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Cruel and Unusual Punishment

By: Derek Hawkins//August 25, 2015//

Cruel and Unusual Punishment

By: Derek Hawkins//August 25, 2015//

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Civil

7th Circuit Court of Appeals

Officials: BAUER, ROVNER, and HAMILTON, Circuit Judges

Cruel and Unusual Punishment

No. 13-1057 David Gevas v. Christopher McLaughlin

District court’s grant of judgment as a matter to appellant-defendant was in error due to the fact that defendants were notified of Appellant’s complaint of cellmate threats to stab him.

“Certainly a prisoner may be expected to behave reasonably with respect to the dangers that prison life invariably presents. But a prisoner is not obligated to commit a disciplinary infraction in pursuit of his own safety. Prisons are, by their very nature, disciplinary, liberty-restricting environments in which “safety and order are paramount concerns.” Volkman v. Ryker, 736 F.3d 1084, 1092 (7th Cir. 2013); see also Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520, 546, 99 S. Ct. 1861, 1878 (1979) (recognizing that maintaining institutional security and preserving internal order and discipline are essential goals” in the prison setting). Prisoners are expected to follow orders and rules, not disobey them. It was the prison that placed Adkins and Gevas in a cell together; and once the defendants were made aware that Adkins was threatening Gevas, it was their obligation as prison officials to assess the reported danger and to take reasonable steps to address it if they found it to be a real one. The defendants may not attempt to transfer that obligation to Gevas by insisting that he go so far as to engage in insubordination in order to take himself out of danger. See Young v. Selk, 508 F.3d 868, 874 (8th Cir. 2007).”

Reversed and Remanded

Full Text


Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.

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