Tommy L. Mosley, Jr. v. Lt. Towanda Zachery, 966 F.3d 1265

In August 2014 Shaun Taylor underwent a disciplinary hearing where inmate Tommy Mosley’s written statement (denying seeing a cellphone) was read; Taylor was found guilty of interfering with a search but not guilty of the cellphone charge.
Several hours after the hearing Taylor confronted Mosley in Mosley’s cell and later, around 11:00 a.m., again threatened to kill him; Mosley reported that threat to Lieutenant Towanda Zachery.
Lt. Zachery told Mosley she would “have his back,” would look into moving Taylor, and instructed Mosley to return to his (separate, lockable) cell for the scheduled, closely supervised count time; Lt. Zachery was the shift supervisor overseeing the count.
Moments after Mosley returned to his cell for count, Taylor forced Mosley into a cell, assaulted him, and caused superficial injuries.
Mosley sued under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for Eighth Amendment failure to protect; the district court granted summary judgment to Lt. Zachery, and the Eleventh Circuit affirmed.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether Lt. Zachery was objectively deliberately indifferent by not immediately placing Mosley in protective custody after the reported death threat	Mosley: a report that a prisoner fears for his life requires immediate protective custody until investigation; anything less is unreasonable	Zachery: she reasonably investigated, kept Mosley separated and supervised during count, and followed prison procedures rather than immediately segregating him	Court: Affirmed—given facts known to Zachery, her response (investigate, supervise during count, consider transfer) was objectively reasonable; no deliberate indifference on summary judgment
Whether the court should adopt a categorical rule requiring immediate segregation any time an inmate reports fear for life	Mosley urged such a per se rule	Zachery argued no categorical rule; assessment must be contextual	Court: Rejected categorical rule; reasonableness is fact-specific and judged by what the official knew at the time (court declined to adopt plaintiff’s rule)

Farmer v. Brennan, 511 U.S. 825 (1994) (Eighth Amendment deliberate indifference standard for prison officials)
Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520 (1979) (deference to prison administrators on policies to preserve order and security)
Hudson v. Palmer, 468 U.S. 517 (1984) (prison officials’ duty to guarantee inmate safety)
Marsh v. Butler Cty., 268 F.3d 1014 (11th Cir. 2001) (conditions-based Eighth Amendment liability where officials did nothing to address systemic risks)
Cottone v. Jenne, 326 F.3d 1352 (11th Cir. 2003) (objectively unreasonable response where officers failed to monitor visibly violent inmates)
Marbury v. Warden, 936 F.3d 1227 (11th Cir. 2019) (rejecting per se entitlement to protective custody from mere report of unspecified threat)
Bowen v. Warden, Baldwin State Prison, 826 F.3d 1312 (11th Cir. 2016) (deliberate indifference requires both subjective awareness and objectively unreasonable response)