Opinion ID: 6931624
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: mr. belcher’s constitutional rights

Text: Mr. Belcher was a pretrial detainee when he committed suicide. Although “the Eighth Amendment prohibitions against cruel and unusual punishment do not apply to pretrial detainees,” Tittle v. Jefferson County Comm’n, 10 F.3d 1535, 1539 n. 3 (11th Cir.1994) (en banc) (citing Ingraham v. Wright, 430 U.S. 651, 671-72 n. 40, 97 S.Ct. 1401, 1412-13 n. 40, 51 L.Ed.2d 711 (1977)), this Court has held that “in regard to providing pretrial detainees with such basic necessities as food, living space, and medical care the minimum standard allowed by the due process clause is the same as that allowed by the eighth amendment for convicted persons,” Hamm v. DeKalb County, 774 F.2d 1567, 1574 (11th Cir.1985); accord Tittle, 10 F.3d at 1539; Edwards v. Gilbert, 867 F.2d 1271, 1274 (11th Cir.1989). Under the Eighth Amendment, prisoners have a right to receive medical treatment for illness and injuries, Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97, 103-05, 97 S.Ct. 285, 290-91, 50 L.Ed.2d 251 (1976), which encompasses a right to psychiatric and mental health care, Rogers v. Evans, 792 F.2d 1052, 1058 (11th Cir.1986), and a right to be protected from self-inflicted injuries, including suicide, Edwards, 867 F.2d at 1274-75. Prison guards who display deliberate indifference to the serious medical and psychiatric needs of a prisoner, or deliberate indifference to a “strong likelihood” that a prisoner will take his own life, violate the Eighth Amendment and may be hable under section 1983. Estelle, 429 U.S. at 104-05, 97 S.Ct. at 291; Edwards, 867 F.2d at 1274-75; Rogers, 792 F.2d at 1058.