United States Seventh Circuit
Smith v. Peters, 10-1013
In a prisoner's civil rights suit claiming that prison employees violated the Eighth Amendment by forcing him to work at hard labor in dangerous conditions and had violated the First Amendment by penalizing him for questioning the propriety of the work assignment and preparing to sue, district court's dismissal of the suit for failure to state a claim is reversed and remanded where: 1) defendant's allegations of the complaint for violation the Eighth Amendment are sufficient to preclude dismissal for failure to state a claim as failure to provide a prisoner required to work out of doors with minimal protective clothing, including gloves can violate the Eighth Amendment; and 2) the district court erred in failing to address the First Amendment claim as, if the facts alleged in the complaint are true, he was punished for complaining about mistreatment, and such punishment is an infringement of the free speech rights of prison inmates.
Appellate Information
- Argued 11/04/2010
- Decided 01/19/2011
- Published 01/19/2011
Judges
Court
- United States Seventh Circuit