## Facts

- John P. Garrett, a federal inmate at the Atlanta penitentiary, sued the United States under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) after being assaulted by fellow inmate Steve Rollins.
- Rollins arrived at the Atlanta penitentiary with an institutional file documenting an extensive history of serious violence and misconduct, including assaults on correctional officers and inmates, possession of a dangerous weapon, and killing another inmate.
- The file contained no psychological evaluations.
- On arrival, Rollins was held in administrative detention (segregation) for nine days and was referred to a caseworker; no evidence showed what assessment, if any, resulted.
- Rollins was then placed in “A” cellhouse, a large general-population unit housing roughly 500–600 inmates, with only two or three guards, and substantial inmate intermingling in common areas and cells.
- Garrett was housed in A cellhouse and knew Rollins slightly.
- On August 30, 1976, Rollins offered Garrett marijuana; when Garrett declined, Rollins abruptly stabbed Garrett twice in the back with a metal rod-like weapon.
- Garrett suffered two stab wounds and a punctured, partially collapsed lung.

## Issues

1. Whether, under Georgia negligence law applied through the FTCA, prison officials failed to exercise ordinary care to protect Garrett from a reasonably foreseeable assault by Rollins given Rollins’s known violent history.
2. Whether negligent classification, housing, or supervision of Rollins was a proximate cause of Garrett’s injuries.

## Decision

- The court found the United States negligent in failing to take reasonable protective measures in light of Rollins’s documented violent propensities.
- The court rejected the argument that the assault was not reasonably foreseeable because human behavior is unpredictable.
- The court held the negligent placement and supervision were a proximate cause of Garrett’s injuries.
- The court entered judgment for Garrett for $5,040 in damages plus costs.

## Legal Principles

- Under the FTCA, the United States is liable in the same manner and to the same extent as a private person under like circumstances, as determined by the law of the state where the act or omission occurred.
- Under Georgia negligence law, custodial officials must exercise ordinary care to protect those in their custody from reasonably foreseeable harm, including inmate-on-inmate assaults.
- Foreseeability may be established by documented notice of an individual’s violent propensities; officials may be required to take heightened precautions in classification, housing, and supervision when such notice exists.
- General assertions that violence cannot be predicted do not defeat liability when the risk of violent conduct is reasonably foreseeable from known history.
- Proximate cause is satisfied when the injury results from the type of harm that reasonable classification and protective controls are intended to prevent.

## Conclusion

The court held that, applying Georgia negligence principles through the FTCA, prison officials’ inadequate response to a well-documented record of extreme violence made the ensuing stabbing foreseeable and actionable, warranting a compensatory damages award to the injured inmate.


Garrett v. United States, 501 F. Supp. 337 (N.D. Ga. 1980)