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Tenth Reinstates Gay Prisoner's Civil Rights Claims Against Prison Officials

By Shari Allison

Howard v. Wade, et al, 2008 WL 2814821 - The 10th reverses summary judgment in favor of most prison official defendants in this Eighth Amendment failure to protect civil rights case. The plaintiff, who is openly gay and of slight build, was repeatedly sexually abused and generally terrorized by members of a prison gang. He was transferred from one facility to another to get away from the gang, but the gang existed at the second facility, too, and members there found out about the plaintiff from members at the first facility and picked up where they left off. Applying Farmer v. Brennan,511 U.S. 825 (1994), the 10th found that, taken in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, the evidence showed that the conditions of plaintiff's incarceration presented an objective substantial risk of serious harm, and that the officials had subjective knowledge of the risk of harm...continue to full post

Full post as published by Tenth Circuit Blog on July 28, 2008 (boomark / email).