United States Court of Appeals 

For the Seventh Circuit 

Chicago, Illinois 60604 

Submitted September 2, 2020*

Decided September 4, 2020 

Before 

DAVID F. HAMILTON, Circuit Judge 

MICHAEL B. BRENNAN, Circuit Judge 

AMY J. ST. EVE, Circuit Judge

No. 19-2764 

ARTHUR BEATTY, SR., 

Plaintiff-Appellant, 

v. 

HENSHAW and HOOLEY, 

 Defendants-Appellees.

 Appeal from the United States District 

Court for the Southern District of Indiana, 

Indianapolis Division. 

No. 1:19-cv-00622-JRS-DML 

James R. Sweeney II, 

Judge. 

O R D E R 

After another inmate tried to frame him as a snitch to get him attacked, Arthur 

Beatty, Sr., asked prison officials to investigate and remove that inmate from his 

dormitory. Not only did the officials refuse, he alleges, they also threatened that if he 

*

 The defendants were not served with process and are not participating in this 

appeal. We have agreed to decide the case without oral argument because the brief and 

record adequately present the facts and legal arguments, and oral argument would not 

significantly aid the court. See FED. R. APP. P. 34(a)(2)(C). 

NONPRECEDENTIAL DISPOSITION 

To be cited only in accordance with Fed. R. App. P. 32.1 
No. 19-2764 Page 2 

 

continued to press the issue, they would transfer him out of his favorable housing 

assignment and write him up for unfounded disciplinary violations. Beatty filed suit, 

alleging that the officials were threatening him to deter protected speech and that they 

were deliberately indifferent to the risk of violent attacks. The district court ruled that 

Beatty failed to state a claim and dismissed the case. Because Beatty adequately alleged 

a violation of his First Amendment rights, we vacate the judgment in part and remand 

for further proceedings. We affirm the judgment in all other respects. 

We set forth the allegations in Beatty’s amended complaint and take them to be 

true for purposes of our review. O’Brien v. Vill. of Lincolnshire, 955 F.3d 616, 618 (7th Cir. 

2020). Beatty lives in his prison’s, the Correctional Industrial Facility, “Faith Dorm,” 

which, according to a brochure attached to the pleadings, see Amin Ijbara Equity Corp. v. 

Vill. of Oak Lawn, 860 F.3d 489, 493 n.2 (7th Cir. 2017), “offers a different and better way 

to do time” by providing “a safe, peaceful life in prison” focused on one’s faith and 

positive life change. In late 2018, he was having “minor problems” with his cellmates. 

He confided in his close friend, inmate Utah Dockery. But their friendship deteriorated 

when Beatty tried to intervene in an argument between Dockery and another inmate, 

and Dockery incorrectly believed that Beatty sided with his adversary. Meanwhile, 

prison officials moved Beatty into a different cell with Michael Miller. Beatty and Miller 

had previously shared a cell and had a contentious relationship. 

The next day, another inmate found a note on the floor in a common area of the 

dormitory. It read: “My cellmate Michael Miller is gone off of his medication and I am 

afraid he may do something to hurt me. I want him moved immediately!!!” The inmate 

gave the note to Hooley,1 a prison counselor, who turned it over to Internal Affairs. All 

the inmates in the Faith Dorm found out about the note, and Miller assumed that Beatty 

had written it. But, Beatty says, Dockery was responsible for the note, though it was 

written by another inmate because Dockery could not write legibly himself. Beatty told 

Hooley and a prison chaplain, Henshaw, that Dockery had planted the note, putting 

Beatty at risk of being attacked by Miller for being a “snitch.” He also said that other 

inmates were discussing how to retaliate against him for the note. 

Concerned for his safety, Beatty “began to continually contact” Hooley and 

Henshaw “about the status of the investigation [into the note] and what may be done 

1 Neither defendant’s first name is in the record. 
No. 19-2764 Page 3 

 

about removing Dockery from the ‘Faith Dorm.’” They promised to “investigate the 

matter” if they could talk to the inmate who wrote the note for Dockery. The scribe then 

went to them and explained that he had written the note and that he thought that 

Dockery had given it to prison officials “a long time ago.” 

 

Instead of proceeding with the investigation, however, Hooley and Henshaw 

began to “thwart and impede” it. They told Beatty that pursuing the matter “is not 

gonna turn out good for [him],” and that “he should not be ‘talking about this anymore 

or something would happen.’” They also laughed when Beatty reiterated his concerns 

about potential violence by other inmates, leaving Beatty anxious and with the 

impression that they would “do nothing” to stop any future attacks. Hooley and 

Henshaw told Beatty that if he filed a grievance or talked about the note “too much,” 

they would remove him from the Faith Dorm, write disciplinary reports about him, or 

move him to another unit under the pretense of his “safety concerns.” 

Because he did not want to lose the benefits of the Faith Dorm program, Beatty 

refused protective custody and instead “hope[d] that no one would hurt him over the 

‘note.’” In fact, “[n]o one has hurt him yet.” But Hooley and Henshaw allowed Dockery 

to stay in the Faith Dorm, Beatty says, so that Beatty would either be attacked or 

incentivized to independently “move off the dorm (and leave his most beneficial 

programming).” As shown by exhibits to the complaint, Beatty filed grievances about 

Hooley and Henshaw’s failure to investigate the note and their threats against him for 

speaking up, but his grievances were rejected. Beatty alleged that Hooley and 

Henshaw’s threats have caused him psychological trauma and anxiety, and on appeal 

he adds that he has lost sleep, lost weight, and “lost faith” in going to prison officials for 

help.2 

Based on these allegations, Beatty sued Hooley and Henshaw. In his amended 

complaint, he alleged that they threatened to retaliate against him in violation of the 

First Amendment and failed to protect him from potential attacks in violation of the 

Eighth Amendment. See 42 U.S.C. § 1983. (He also sued Dockery but later voluntarily 

dismissed him from the suit.) The district court dismissed the amended complaint 

2 We may consider allegations first raised on appeal if they are consistent with 

the amended complaint. W. Bend Mut. Ins. Co. v. Schumacher, 844 F.3d 670, 678 n. 21 

(7th Cir. 2016). 
No. 19-2764 Page 4 

 

under 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(b)(1) for failure to state a claim, concluding that Beatty failed to 

allege a deprivation likely to deter First Amendment activity. It reasoned that Beatty 

did not have a right to “continually contact” the officials to persuade them to “take [his 

preferred] remedial action (removal of Dockery from the dorm)” and that Dockery’s 

attempt to label Beatty a snitch did not create a constitutional obligation for officials to 

investigate. The court further concluded that Beatty did not state an Eighth Amendment 

claim because the defendants “took reasonable measures to guarantee Beatty’s safety.” 

On appeal, Beatty contends that he adequately alleged a First Amendment claim 

based on “anticipatory retaliation” because the officials’ as-yet-unexecuted threats of 

unfounded disciplinary charges and moving him out of the Faith Dorm were severe 

enough to deter an inmate from filing grievances or lawsuits. We have cautioned that 

referring to “retaliation” in the First Amendment context “divert[s] attention from the 

rule that both threats designed to deter future speech and penalties for past speech are 

forbidden.” Fairley v. Andrews, 578 F.3d 518, 525 (7th Cir. 2009). Here, too, the 

characterization of the claim as backward-looking retaliation distracts from the 

principle that “the first amendment protects speakers from threats of punishment that 

are designed to discourage future speech.” Id. Beatty’s claim is no more than a 

“chilling” claim: that he is being threatened with reprisals to keep him quiet about the 

defendants’ inaction. See Surita v. Hyde, 665 F.3d 860, 878 (7th Cir. 2011). Beatty had to 

allege only that the “conduct by the defendants would likely deter a person of ordinary 

firmness from continuing to engage in protected activity” and that his potential speech 

was “at least a motivating cause” of the defendants’ threat of punishment. Id. at 878–79.

We conclude that Beatty stated such a claim by alleging that Hooley and 

Henshaw threatened to punish him if he continued to ask for protective measures or 

complained about their alleged refusal to investigate and their threats. Raising concerns 

about safety or other prison conditions is a “constitutionally protected activity.” 

Daugherty v. Page, 906 F.3d 606, 610 (7th Cir. 2018) (complaints and grievances); 

Holleman v. Zatecky, 951 F.3d 873, 878 (7th Cir. 2020) (lawsuits). And Beatty sufficiently 

alleged causation by asserting that Hooley and Henshaw told him they would punish 

him for complaining or filing a grievance or lawsuit. See Surita, 665 F.3d at 879; Dobbey 

v. Ill. Dep't of Corr., 574 F.3d 443, 446 (7th Cir. 2009) (accepting as true plaintiff’s 

allegation of causal connection). 
No. 19-2764 Page 5 

 

Further, Beatty alleged a sufficiently serious threat. The district court focused 

solely on the defendants’ refusal to enact Beatty’s “preferred solution” (removing 

Dockery from his orbit). That would indeed be inadequate, see Holleman, 951 F.3d at 879, 

but Beatty alleged more: He was threatened with trumped-up discipline and with an 

unfavorable transfer if he didn’t keep quiet. And “not only actual harms but also threats 

of harm can deter First Amendment activity.” Douglas v. Reeves, 964 F.3d 643, 649 

(7th Cir. 2020). For example, we have recognized “the coercive nature of threats to 

withhold even small sums [of money] from prisoners.” Id. 

Although not any threat will meet the threshold, the alleged threats here suffice 

to support a chilling claim at the pleadings stage. Threats of a transfer that would 

present a “serious change[] of circumstance,” like depriving Beatty of the beneficial 

Faith Dorm program, could deter an inmate from complaining. Cf. Holleman, 951 F.3d 

at 881 (collecting cases in which transfer constituted adequate adverse action). Likewise, 

threats to manufacture disciplinary charges could be severe enough to discourage 

speech. Cf. Dobbey, 574 F.3d at 445–47; Hughes v. Farris, 809 F.3d 330, 333–34 (7th Cir. 

2015). And because the test is objective, it does not matter for purposes of the First 

Amendment claim whether the threats deterred Beatty’s speech. See Douglas, 964 F.3d at 

646–47. 

Beatty further argues that he stated an Eighth Amendment claim because the 

defendants deliberately refused to protect him from potential attacks. To state a claim, 

Beatty had to allege that Hooley and Henshaw knew of and disregarded a substantial 

risk of serious harm. Farmer v. Brennan, 511 U.S. 825, 834 (1994). Potential attacks from 

other inmates may constitute a substantial risk of harm. See Helling v. McKinney, 

509 U.S. 25, 33 (1993) (Eighth Amendment protects against future harm to inmates). But, 

even assuming there was sufficiently definite risk here, Beatty failed to allege that the 

defendants recklessly disregarded that risk. Refusing his demand to transfer Dockery is 

not indicative of deliberate indifference. “Prison officials do not violate the Eight 

Amendment because the mode of protection they offer does not sit well with a 

prisoner.” Dale v. Poston, 548 F.3d 563, 570 (7th Cir. 2008). Further, Beatty alleges that he 

was offered, but refused, protective custody. This suggests that, rather than deliberately 

ignoring the risk, the defendants took “reasonable measures to guarantee [Beatty’s] 

safety.” Sinn v. Lemmon, 911 F.3d 412, 419 (7th Cir. 2018). 
No. 19-2764 Page 6 

 

The judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED as to the Eighth Amendment 

claim and VACATED as to the First Amendment claim, and the case is REMANDED as 

to the First Amendment claim for further proceedings consistent with this order.