Keller v. United States, No. 13-3113 (7th Cir. 2014)
Annotate this CaseWhen Keller was admitted to the Terre Haute Penitentiary, he told the intake psychologist, Bleier, that he suffered from mental illness that affected his ability to function and feared that he would be attacked if placed in the general prison population. Bleier placed Keller in the general population. While on his way to lunch Keller was attacked by another inmate without provocation. The attack lasted several minutes. No guard saw the attack. Keller was eventually spotted lying face‐down, unconscious on the ground. Examinations by the prison medical staff and a hospital emergency room revealed extensive injuries to his face and head. Keller sued under the Federal Tort Claims Act, 28 U.S.C. 2674, alleging that prison employees violated mandatory regulations: Bleier did not examine all of his available medical documents before releasing him into the general prison population and the guards failed to monitor their assigned areas of the yard. The district court granted the government summary judgment based on the discretionary function exception under the Act. The Seventh Circuit reversed; the government did not sustain its burden to prove as a matter of law that the discretionary function exception shielded it from liability.
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