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14 St. Louis U. Pub. L. Rev. 83 (1994-1995)
Farmer v. Brennan: Defining Deliberate Indifference under the Eighth Amendment

handle is hein.journals/stlpl14 and id is 93 raw text is: LEGAL COMMENTARY FARMER v. BRENNAN: DEFINING DELIBERATE INDIFFERENCE UNDER THE EIGHTH AMENDMENT JOHN BOSTON* DAVID C. FATHI* ELIZABETH ALEXANDER** For the fourth time in four years, the Supreme Court has rendered a significant interpretation of the Eighth Amendment's Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause in a prison conditions case.' In * Project Director, Prisoners' Rights Project, The Legal Aid Society of the City of New York. B.A. 1970, Vanderbilt University; J.D. 1975, New York Uni- versity. ** British Columbia Public Interest Advocacy Centre. B.S. 1984, University of Washington; J.D. 1988, Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California, Berkeley. *** Associate Director for Litigation, National Prison Project of the Ameri- can Civil Liberties Union. B.A. 1967, Brandeis University; M.A. 1968, Yale Uni- versity; J.D. 1971, Yale Law School. Ms. Alexander argued Farmer in the Su- preme Court on behalf of the petitioner. Mr. Boston and Mr. Fathi consulted on the briefs for the petitioner. 1. In Wilson v. Seiter, 501 U.S. 294, 302 (1991), the Court held that prison conditions, however objectively harmful they may be, cannot violate the Eighth Amendment unless prison officials act with deliberate indifference in imposing them or allowing them to continue. In Hudson v. McMillian, 112 S. Ct. 995, 1000 (1992), the Court rejected the contention that an unjustified beating of a prisoner by guards does not violate the Eighth Amendment unless the pris- oner suffers significant injury. Rather, the Eighth Amendment is violated when- ever prison officials maliciously and sadistically use force to cause harm. Most recently, in Helling v. McKinney, 113 S. Ct. 2475 (1993), the Court held that Eighth Amendment protection is not limited to currently existing or imminent harm. Holding that compelled exposure of a prisoner to second-hand tobacco smoke could violate the Eighth Amendment, the Court explained that the Amend- ment is violated when prison officials, acting with deliberate indifference, expose a prisoner to an unreasonable risk of serious damage to his future health. Id. at

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