Seaver v. Manduco.

• Position: CRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENT - Case regarding correctional officials - Brief Article

U.S. District Court

HARASSMENT

Seaver v. Manduco, 178 F.Supp.2d 30 (D.Mass. 2002). State inmates filed a [section] 1983 action alleging that corrections officials harassed them because of their status as sex offenders, and conducted retaliatory visual body cavity searches. The district court dismissed the action, finding that injunctive relief was not warranted, the inmates' claims for money damages based on harassment were barred by the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) and that officials were entitled to qualified immunity from liability for the searches. The court noted that the PLRA barred claims for mental or emotional injury without a showing of physical injury and that...