Court Opinion

ID: 2964777
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2015-09-21 21:30:57.647326+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:11:58.742277
License: Public Domain

USCA1 Opinion

	

                                [NOT FOR PUBLICATION]
                           UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                                FOR THE FIRST CIRCUIT
                                ____________________
       No. 96-2229
       No. 97-1025
                               WALTER D. JOHNSON, JR.,
                                Plaintiff, Appellant,
                                         v.
                              MICHAEL MALONEY, ET AL.,
                               Defendants, Appellees.
                                ____________________
                    APPEALS FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
                          FOR THE DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS
                   [Hon. Douglas P. Woodlock, U.S. District Judge]
                                ____________________
                                       Before
                               Torruella, Chief Judge,
                          Stahl and Lynch, Circuit Judges.
                                ____________________
            Walter D. Johnson, Jr. on brief pro se.
            Nancy 
                 Ankers 
                       White,
                              Special Assistant Attorney General, and William
       D. Saltzman, Department of Correction, on brief for appellees.
                                ____________________
                                    June 5, 1997
                                ____________________

                 Per  Curiam.    While  incarcerated  at  MCI-Norfolk  in
            Massachusetts,  plaintiff  Walter  Johnson  suffered   severe
            injuries upon being stabbed by a fellow inmate.  He filed the
            instant  S 1983  action  against  various  prison  officials,
            alleging,  inter alia,  that  they had  exhibited  deliberate
            indifference to  his safety and  health in  violation of  the
            Eighth Amendment.  The district court, after first dismissing
            the 
               action 
                      for 
                         want 
                              of 
                                 prosecution, then declined to vacate the
            order 
                 of 
                    dismissal 
                             on 
                                the independent ground that plaintiff had
            failed  to state  a claim.   See  Fed. R.  Civ. P.  12(b)(6).
            Plaintiff has appealed from both of these rulings.  We affirm
            on the latter ground alone.
                 We acknowledge  the seriousness of  the assault and  the
            severity of plaintiff's  injuries; we find no cause here,  on
            legal grounds, for extended discussion.  It is undisputed, of
            course, that "[p]rison  officials have a duty ... to  protect
            prisoners from  violence at  the hands  of other  prisoners."
            Farmer v. Brennan, 511 U.S. 825, 833 (1994) (quoting  Cortes-
            Quinones v. Jimenez-Nettleship, 842  F.2d 556, 558 (1st  Cir.
            1988) 
                 (original citation omitted)).  It is likewise clear that
            prison authorities  have a  responsibility to  attend to  the
            "serious medical needs of prisoners."  Estelle v. Gamble, 429
            U.S. 
                97, 
                    104 
                       (1976). 
                                
                                Yet the Eighth Amendment is violated only
            when  a   prison   official   has   manifested   "'deliberate
            indifference' to a  substantial risk of  serious harm" to  an
                                         -2-

            inmate's safety  or health.   Farmer, 511 U.S.  at 828.   And
            deliberate indifference  requires  a showing  of  "subjective
            recklessness," id. at 839--i.e., a showing that "the official
            knows of and disregards an excessive risk to inmate health or
            safety," id. at 837.  
                 Nothing in plaintiff's amended complaint, even with  all
            reasonable inferences drawn in his favor, would permit such a
            finding.  With respect to the stabbing incident, his  factual
            allegations 
                       provide 
                              no 
                                 basis for concluding that the attack was
            in  any  way  foreseeable   or  that  the  named   defendants
            (supervisory 
                        officials all) had any inkling that such an event
            might occur.  Nor, assuming arguendo that the Farmer  inquiry
            does not  foreclose the matter,  has plaintiff proffered  any
            grounds for imposing supervisory liability on defendants  for
            the 
               behavior 
                        of a subordinate.  See, e.g., Seekamp v. Michaud,
            109 
               F.3d 
                    802, 808 (1st Cir. 1997).  Similarly, with respect to
            his   medical  treatment,   plaintiff  has   pointed  to   no
            circumstances  that would  permit  a  finding  of  deliberate
            indifference on the part of defendants.  
                 For these  reasons, it  "appears beyond  doubt that  the
            plaintiff can prove no set  of facts in support of his  claim
            which 
                 would 
                       entitle 
                              him 
                                  to relief."  Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S.
            41, 45-46  (1957)  (footnote omitted).   We  have  considered
            plaintiff's 
                       remaining claims and find them equally unavailing.
                                         -3-

            We therefore agree with the district court that dismissal for
            failure to state a claim was warranted.  
                 Affirmed.
                                         -4-