Velez v. Johnson.U.S. Appeals Court PRISONER ON PRISONER ASSAULT SUPERVISION Velez v. Johnson, 395 F.3d 732 (7th Cir. 2005). A county jail detainee de·tain·ee n. A person held in custody or confinement: a political detainee. Noun 1. detainee - some held in custody political detainee brought a [section] 1983 action against a county correctional officer, alleging that the officer failed to protect him from an assault by another inmate INMATE. One who dwells in a part of another's house, the latter dwelling, at the same time, in the said house. Kitch. 45, b; Com. Dig. Justices of the Peace, B 85; 1 B. & Cr. 578; 8 E. C. L. R. 153; 2 Dowl. & Ry. 743; 8 B. & Cr. 71; 15 E. C. L. R. 154; 2 Man. & Ry. 227; 9 B. & Cr. by failing to adequately respond and investigate the situation when the detainee pushed the emergency call button in his cell. The detainee had unsuccessfully attempted to alert the officer who checked the cell during his rounds, but his cellmate cell·mate n. A person with whom one shares a cell, especially in a prison. was holding a razor to his neck at the time. After the officer left the area, the detainee pushed the emergency call button in his cell, hoping for help. The detainee had to choose his words carefully and said he was "not getting along" with his cellmate. The officer did not investigate the situation nor ask the other officers to do so. The detainee was raped by his cellmate, bitten on his back several times, and cut on his neck. The district court denied the officer's motion for summary judgment motion for summary judgment n. a written request for a judgment in the moving party's favor before a lawsuit goes to trial and based on recorded (testimony outside court) affidavits (or declarations under penalty of perjury), depositions, admissions of fact, answers on the basis of qualified immunity Qualified immunity is a doctrine in United States law providing immunity from suit to government officials performing discretionary functions when their action did not violate clearly established law. Qualified immunity was created by the U.S. and the officer appealed. The appeals court affirmed, finding that the detainee need not show that the officer had a specific awareness that an assault would occur, but that it was sufficient to show that the officer failed to act despite his knowledge of a substantial risk of harm. The court held that the detainee had a clearly established Fourteenth Amendment Fourteenth Amendment, addition to the U.S. Constitution, adopted 1868. The amendment comprises five sections. Section 1 Section 1 of the amendment declares that all persons born or naturalized in the United States are American citizens and citizens right to be free from the officer's deliberate indifference to an assault by another inmate. (Milwaukee County Jail, Wisconsin) |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion