Cruel and Unusual Punishment

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Civil

7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Officials: POSNER, ROVNER, and HAMILTON, Circuit Judges

Cruel and Unusual Punishment

No. 14-1952 Pedro Diaz v. Malcolm Davidson

Refusal to provide inmate with gloves and hat in order to exercise held not to be cruel and unusual punishment due to Appellants failure to connect the failure to provide said items with indifference on behalf of the respondent-defendant.

“But although the record compiled in the district court suggests that the plaintiff’s federal rights may have been violated—see, e.g., Lopez v. Smith, 203 F.3d 1122, 1132–33 (9th Cir. 2000) (en banc); Turley v. Rednour, supra, 729 F.3d at 652; Delaney v. DeTella, 256 F.3d 679, 683–84 (7th Cir. 2001)—his suit must fail because he does not allege that the failure to provide him with a hat and gloves reflected indifference on the part of the defendants to his need for those items. “[I]n a case like this, an inmate must allege actual knowledge of impending harm easily preventable.” Id. As far as appears, the defendant guards gave him what they were required by the prison’s policy to give him in the way of clothing when he exercised outdoors in cold weather without realizing, or being irresponsible in failing to realize, that he needed gloves and a hat to do the specific exercises that he needed to do for his back. As for the warden, his knowledge of Diaz’s problem, so far as the record reveals, was extremely limited. The warden received only one pertinent grievance from Diaz, which complained that on one occasion he’d been left outdoors without a hat and gloves for two hours. There was no suggestion that this was other than an isolated failure to equip him properly for the cold.”

Affirmed

Hamilton concurring.

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