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

Where allegedly cruel conditions at jail had been remedied, summary judgment was properly granted to the defendants on a cruel and unusual punishment claim seeking an injunction.

“CCA presented an affidavit from 2011 in which the jail warden testified that measures had been taken to remedy the aforementioned problems in 2008 and 2009, after the Appellants had left the jail. Appellants do not dispute these remedial measures were taken.”

“As the district court properly stated, under § 1983, declaratory or injunctive relief is only proper if there is a continuing violation of federal law. Green v. Mansour, 474 U.S. 64, 73 (1985). ‘When there is no continuing violation of federal law, injunctive relief is not part of a federal court’s remedial powers.’ Al-Alamin v. Gramley, 926 F.2d 680, 685 (7th Cir. 1991). Therefore, due to the lack of evidence of any ongoing constitutional violations, the district court had no choice. The grant of summary judgment was proper.”

Affirmed.

11-2950 Kress v. CCA of Tennessee LLC

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, McKinney, J., Bauer J.