Failure to protect.

U.S. District Court

WRONGFUL DEATH 

Gonzales Rodricuez v. Alvarado 134 F.Supp.2d 451 (D.Puerto Rico 2001). A deceased inmate's family brought an action under [ss] 1983, the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, and Puerto Rico's civil cede. The district court held that only the deceased inmate's son had standing in his capacity as his personal representative to bring a [ss] 1983. According to the court, his son and legal heir had standing to recover for damages for pain the deceased inmate suffered. (Puerto Rico Corrections Department)

U.S. Appeals Court

RIOT

PRISONER ON PRISONER ASSAULT

Mayoral v. Sheahan, 245 F.3d 934 (7th Cir. 2001). A pretrial detainee who was severely injured in a gang-instigated jailhouse riot brought a civil rights suit against a county sheriff and jail officers, alleging they were deliberately indifferent to his safety. The district court granted summary judgment for the defendants and the detainee appealed. The appeals court affirmed in part, reversed in part and remanded. The appeals court held that the failure of the jail to segregate inmates by gang affiliation was not a constitutional violation, given the high number of gang members housed in the jail and the burden that would be placed on administrators by such a policy. The court found that summary judgment was precluded by fact issues as to whether the detainee had asked an officer for protective custody and was ignored, and whether an officer delayed in summoning help when fighting broke out. (Cook County Jail, Illinois)

U.S. District Court

OFFICER ON PRISONER ASSAULT

Romaine v. Rawson. 140 F.Supp.2d 204 (N.D.N.Y. 2001). A state prison inmate brought a [ss] 1983 action against a prison guard, alleging Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment violations resulting from an assault on the inmate. The district court ruled that the guard's actions were wanton and malicious, and were objectively unreasonable even though the inmate's injuries were de minimis. The court denied the guard qualified immunity and awarded the inmate $1,000 in compensatory damages and $500 in punitive damages. The court found that the guard struck the inmate three times across the face even though the guard admitted that there was no need to use force against the inmate, and he did not temper his response by utilizing non-forcible means available to him.

(Mt. McGregor Correctional Facility, New York)

U.S. District Court

PRISONER ON PRISONER ASSAULT

Swan v. U.S., 159 F.Supp.2d 1174 (N.D.Cal. 2001). A federal prison inmate brought an action against the United States and a prison staff psychologist alleging they failed to prevent an attack by another inmate, in violation of his Eighth Amendment rights. The district court granted summary judgment for the defendants. The court held that the psychologist did not act with deliberate indifference to the inmate's safety and was under no legal duty to disclose the inmate's confidential communications regarding a possible risk of harm from other inmates, or to pursue, on the inmate's behalf, protection that would have required disclosure of the inmate's counseling session statements. The inmate claimed that he provided information prior to the attack to the psychologist, who should have acted to prevent it. (Federal Corrections Institute, Dublin, California)

U.S. Appeals Court

PROTECTION FROM HARM

MEDICAL CARE

Thompson v. Upshur County, TX, 245 F.3d 447 (5th Cir. 2001). Parents whose son had died of medical conditions associated with his delirium tremens while he was a pretrial detainee in a county jail, sued under [section] 1983. The district court denied the defendants' motion for summary judgment on qualified immunity grounds and the defendants appealed. The appeals court affirmed in part and reversed in part. The appeals court held that the sheriff of the jail to which the detainee was first admitted was entitled to qualified immunity in connection with the death of the detainee, which occurred following his transfer to another county jail that had the detoxification facilities that his jail lacked. The sheriff of the jail in the receiving county did not violate any clearly established right in failing to instruct his staff on the potentially life-threatening nature of medical conditions associated with delirium tremens and was entitled to qualified immunity, according to the appeals court. But the appeals cour t found that a sergeant at the jail in which the detainee died was not entitled to qualified immunity because of fact questions as to whether she had instructed her subordinates not to disturb her at home unless a detainee was on the verge of death, or whether she had otherwise interfered with the detainee's receipt of medical care. (Upshur County Jail and Marion County Jail, Texas)

U.S. District Court

PRISONER ON PRISONER ASSAULT

Wells v. Jefferson County Sheriff Dept., 159 F.Supp.2d 1002 (S.D.Ohio 2001). A former inmate filed a [section] 1983 against a county sheriffs department, sheriff and two deputy officers employed at a county jail. The district court granted summary judgment for the defendants. The court found that jail officers were not liable for failing to protect the inmate from another prisoner who had previously attacked him. The officers moved the former inmate to a different cell block upon learning of the history between inmates, and the former inmate did not allege that he experienced any physical injury as the result of being attacked a second time. The court held that the former inmate's allegations that the single blanket he was allowed in a holding cell was not adequate to keep him warm, and that cockroaches climbed on him while he slept, did not state Eighth Amendment claims where he did not complain to any officers or officials that the cell was uncomfortable or unsanitary. (Jefferson County Jail, Ohio)