Opinion ID: 76148
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Constitutional Violation Under the Fourteenth Amendment

Text: 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.