Sadler v. Young.

• Position: CRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENT - Brief Article

U.S. District Court

RESTRAINTS

Sadler v. Young, 325 F.Supp.2d 689 (W.D.Va. 2004). An inmate sued state prison officials under [section] 1983, claiming he was immobilized in restraints for a period of 47 hours and 20 minutes, with short breaks, in violation of his Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment rights. After a jury found for the defendants, the inmate moved for judgment as a matter of law. The district court granted judgment for the inmate. The court held that the officials treated the inmate in a cruel and unusual manner in violation of the Eighth Amendment, when they left him lying on his back in a five points restraint on a mattress, with his arms and legs secured and a belt over his chest, for a period of more than 47 hours. According to the court, the inmate's conduct did not...