Arenas v. Calhoun

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The Fifth Circuit affirmed the district court's grant of summary judgment to a state prison officer in a 42 U.S.C. 1983 action alleging that the officer violated plaintiff's son's Eighth Amendment right against cruel and unusual punishment. In this case, the officer saw that plaintiff's son was hanging from a noose around his neck with a bedsheet suspended from the ceiling sprinkler head. The officer could not tell whether the son was actually hanging and in need of medical assistance or was staging suicide to draw officers into the cell for an ambush. The office immediately summoned for backup and did not enter the cell until seven minutes later, where they found the son dead. The court held that the officer's actions did not amount to deliberate indifference where he faithfully adhered to operating procedure. Therefore, the court held that the officer did not effectively disregard the known risk that the son might commit suicide. View "Arenas v. Calhoun" on Justia Law