Opinion ID: 6328139
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Infestation of Roaches

Text: Mr. Sperry also claims that his cell swarmed with roaches for roughly 2 ½ months. This claim implicates the Eighth Amendment, which is violated only if the prison official recognizes and “disregards an excessive risk to inmate health or safety.” Farmer v. Brennan, 511 U.S. 825, 837 (1994). 7 Mr. Sperry acknowledges in the complaint that he was told that the defendants had an exterminator regularly spray for roaches. (He does not 7 In the complaint, Mr. Sperry alleged that at any one time, 3–20 roaches could be seen anywhere in the cell. Despite these allegations, the district court concluded that the alleged infestation was not serious enough to implicate the Eighth Amendment. We need not address this issue and express no opinion on the objective seriousness of the alleged infestation of roaches. 10 Appellate Case: 21-3009 Document: 010110664499 Date Filed: 03/30/2022 Page: 11 question the truthfulness of what was said.) Given the efforts to rid the cell of roaches, Mr. Sperry has failed to allege a plausible basis to infer conscious disregard to his health or safety. See Wishon v. Gammon, 978 F.2d 446, 449 (8th Cir. 1992) (upholding summary judgment for prison officials based on evidence that they regularly sprayed the cells for pests).