Butera v. Cottey.

• Position: FAILURE TO PROTECT

U.S. Appeals Court

PRISONER ON PRISONER ASSAULT

SEXUAL ASSAULT

Butera v. Cottey, 285 F.3d 601 (7th Cir. 2002). A pretrial detainee brought a [section] 1983 action against a county sheriff after the detainee was sexually assaulted by other detainees. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the sheriff and the appeals court affirmed. The appeals court held that the detainee was required to show a deliberate action attributable to the sheriff, not just any jail employee. According to the court, the detainee's statements to jail officers that he was having unspecified problems and needed to be moved from his cellblock, and the detainee's mother's telephone call to an unknown jail employee advising that the detainee had been threatened with sexual assault, were not sufficient to give the sheriff...