Prisoner – Deliberate Indifference

Listen to this article

7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Levi A. Lord v. Joseph Beahm, et al.

Case No.: 19-1346

Officials: EASTERBROOK, BRENNAN, and SCUDDER, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Prisoner – Deliberate Indifference

Levi Lord, an inmate in the Waupun Correctional Institution in Wisconsin, exposed himself to a female guard. After the guard told him that she would write him up and walked away, Lord began yelling that he had a razor blade and intended to kill himself. A short while later, a male guard went to Lord’s cell, ordered him out, and saw he had minor scratches treatable with a gauze bandage. Lord nonetheless invoked 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and sued four guards for money damages, alleging that they acted with deliberate indifference to a material risk to his life by not responding faster to his suicide threat. The district court rejected the claim and entered summary judgment for the defendants.

Prison suicide is very real and very serious, but any fair reading of this record, even in the light most favorable to Lord, shows that he leveled an insincere threat of suicide to get attention and demonstrated no recoverable injury. Other fact patterns may yield different outcomes, but here the resolution is clear. We affirm, as Lord (thankfully) did not hurt himself and that reality leaves nothing for a jury to decide.

Affirmed

Full Text

Derek A Hawkins is trademark corporate counsel for Harley-Davidson. Hawkins oversees the prosecution and maintenance of the Harley-Davidson’s international trademark portfolio in emerging markets.