Opinion ID: 2826173
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Boddie

Text: In Boddie, we left no doubt that sexual abuse by a corrections officer can give rise to an Eighth Amendment claim. 105 F.3d at 859. With respect to the Eighth Amendment’s objective component, Boddie made clear that “severe or repetitive sexual abuse of an inmate by a prison officer can be ‘objectively, sufficiently serious’ enough to constitute an Eighth Amendment violation.”4 Id. at 861. We held, however, that Boddie failed to state an Eighth Amendment claim after a female corrections officer made a pass at an him, squeezed his hand, touched his penis, called him a “sexy black devil,” and bumped into him “with her whole body vagina against penis.” See id. at 859‐60. We concluded that no single incident was sufficiently serious and that the series of incidents were not “cumulatively egregious” enough to reach constitutional dimensions. Id. at 861. Boddie also made clear that “[w]here no legitimate law enforcement or penological 4 purpose can be inferred from the defendant’s alleged conduct, the abuse itself may, in some circumstances, be sufficient evidence of a culpable state of mind.” Id. at 861; see also Hogan, 738 F.3d at 516. Here, the parties do not dispute that Crawford and Corley have satisfied the subjective prong. Accordingly, we focus our analysis on the Eighth Amendment’s objective component. 12 No. 14‐969‐cv Applying Boddie and other district court cases interpreting Boddie, the district court concluded that the isolated instances during which Prindle fondled Crawford and Corley’s genitalia did not rise to the level of a constitutional violation. The district court reasoned that, under Boddie, sexual abuse only states a cognizable Eighth Amendment claim if it occurs on more than one occasion, is “excessive in duration,” involves direct contact with an inmate’s genitalia (rather than contact through an inmate’s clothing, as was the case here), or causes “physical injury, penetration, or pain.” App’x 28‐30. Boddie does not support that narrow interpretation. Boddie held that sexual abuse by a corrections officer may constitute cruel and unusual punishment if it is “severe or repetitive.” 105 F.3d at 861 (emphasis added). Thus, a single incident of sexual abuse, if sufficiently severe or serious, may violate an inmate’s Eighth Amendment rights no less than repetitive abusive conduct. Recurrences of abuse, while not a prerequisite for liability, bear on the question of severity: Less severe but repetitive conduct may still be “cumulatively egregious” enough to violate the Constitution. Id. 13 No. 14‐969‐cv To show that an incident or series of incidents was serious enough to implicate the Constitution, an inmate need not allege that there was penetration, physical injury, or direct contact with uncovered genitalia. A corrections officer’s intentional contact with an inmate’s genitalia or other intimate area, which serves no penological purpose and is undertaken with the intent to gratify the officer’s sexual desire or humiliate the inmate, violates the Eighth Amendment. Similarly, if the situation is reversed and the officer intentionally brings his or her genitalia into contact with the inmate in order to arouse or gratify the officer’s sexual desire or humiliate the inmate, a violation is self‐evident because there can be no penological justification for such contact. And even if contact between an officer and an inmate’s genitalia was initially justified, if the officer finds no contraband, continued sexual contact may be actionable. In determining whether an Eighth Amendment violation has occurred, the principal inquiry is whether the contact is incidental to legitimate official duties, such as a justifiable pat frisk or strip search, or by contrast whether it is undertaken to arouse or gratify the officer or humiliate the inmate. See Whitley v. Albers, 475 U.S. 312, 320‐21 (1986) (explaining that 14 No. 14‐969‐cv the Eighth Amendment analysis turns on “whether force was applied in a good faith effort to maintain or restore discipline or maliciously and sadistically for the very purpose of causing harm” (internal quotation marks omitted)); accord Hudson, 503 U.S. at 6‐7 (same). To be sure, prison officials looking for contraband may subject inmates to reasonable strip searches and cavity searches. Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520, 560 (1979). Indeed prison security and safety may require frequent searches of an intensely personal nature―and not every such search is properly the subject of a lawsuit. Searches that do not uncover contraband may be no less penologically justified than those that do. And even an officer who is meticulous in conducting a search does not violate an inmate’s constitutional rights as long as the officer had no intention of humiliating the inmate or deriving sexual arousal or gratification from the contact. But a search may not be undertaken maliciously or for the purposes of sexually abusing an inmate. See Hudson v. Palmer, 468 U.S. 517, 528 (1984). 15 No. 14‐969‐cv