United States Ninth Circuit

In an action seeking to establish that prison officials violated plaintiff's Eighth Amendment rights by denying him outdoor exercise for 13 months and 25 days while he was in a maximum security housing unit, summary judgment for defendants is reversed where: 1) as a matter of law, the serious risk to plaintiff's health posed by this extended deprivation of a basic human necessity was "obvious" to the prison officials; and 2) a material factual issue exists as to whether the prison officials' actions were reasonable, in light of plaintiff's limited disciplinary record, the security conditions at the prison for the last 11 of the 14 months that plaintiff was deprived of exercise, and prison officials' willingness to allow plaintiff to resume the regular course of exercise upon signing the formal pledge form.

Appellate Information

• Argued 04/07/2010
• Decided 07/16/2010
• Published 07/16/2010

Judges

• Stephen Reinhardt

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Jeremy Maltby, Edmund G. Brown, Jr.