Marlon McDougall v. Tyson

── Marlon McDougall v. Tyson ── Court: Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit Date: June 02, 2026 Category: General NOT PRECEDENTIAL UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT ___________ No. 24-3069 __________ MARLON MCDOUGALL, Appellant v. LIEUTENANT TYSON; NURSE FREELAND; GEO GROUP INC., Detention Center ____________________________________ On Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania (D.C. Civil Action No. 3:23-cv-00091) Magistrate Judge: Honorable Keith A. Pesto ____________________________________ Submitted Pursuant to Third Circuit LAR 34.1(a) October 1, 2025 Before: KRAUSE, PHIPPS, and ROTH, Circuit Judges (Opinion filed: June 2, 2026) ___________ OPINION* ___________ PER CURIAM Marlon McDougall appeals pro se and in forma pauperis from the District Court’s order granting summary judgment to the operator of an immigrant detainee processing * This disposition is not an opinion of the full Court and pursuant to I.O.P. 5.7 does not constitute binding precedent. center for injuries he sustained while in its custody. We will vacate and remand with instructions that the District Court reassess McDougall’s requests for counsel under the appropriate standards.1 I. McDougall was admitted to the United States in 1982 as a lawful permanent resident. He was incarcerated from 2006 to 2022 following a conviction in Virginia. Upon the completion of his sentence, the United States Department of Homeland Security obtained custody of McDougall and initiated removal proceedings. McDougall was detained at Moshannon Valley Processing Center (“MVPC”) in Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, from August 2022 until April 2023. A preexisting injury (torn meniscus) left him wheelchair-bound throughout his time at MVPC. In May 2023, McDougall filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania against The GEO Group, Inc., the company that operates MVPC, and two of the facility’s employees, Lieutenant Tyson and Nurse Freeland (given names unknown); the case was quickly transferred to the Western District. McDougall did not identify a specific cause of action in the body of his complaint, though he checked a box on the cover page identifying the basis for his claim as “Civil Rights Action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983,” and he attached a separate page alerting the Clerk’s Office that he was filing a “Civil Complaint for Prisoner Rights Violation, Civil Rights.” See ECF Doc. 1 at 1, 7. The crux of McDougall’s complaint is that, in 1 We express no opinion on what the outcome of this inquiry should be. 2 early April 2023, Tyson dropped him on the ground “outside [of] the sally-port of the intake” at MVPC while attempting to move him from a wheelchair to a van that was being used to transfer him and other detainees to Pike County Correctional Facility. See id. at 4. McDougall, who was handcuffed at the time, claims that the fall “overstressed” his injured meniscus and hindered his recuperation. See id. at 5.2 McDougall later supplemented his averments with his own declaration and that of another detainee who witnessed the incident, both of which describe more clearly the events leading to McDougall’s fall. After handcuffing McDougall, chaining him at the waist, and shackling his feet, Tyson a