Opinion ID: 76148
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Liability of Guards D'Elia and Williams

Text: 18 We first examine whether the plaintiffs' amended complaint alleges a Fourteenth Amendment violation committed by defendants D'Elia and Williams. 19
20 A prison official's deliberate indifference to a known, substantial risk of serious harm to an inmate violates the [Fourteenth] Amendment. Marsh, 268 F.3d at 1028. A Fourteenth Amendment violation occurs when a substantial risk of serious harm, of which the official is subjectively aware, exists and the official does not respond reasonably to the risk. Id. Furthermore, such risk must be an objectively substantial risk of serious harm to prisoners, and the prison official must respond to that risk in an objectively unreasonable manner. Farmer v. Brennan, 511 U.S. 825, 834, 844-845, 114 S.Ct. 1970, 128 L.Ed.2d 811 (1994). Finally, a plaintiff must show that the constitutional violation caused the injury. Marsh, 268 F.3d at 1028. 21 We conclude that the plaintiffs' amended complaint sufficiently alleges a violation of Cottone's Fourteenth Amendment rights. According to the amended complaint, Cottone's co-inmate, Charles, had a history of violent outbursts and mental instability and was in the midst of a violent schizophrenic outrage prior to his murdering Cottone. Given his visibly violent, mentally unstable state, Charles posed an objective risk of serious harm to other inmates, including Cottone. 22 Furthermore, based on the allegations in the plaintiffs' amended complaint, D'Elia and Williams were subjectively aware of the substantial risk of serious harm that Charles posed to the other inmates. First, D'Elia and Williams were assigned to Unit 1 in the North Broward Detention Center. Thus, D'Elia and Williams knew they were monitoring mentally ill inmates, who were so mentally ill that they had been assessed, classified, and separated for housing in Unit 1 of the North Broward Detention Center. Second, they were aware of the substantial risk of serious harm that Charles individually posed to other inmates based on his violent, schizophrenic outbursts which occurred prior to the murder incident. They were the guards on duty when Charles entered the throws of a violent schizophrenic outburst prior to murdering Cottone. 23 D'Elia's and Williams's response to the risk also was objectively unreasonable. According to the plaintiffs' amended complaint, neither D'Elia nor Williams was monitoring the inmates at all during the time either of Charles's violent schizophrenic outburst prior to the murder or of Charles's murder of Cottone. Plaintiffs allege that D'Elia and Williams took consecutive breaks during this time and that a computer game was observed on the computer screen at their monitoring station at the time of the murder. 24 Plaintiffs' amended complaint also alleges that the total lack of monitoring and supervision of Charles caused Cottone's death. They further allege that D'Elia's and Williams's failure to monitor a known violent, unstable inmate, like Charles, caused Cottone's death. 25 In sum, at this Rule 12(b)(6) stage, we conclude that the plaintiffs' amended complaint adequately alleges (1) an objective, substantial risk of serious harm to inmates existed, (2) D'Elia and Williams subjectively were aware of the substantial risk of serious harm, (3) D'Elia and Williams responded in an objectively unreasonable manner to that risk, and (4) this constitutional violation caused Cottone's death.
26 Because the plaintiffs' amended complaint sufficiently alleges a constitutional violation, we next determine whether preexisting law clearly established that the defendants' conduct amounted to a constitutional violation. Vinyard, 311 F.3d at 1349 (Because [the defendant]'s conduct violated a constitutional right, the next question is whether that constitutional right was `clearly established' at the time of the violation.); Marsh, 268 F.3d at 1030-31 (A government-officer defendant is entitled to qualified immunity unless, at the time of the incident, the preexisting law dictates, that is, truly compels, the conclusion ... that what Defendant was doing violated Plaintiffs' federal rights.) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). `The relevant, dispositive inquiry in determining whether a right is clearly established is whether it would be clear to a reasonable officer that his conduct was unlawful in the situation he confronted.' Vinyard, 311 F.3d at 1350 (quoting Saucier, 533 U.S. at 202, 121 S.Ct. 2151). In making this inquiry, the salient question ... is whether the state of the law ... gave [the guards] fair warning that their alleged [conduct] was unconstitutional. Hope, 122 S.Ct. at 2516. 27 We can locate at least two factually similar cases, decided prior to the conduct in question, in which a lack of monitoring and supervision of known violent inmates, which led to inmate-on-inmate violence, constituted impermissible unconstitutional conduct. In LaMarca v. Turner, 995 F.2d 1526, 1536-38 (11th Cir.1993), this Court determined that a prison official's failure to ensure adequate supervision and monitoring of inmates with a history of inmate-on-inmate violence was a violation of the Eighth Amendment. In LaMarca, despite reported incidents of prior inmate-on-inmate violence, prison authorities did not station officers to patrol throughout the inmate dormitories, particularly at night. Id. at 1538. Prison authorities also allowed inmates to hang sheets, obstructing the guards' views, and preventing them from adequately supervising the inmates. Id. Thus, in LaMarca, there was an absence of adequate supervision despite a substantial risk of serious harm from inmate-on-inmate violence. 28 Similarly, in Hale v. Tallapoosa County, 50 F.3d 1579, 1584 (11th Cir.1995), an inmate was assaulted by another inmate during the lengthy time between the jailer's scheduled rounds. Id. at 1581. This assault occurred despite past incidents of inmate-on-inmate violence because, other than making rounds, the jailer in Hale was stationed out of eyesight and earshot of the inmates. Id. at 1584. Based on these facts, this Court in Hale recognized unconstitutional conditions of confinement existed because there was a lack of inmate supervision and a substantial risk of serious harm from known violent inmates. 29 The plaintiffs have made similar allegations in this case. Under the plaintiffs' version of the facts, the guards knew that Charles represented a substantial risk of serious harm because he was violent, out-of-control and in the throes of schizophrenia during his detention in Unit 1 prior to the murder incident. D'Elia and Williams were assigned to supervise Charles as one of the mentally ill inmates in Unit 1, but did not do so. Instead, they took consecutive breaks and watched video games. Thus, just as there was no supervision of known violent inmates in LaMarca and Hale, in this case guards D'Elia and Williams did not monitor and supervise Charles, a known violent inmate who posed a substantial risk of serious harm to the other inmates. 30 We conclude that prior factually similar case law gave fair and clear warning to D'Elia and Williams that it was their duty to monitor and to supervise known violent inmates who posed a substantial risk of serious harm to other inmates. See Vinyard, 311 F.3d at 1346. The law of this circuit clearly establishes that their total failure to monitor a known violent inmate housed in Unit 1, a housing unit for mentally ill inmates, constitutes unconstitutional deliberate indifference to Cottone's Fourteenth Amendment rights. Thus, given the plaintiffs' version of the events, defendants D'Elia and Williams are not entitled to qualified immunity at this Rule 12(b)(6) stage. 31