Guitron. v. Paul, No. 11-2718 (7th Cir. 2012)
Annotate this CaseThe prisoner's "skeletal" complaint alleged that, while escorting him down a hallway to segregation, guards instructed him to move against the wall. When he did not comply, a guard, “slammed” him against the wall, twisted his wrist, and caused pain that lasted for two months. The district court dismissed after preliminary screening under 28 U.S.C. 1915A. The Seventh Circuit affirmed. To be cruel and unusual punishment, conduct that does not purport to be punishment must involve more than ordinary lack of due care for prisoner safety. Infliction of pain in the course of a prison security measure does not amount to cruel and unusual punishment simply because it appears, in retrospect, that the degree of force was unreasonable, and unnecessary in the strict sense. In tort law, any unconsented and offensive touching is a battery. Imprisonment strips a prisoner of that right to be let alone, and many other interests as well. In this case, action of the guards was in response to defiant behavior.
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