Opinion
CAUSE NO. 3:19-CV-798-JD-MGG
10-08-2019
CHARLES SCOTT, Plaintiff, v. LaPORTE COUNTY JAIL, QUALITY CORRECTIONAL CARE, LLC, and DR. TCHETTCHAT, Defendants.
OPINION AND ORDER
Charles Scott is a prisoner at the LaPorte County Jail. Without a lawyer he filed an amended complaint against three defendants. "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, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915A, the court must review the merits of a prisoner complaint and dismiss it if the action is frivolous or malicious, fails to state a claim upon which relief may be granted, or seeks monetary relief against a defendant who is immune from such relief.
Of the three defendants listed by Scott, the only one named in the body of the complaint is the LaPorte County Jail. However, the jail is a building. It is not a suable entity. Smith v. Knox County Jail, 666 F.3d 1037, 1040 (7th Cir. 2012). Therefore, he cannot state a claim against the Jail. The other two defendants are not named in the body of the complaint, therefore he has not stated a claim against them either.
This complaint does not state a claim. Nevertheless, Scott may file an amended complaint. See Luevano v. Wal-Mart, 722 F.3d 1014 (7th Cir. 2013). To do so he must place this cause number on a blank Prisoner Complaint (INND Rev. 8/16) form which is available from the law library. In the complaint, he must explain what each defendant did which violated his constitutional rights.
For these reasons, the court:
(1) GRANTS Charles Scott until November 7 , 2019 , to file an amended complaint; and
(2) CAUTIONS Charles Scott if he does not respond by the deadline, this case will be dismissed pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915A without further notice.
SO ORDERED on October 8, 2019
/s/ JON E. DEGUILIO
JUDGE
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT