Minnesota Supreme Court: Prisoner's lawsuit may proceed over allegations that handcuffs caused injury

The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled this week that a onetime Minnesota prisoner's lawsuit may proceed against the Department of Corrections (DOC) over allegations of cruel and unusual punishment after he claims he was left permanently injured by handcuffs that were too tight.

The state's high court sided with the Court of Appeals in reversing the dismissal of Christopher Welters' lawsuit against the DOC and Stillwater correctional facility officers Cornelius Emily and Ernest Rhoney. Welters claimed they caused permanent nerve damage to his wrists when they left him in tight handcuffs while undergoing a routine medical procedure.

Despite complaints and requests to loosen the cuffs, the lawsuit alleges, they were left on for nearly four hours, which he argues violated his Eighth Amendment protection against cruel and unusual punishment.

Welters, 49, was handcuffed at Stillwater for his transfer to Oak Park Heights, a maximum security prison that also serves as an inmate health clinic, to undergo an endoscopy in July 2017. He went to a nurse after the exam as his "hands were blue and his wrists had gouges in them. His blood pressure was elevated," according to the lawsuit, and he "complained to her about being shackled throughout his medical procedure and she advised that he contact an attorney."

Welters, who is originally from Minnesota, is serving a life sentence in California without the possibility of parole for the execution-style murder of his two roommates in 1992, according to reports from the Los Angeles Times. Welters, who was then 18, testified that his roommates sexually assaulted him, but a jury found the double homicide was committed during a robbery.

His attorney Zorislav Leyderman praised the Supreme Court decision and said that regardless of Welters' conviction, inmates deserve equal treatment under the law.

"I have no doubt that some people will have a hard time understanding why Mr. Welters deserves his day in court, despite whatever happened in California," Leyderman said. "But these are two completely separate issues."

A spokesperson for the Minnesota Attorney General's Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Welters transferred to Minnesota in 2015 to be closer to family and returned to California in May 2021, according to the DOC.

In his testimony, Welters said he had been transferred without issue many times during his nearly 30 years of incarceration — until he went to Stillwater.

After his injury, which required surgical repair, Welters sued in 2019.

The officers denied Welters' claims that he complained and asked for the cuffs to be loosened. They further argued that they are shielded from the lawsuit by qualified immunity, the legal doctrine that can protect law enforcement officers against civil lawsuits. Washington County District Judge Ellen Maas dismissed the lawsuit, reasoning that the correctional officers didn't act with intent to cause harm maliciously and sadistically.

Further, the decision read, a jury could "reasonably find that the officers acted with deliberate indifference."

According to his lawsuit, "Welters remained in the overtightened handcuffs for 3½ hours, including while under general anesthesia for the endoscopy. Welters suffered serious injury in both wrists that required surgery and left him with permanent nerve damage that continues to cause pain and decreased function," Justice Paul Thissen wrote in the 43-page majority decision.

Because Welters' rights were allegedly violated, Thissen wrote that the officers are not entitled to qualified immunity.

Leyderman said the officers didn't act with intent, and likely had no knowledge of why Welters was incarcerated. But just as Welters was "subjected to the legal standards that applied in California for what he did, then he should have the same benefit of the law here to subject the officers to legal standards that apply for neglecting his condition."

He said Welters is not disabled, but he can't paint the way he used to or exercise the way he could after the injury and subsequent surgery. "His ability to live daily life the way that he was used to has changed forever. ... It's still an issue that is going to be long lasting. And it could have been easily avoided if he was simply properly handcuffed."

Gildea said officers were following the DOC's restraint policy when they applied the handcuffs and declined to remove or adjust them when Welters complained.