Civil Rights — cruel and unusual punishment

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United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit

Civil

Civil Rights — cruel and unusual punishment — qualified immunity

Prison officials who placed a prisoner in segregation for 182 days in 2009 are entitled to qualified immunity.

“As Hardaway admits in his appeal, ‘there is ambiguity among various Seventh Circuit cases regarding the proper baseline against which to measure conditions of disciplinary confinement.’ Although the district court would benefit from a bright-line rule on the types of conditions and duration of segregation give rise to a prisoner’s liberty interest, no such guidance has yet to be specifically addressed by this Court. Hence, even if Hardaway’s segregation amounted to the violation of a liberty interest, the Defendants should not be held responsible for incorrectly guessing otherwise due to the ambiguity of the parameters of the law. In sum, the right to avoid disciplinary segregation in a cell with a solid metal door and a confrontational cell mate for 182 days with weekly access to the shower and recreational yard was not a clearly established right in September 2009 when the conduct occurred. Therefore, the Defendants are entitled to qualified immunity.”

Affirmed.

12-2856 Hardaway v. Meyerhoff

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois, Gilbert, J., Bauer, J.