In Taylor v. Barkes, 135 S. Ct. 2042 (2015), the United States Supreme Court granted qualified immunity to prison officials who allegedly failed to supervise and monitor a private contractor that provided medical treatment to inmates.  The decedent committed suicide a day after mental health screened him at intake and determined […]

In Coleman v. Tollefson, 135 S. Ct. 1759 (2015), the Supreme Court held that a district court’s dismissal of an inmate’s complaint under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g)—frivolous, malicious, or fails to state a claim—counts as a “strike” for purposes of determining an inmate’s eligibility for in forma pauperis (IFP) status, even […]

In Castro v. County of Los Angeles, 785 F.3d 336 (9th Cir. 2015), the Ninth Circuit held that the design of a jail cell constitutes a formal policy for purposes of Monell liability. But because the Eighth Amendment’s deliberate-indifference element is a subjective standard, there must be proof that a policymaker with authority […]

In Cortez v. Skol, 776 F.3d 1046 (9th Cir. 2015), the Ninth Circuit reversed summary judgment on a § 1983 claim in favor of a prison guard who allegedly failed to protect an inmate from an attack by two other inmates during a prison escort.  The guard had been escorting three […]

In Holt v. Hobbs, 135 S.Ct. 853 (2015), the Supreme Court held that a prison’s grooming policy that prohibited inmates from growing ½-inch beards violated the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act because it imposed a substantial burden on the inmate’s exercise of his Muslim faith. The court held that […]