Brown v. Budz.

• Position: Cases of prisoner abuse - Brief Article

U.S. Appeals Court

PRISONER ON PRISONER ASSAULT

Brown v. Budz, 398 F.3d 904 (7th Cir. 2005). A white detainee at a state facility for sexually violent persons brought a [section] 1983 action against officials and employees, alleging failure to protect him from beatings administered by an African-American resident of the facility. The detainee asserted violations of due process and equal protection. The district court granted the defendants' motion to dismiss and the detainee appealed. The appeals court affirmed in part and reversed and remanded in part. The court held that the officials' alleged actions of allowing a resident with an allegedly known propensity toward attacking Caucasians unsupervised access to the facility's dayroom where the beatings took place, constituted a "substantial risk of harm." The court noted...