Opinion ID: 200090
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Kiman's allegations of constitutional violations

Text: 35 So far, we have mentioned but not explained our conclusion that Kiman has alleged facts sufficient to establish constitutional violations in this case. We now give our reasons for thinking so. It is clearly established that the Eighth Amendment's prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment forbids prison authorities from subjecting a prison inmate to inhumane conditions. See Hope v. Pelzer, ___ U.S. ___, ___, ___ _ ___, 122 S.Ct. 2508, 2514, 2516-18, 153 L.Ed.2d 666 (2002). In Hope, the Court reversed a grant of summary judgment on the question of qualified immunity to prison officials who, in the absence of any emergency, cruelly and unusually punished an inmate by 36 knowingly subject[ing] him to a substantial risk of physical harm, to unnecessary pain caused by ... handcuffs and [a] restricted position of confinement for a 7-hour period, to unnecessary exposure to the heat of the sun, to prolonged thirst and taunting, and to a deprivation of bathroom breaks that created a risk of particular discomfort and humiliation. 37 Id. at 2514. To claim cruel and unusual punishment based on the conditions of confinement, a plaintiff must show deliberate indifference to health or safety on the part of prison officials. Estelle, 429 U.S. at 104-05. As a general matter, prison officials are deliberately indifferent when they do nothing despite obvious and known risks. Farmer v. Brennan, 511 U.S. 825, 837-38, 114 S.Ct. 1970, 128 L.Ed.2d 811 (1994). 38 Kiman's allegations meet this standard, at least at this stage of the case. Permitting him the means for his daily walks, cuffing his hands in front rather than in back, providing him with a chair for his shower, exempting him from food lines, and giving him a cell that did not require him to climb stairs are matters of apparently small import to the prison yet of enormous significance to Kiman. The prison's failure to do these things, in the context of his illness and its consequent disabilities, can easily be called deliberate indifference to his welfare. See Weeks, 984 F.2d 185. Failure to provide him with accessible sanitary facilities may rise to the same level. See LaFaut, 834 F.2d at 392-94. So too the allegedly deliberate (indeed, allegedly malicious) denial of prescribed medications. See Miranda v. Munoz, 770 F.2d 255, 257-59 (1st Cir.1985). 9 39 We conclude that Kiman has alleged violations of the Eighth Amendment. Accordingly, we hold that Kiman may proceed with his suit against the Department, because Title II of the ADA as applied to the facts of this case properly enforces the Eighth Amendment (as incorporated against the states by the Fourteenth) and abrogates New Hampshire's immunity from private suit. It may be that on remand Kiman will fail to prove his allegations, or that the Department, which has not yet answered Kiman's complaint, may allege and prove other facts that rebut the inference of deliberate indifference. To the extent that Kiman's allegations may also state violations of Title II that do not violate the Constitution — his complaint refers at one point to a negligent violation of Title II — we leave the disposition of those claims to the district court, based on the principles we have set forth, after elaboration of the facts and further briefing by the parties.