By: Derek Hawkins//March 11, 2019//
7th Circuit Court of Appeals
Case Name: Bruce Giles v. Salvador A. Godinez, et al.
Case No.: 15-3077
Officials: FLAUM, MANION, and ST. EVE, Circuit Judges.
Focus: 8th Amendment Violation
Bruce Giles is a prisoner in the custody of the Illinois Department of Corrections (the “Department”) who suffers from schizoaffective disorder. Giles filed this action pro se under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against several Department officials. He alleges the defendants violated his rights under the Eighth Amendment by being deliberately indifferent to his serious medical needs, subjecting him to unconstitutional conditions of confinement, and failing to protect him from other inmates. The district court granted summary judgment to the defendants and Giles now appeals. The district court’s conclusion was based largely on its holding that Giles could not establish the subjective elements of his claims because the defendants, who are all non-medical officials, appropriately relied on the judgment of medical professionals. Because we agree Giles cannot establish the defendants possessed a sufficiently culpable state of mind, we affirm.
Affirmed