DAVIDSON v. CANNON ET AL.
No. 84-6470
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued November 6, 1985-Decided January 21, 1986
474 U.S. 344
James Douglas Crawford argued the cause and filed a brief for petitioner.
Madeleine Waters Mansier, Deputy Attorney General of New Jersey, argued the cause for respondents. With her on
Acting Solicitor General Fried argued the cause for the United States as amicus curiae urging affirmance. With him on the brief were Acting Assistant Attorney General Willard, Deputy Solicitor General Geller, Barbara L. Herwig, and Douglas N. Letter.*
JUSTICE REHNQUIST delivered the opinion of the Court.
Petitioner sued prison officials seeking damages under
James received the note at about 2 p.m. on December 19, and was informed of its contents. James then attended to other matters, which he described as emergencies, and left the note on his desk unread. By the time he left the prison that evening James had forgotten about the note, and since
Petitioner brought this
The Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, hearing the case en banc, reversed. 752 F. 2d 817 (1984). While accepting the District Court‘s conclusion that respondents had been negligent, and agreeing that the attack on petitioner impli-
Two judges who joined the majority opinion also wrote separately to suggest that even if respondents’ negligence had “deprived” petitioner of liberty, the State‘s decision not to provide a remedy, in view of its strong interest in protecting its prison officials from liability, did not violate due process. Three judges dissented, essentially embracing the position of the District Court.
We granted certiorari, 471 U. S. 1134 (1985), and set this case for oral argument with Daniels v. Williams, ante, p. 327. Finding the principles enunciated in Daniels controlling here, we affirm.
In Daniels, we held that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment is not implicated by the lack of due care of an official causing unintended injury to life, liberty, or property. In other words, where a government official is merely negligent in causing the injury, no procedure for compensation is constitutionally required. In this case, petitioner does not challenge the District Court‘s finding that respondents “‘did not act with deliberate or callous indifference to [petitioner‘s] needs,‘” 752 F. 2d, at 820. Instead, he claims only that respondents “negligently failed to protect him from another inmate.” Brief for Petitioner 2. Daniels therefore controls.
Respondents’ lack of due care in this case led to serious injury, but that lack of care simply does not approach the sort
In an effort to limit the potentially broad sweep of his claim, petitioner emphasizes that he “does not ask this Court to read the Constitution as an absolute guarantor of his liberty from assault by a fellow prisoner, even if that assault is caused by the negligence of his jailers.” Brief for Petitioner 17. Describing his claim as one of “procedural due process, pure and simple,” id., at 14, all he asks is that New Jersey provide him a remedy. But the Fourteenth Amendment does not require a remedy when there has been no “deprivation” of a protected interest. Petitioner‘s claim, based on respondents’ negligence, is quite different from one involving injuries caused by an unjustified attack by prison guards themselves, see Johnson v. Glick, 481 F. 2d 1028 (CA2), (Friendly, J.), cert. denied sub nom. John v. Johnson, 414 U. S. 1033 (1973), or by another prisoner where officials simply stood by and permitted the attack to proceed, see Curtis v. Everette, 489 F. 2d 516 (CA3 1973), cert. denied sub nom. Smith v. Curtis, 416 U. S. 995 (1974). As we held in Daniels, the protections of the Due Process Clause, whether procedural or substantive, are just not triggered by lack of due care by prison officials.
Accordingly, the judgment of the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit is affirmed.
It is so ordered.
[For opinion of JUSTICE STEVENS concurring in the judgment, see ante, p. 336].
I agree with the Court that merely negligent conduct by a state official, even though causing personal injury, does not constitute a deprivation of liberty under the Due Process Clause. I do believe, however, that official conduct which causes personal injury due to recklessness or deliberate indifference, does deprive the victim of liberty within the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment.
As JUSTICE BLACKMUN persuasively demonstrates in his dissent, the record in this case strongly suggests that the prison officials’ failure to protect petitioner from attack was reckless and not merely negligent. Accordingly, like JUSTICE BLACKMUN, I would vacate the judgment and remand this case so that the Court of Appeals may review the District Court‘s holding that respondents’ conduct was not reckless.
JUSTICE BLACKMUN, with whom JUSTICE MARSHALL joins, dissenting.
When the State of New Jersey put Robert Davidson in its prison, it stripped him of all means of self-protection. It forbade his access to a weapon.
The Court nevertheless excuses the prison officials from liability under
While I concur in the judgment in Daniels, I do not join the Court in extending that result to this case. It is one thing to hold that a commonplace slip and fall, or the loss of a $23.50 hobby kit, see Parratt v. Taylor, supra, does not rise to the dignified level of a constitutional violation. It is a somewhat different thing to say that negligence that permits anticipated inmate violence resulting in injury, or perhaps leads to the execution of the wrong prisoner, does not implicate the Constitution‘s guarantee of due process. When the State incarcerated Daniels, it left intact his own faculties for avoiding a slip and a fall. But the State prevented Davidson from defending himself, and therefore assumed some responsibility to protect him from the dangers to which he was exposed. In these circumstances, I feel that Davidson was deprived of liberty by the negligence of the prison officials. Moreover, the acts of the state officials in this case may well have risen to the level of recklessness. I therefore dissent.
I
Davidson broke up a fight between two other inmates. Two days later, on Friday, December 19, 1980, the three were brought before a prison disciplinary officer. Only one of the three, Gibbs, was found guilty of fighting. When Davidson and the other inmate, McMillian, returned to their unit, McMillian threatened Davidson. Davidson decided to report the threat, in part to exonerate himself in advance but primarily to get the prison officials to take precautions. App. 85 (District Court‘s findings of fact). See also id., at
Garcia delivered the note to respondent Cannon, Assistant Superintendent of the prison, and described its contents. Cannon did not think the threat serious because Davidson had not personally come to him to report it and because of the nature of the earlier fight. Id., at 44, 46. Cannon nonetheless asked to speak to Davidson, but changed his mind when he learned that Davidson had already returned to his unit. Id., at 42. Rather than take one of the usual preventive measures, such as separating the two inmates, placing Davidson in protective custody, or attempting to ascertain the gravity of the threat by talking to the two, id., at 44, Cannon simply told Garcia to pass the note along to respondent James, a Corrections Sergeant in the Internal Affairs Unit. Id., at 43.
Garcia followed Cannon‘s order, giving the note to James at approximately 2:15 p.m., and informing James that it concerned a threat to Davidson by McMillian. Id., at 38-39. Because James was not ordered to act immediately, he decided there was no urgency. James also decided not to follow the normal procedure of interviewing the complainant. Id., at 50. James had two other tasks that he considered to be of higher priority, id., at 61-paperwork and a report of a knife in a cell. James described the latter as an emergency situation; he conceded, however, that that cell had been double locked so that it was secure. Id., at 51. James’ regular shift ended at 4 p.m., but he worked a second shift that night as Assistant Center Keeper until 10:30 p.m. The Center Keeper ordinarily investigates threats to inmates, but again James took no action on the threat to Davidson. Id., at 54-55. The second shift was “normal and routine.” Id., at
Meanwhile, the prison authorities had been alerted to the potential violence through another channel. On Wednesday, December 17, Officer Gibson wrote a “Special Report” stating that an inmate source had told him the fight involving Davidson and McMillian was “not over yet.” Gibson recommended keeping Davidson and Gibbs in the detention area for their own protection. Id., at 80. This recommendation was apparently ignored, as both Davidson and McMillian remained in their regular unit.
Neither Cannon nor James worked during the weekend. Id., at 48. On Sunday, December 21, McMillian attacked Davidson, id., at 28, inflicting the injuries that gave rise to this suit.
II
The Court appears to recognize that the injuries to Davidson (as well as that to Daniels in the companion case, ante, p. 327) implicates the “liberty” protected by the Fourteenth Amendment. It is well established that this liberty includes freedom from unjustified intrusions on personal security. Ingraham v. Wright, 430 U. S. 651, 673-674 (1977). In particular, it includes a prisoner‘s right to safe conditions and to security from attack by other inmates. See Youngberg v. Romeo, 457 U. S. 307, 315-316 (1982).1 Before a State can
Although Daniels’ and Davidson‘s liberty interests were infringed, the Court holds that they were not “deprived” of liberty in the constitutional sense. In the past, we have held that the Fourteenth Amendment requires a “familiar two-stage analysis: We must first ask whether the asserted individual interests are encompassed within the Fourteenth Amendment‘s protection of ‘life, liberty or property.‘” Ingraham v. Wright, 430 U. S., at 672 (emphasis added). If so, “we then must decide what procedures constitute ‘due process of law.‘” Ibid. But I agree with the Court that a deprivation of liberty under the Fourteenth Amendment generally requires more than a mere infringement of a liberty interest. I also agree that the purpose of the Fourteenth Amendment‘s Due Process Clause should guide our determination of what actions constitute a deprivation of liberty under the Clause. A deprivation must contain some element of abuse of governmental power, for the “touchstone of due process is protection of the individual against arbitrary action of government.” Wolff v. McDonnell, 418 U. S. 539, 558 (1974). Finally, I agree that mere negligent activity ordinarily will not amount to an abuse of state power. Where the Court today errs, in my view, is in elevating this sensible rule of thumb to the status of inflexible constitutional dogma. The Court declares that negligent activity can never implicate the concerns of the Due Process Clause. I see no justification for this rigid view. In some cases, by any reasonable standard, governmental negligence is an abuse of power.2 This is one of those cases.
Moreover, this case does not raise the concern noted in Daniels, ante, at 332, that “[t]he only tie between the facts . . . and anything governmental in nature” is the identity of the parties. In Daniels, the negligence was only coincidentally connected to an inmate-guard relationship; the same incident could have occurred on any staircase. Daniels in jail was as able as he would have been anywhere else to protect himself against a pillow on the stairs. The State did not prohibit him from looking where he was going or from taking care to avoid the pillow.5
In contrast, where the State renders a person vulnerable and strips him of his ability to defend himself, an injury that results from a state official‘s negligence in performing his duty is peculiarly related to the governmental function. Negligence in such a case implicates the “‘[m]isuse of power, possessed by virtue of state law and made possible only because the wrongdoer is clothed with the authority of state law.‘” Monroe v. Pape, 365 U. S. 167, 184 (1961), quoting United States v. Classic, 313 U. S. 299, 326 (1941). The deliberate decision not to protect Davidson from a known threat
The Fourteenth Amendment is not “trivialized,” see Daniels, ante, at 332, by recognizing that in some situations negligence can lead to a deprivation of liberty. On the contrary, excusing the State‘s failure to provide reasonable protection to inmates against prison violence demeans both the Fourteenth Amendment and individual dignity.6
III
Even were I to accept the Court‘s rigid view of what constitutes a deprivation, I would not vote to affirm the judgment of the Court of Appeals. Although the District Court ruled that the prison officials’ conduct here was not reckless, there is substantial reason to doubt that conclusion. Since the Court of Appeals did not review the recklessness holding, I would remand the case for that review.
The Court has previously indicated that prison officials act recklessly when they disregard the potential for violence between a known violent inmate and a known likely victim. In Smith v. Wade, 461 U. S. 30 (1983), the Court recognized that a prison guard had acted recklessly in placing a known violent inmate in a cell shared by the previously victimized plaintiff and another inmate, without attempting to locate an empty cell nearby. The plaintiff, who had recently been removed from protective custody, was assaulted by his cellmates. It is far from clear that the officials in the present case were any less reckless.
Respondents “had the responsibility to care for plaintiff‘s safety, actual notice of the threat by an inmate with a known history of violence, and an opportunity to prevent harm to plaintiff.” App. 89 (District Court‘s conclusions of law). Both respondents knew that McMillian had threatened Davidson after the fight and that Davidson had reported the threat immediately. Although Cannon knew that McMillian was a troublemaker, id., at 41, he nonetheless chose to think that the situation was not serious. Id., at 42. Likewise, James decided to attend to other matters during the entire eight hours he worked after receiving the note. Id., at 86-87. Cannon and James intentionally delayed protecting Davidson‘s personal security in the face of a real and known possibility of violence. See Porm v. White, 762 F. 2d 635, 636-638 (CA8 1985). Cf. Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U. S. 97, 104-105 (1976) (intentional delay in providing necessary medical care to seriously ill inmate can constitute deliberate indifference and thus violate the Eighth Amendment). Cannon did not check on what James had found; James turned his back on the violence brewing for the weekend. Yet the risk
Even if negligence is deemed categorically insufficient to cause a deprivation under the Fourteenth Amendment, recklessness must be sufficient. Recklessness or deliberate indifference is all that a prisoner need prove to show that denial of essential medical care violated the Eighth Amendment‘s ban on cruel and unusual punishments. See Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U. S., at 104. The Due Process Clause provides broader protection than does the Eighth Amendment, see, e. g., Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U. S. 520 (1979); Ingraham v. Wright, 430 U. S. 651 (1977); Wolff v. McDonnell, 418 U. S., at 557-558; Revere v. Massachusetts General Hospital, 463 U. S. 239, 244 (1983), so a violation of the Due Process Clause certainly should not require a more culpable mental state.
IV
The deprivation of Davidson‘s liberty interest violated the Fourteenth Amendment if it occurred “without due process of law.” That condition is clearly satisfied. In both Parratt and Hudson, the Court held that where a deprivation of property was caused by a random and unauthorized act of a state official, it was impracticable for the State to provide process in advance and the State could satisfy procedural due process by a meaningful postdeprivation remedy, such as a tort suit. Parratt v. Taylor, 451 U. S., at 541; Hudson v. Palmer, 468 U. S., at 520-521. Even assuming the same is true for deprivations of liberty, New Jersey has failed to provide a meaningful postdeprivation remedy. By statute, the State has ruled: “Neither a public entity nor a public employee is liable for . . . any injury caused by . . . a prisoner to any other prisoner.”
Conduct that is wrongful under
Strong federal interests argue for allowing Davidson to bring his suit in the face of the New Jersey statute. See Ferri v. Ackerman, 444 U. S., at 198, n. 13. First, “a deprivation of a constitutional right is significantly different from and more serious than a violation of a state right and therefore deserves a different remedy even though the same act may constitute both a state tort and the deprivation of a constitutional right.” Monroe v. Pape, 365 U. S., at 196 (concurring opinion). Second, the legislative history of
Davidson has been denied “‘an opportunity . . . granted at a meaningful time and in a meaningful manner’ . . . ‘for [a] hearing appropriate to the nature of the case.‘” Logan v. Zimmerman Brush Co., 455 U. S. 422, 437 (1982) (citations omitted) (emphasis in original). Lacking a meaningful post-deprivation remedy in state court, Davidson was deprived of his liberty without due process of law.
I therefore would reverse the judgment of the Court of Appeals and order that the District Court award of $2,000 be reinstated. If I agreed with the rigid rule announced in Daniels-which I do not-I would vacate the judgment and remand the case for review of the District Court‘s finding that the respondents’ conduct was not reckless.