odd and unsolicited email by way of the prison's Jpay system. The email was from someone he didn't know, and it read as follows:

Please tell the ARAB, the one from Saudi Arabia / Seattle that I love him. Tell him I will do and say whatever it takes to get him out of this. I will say it is all my fault. I talked to the Dr. and we had a good cry.

(ECF 7 at 12.) Mr. McCullough responded as follows:

You must have me confused with someone else. I don't know you or who you are talking about. It appears you have some problems in your life that don't concern me nor do I want them to. Good luck. Be well.

(Id.) Mr. McCullough unsuccessfully tried to remove this person from his Jpay list. A reply came a few days later, revealing to Mr. McCullough for the first time that Ms. Bush was the author.

Ok, ok, ok, sure. Please tell the ARAB, you know who I love him. Enjoy your Pilatus Mi Amigo JB.

(Id.) Ms. Bush deleted her Jpay contact after sending her reply, so no further communication took place between Mr. McCullough and Ms. Bush.

         On November 30, 2017, while in the middle of giving a final oral presentation, Mr. Watts removed Mr. McCullough from class and told him that he was being relocated to a different dorm. That same day his ability to use the Jpay kiosk was permanently suspended for unauthorized contact with a volunteer. (ECF 7-1 at 11.)

         Also on November 30, Mr. McCullough wrote to Dr. Serocynski advising her of his status change and expressing a desire to ensure that all of his remaining work was turned in so he could complete his associate's degree as scheduled and receive his one year time cut. Mr. McCullough knew from Dr. Serocynski's earlier actions and words that she didn't like him, so one solution he proposed was that he simply be given F's on his remaining exams, knowing his grades were high enough that he would still graduate. He wrote his professors, too, asking that he be allowed to take his final exams and turn in his final papers. Dr. Serocynski told the professors not to accept any work turned in by Mr. McCullough. Rather than being permitted to finish his course work, Mr. McCullough was given incompletes.

         Mr. McCullough met with Mr. Watts on December 27, 2017, and discussed the Jpay exchange between him and Ms. Bush and its impact on his participation in the Westville Education Initiative. Mr. McCullough explained what happened, but Mr. Watts indicated that moving him back to the dorm wouldn't help him because “Alicia Serocynski is not accepting [you] back into the college program.” (ECF 7 at 15.) It was further explained that the reason was “because Alicia Serocynski does not like you, and she is choosing to give you incompletes instead of your time cut because she can.” (Id.) When Mr. McCullough noted that the IDOC policy would allow him to return to the program in six months, Mr. Watts stated, “I have nothing to do with that. Serocynski ...