## Facts

- Miguel V. Rodriguez, a Florida prisoner formerly associated with the Latin Kings, disclaimed gang membership and then received repeated death threats from Latin Kings inmates.
- Rodriguez was housed in administrative segregation, separated from the general prison population.
- Rodriguez told Assistant Warden Raymond Kugler and classification official Charles Johnson that Latin Kings members had threatened to kill him if he returned to general population.
- Rodriguez requested protective custody or a transfer and submitted a written request to remain in segregation.
- At a classification review, Kugler and Johnson recommended releasing Rodriguez from administrative segregation into general population without additional protective measures.
- Within hours of returning to general population, Rodriguez was stabbed and beaten by a Latin Kings member.
- Rodriguez sued under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging Eighth Amendment deliberate indifference for failure to protect.
- The district court granted summary judgment to Kugler, finding insufficient evidence of his subjective knowledge of a substantial risk, and later granted Johnson judgment as a matter of law (JMOL) on causation grounds because Johnson lacked final authority over housing decisions.

## Issues

1. Whether evidence of Rodriguez’s specific, repeated reports of death threats created a triable issue that Kugler had subjective knowledge of a substantial risk of serious harm and disregarded it.
2. Whether Johnson could be liable under § 1983 for failure to protect despite lacking final authority over Rodriguez’s release, where Johnson participated in and recommended the housing decision that exposed Rodriguez to the known risk.

## Decision

- The Eleventh Circuit reversed the summary judgment for Kugler and held a reasonable jury could find subjective knowledge and deliberate indifference based on Rodriguez’s specific warnings and requests for protection.
- The Eleventh Circuit reversed the JMOL for Johnson and held that lack of final decision-making authority did not, as a matter of law, defeat causation where Johnson’s recommendations and conduct could be a substantial factor leading to the injury.
- The case was remanded for further proceedings.

## Legal Principles

- An Eighth Amendment failure-to-protect claim requires proof that the official (1) was subjectively aware of a substantial risk of serious harm and (2) disregarded the risk by failing to take reasonable measures to abate it.
- Specific reports of death threats from identifiable or readily identifiable inmates, coupled with requests for protective custody or transfer, can support a finding of subjective knowledge and deliberate indifference sufficient to reach a jury.
- In § 1983 actions, liability is not confined to the final decision-maker; an official may be a legal cause of the constitutional injury when the official’s actions or recommendations materially contribute to exposing the plaintiff to the known risk.
- On summary judgment and JMOL, the court must view the evidence and reasonable inferences in favor of the nonmoving party.

## Conclusion

The Eleventh Circuit held that Rodriguez’s evidence of explicit death threats and requests for protection created jury questions as to whether Kugler and Johnson knowingly disregarded a substantial risk of serious harm, and that Johnson’s lack of final housing authority did not preclude § 1983 causation where his participation could have contributed to the decision that led to the assault.


Rodriguez v. Sec'y for Dep't of Corr., 508 F.3d 611 (11th Cir. 2007)