Ramos v. Hamblin

Dist. Ct. did not err in granting defendants-prison officials’ motion for summary judgment in section 1983 action alleging that defendants were deliberately indifferent to his security needs by placing him in cell with cell-mate, who had sexual assault of woman conviction, where said cell-mate subsequently sexually assaulted plaintiff. While plaintiff alleged that he was perceived as being homosexual (and thus was more likely to be victim of sexual assault in prison setting), and that defendant’s practice of random assignment created instant danger, plaintiff failed to present evidence that defendants’ staff was aware that he was perceived by other prisoners as homosexual or that there was such perception within prison. Moreover, cell-mate had no history of sexual assault within prison, and thus defendants, who were not responsible for actual assignments of cells within prison, could not be viewed as deliberately indifferent to possibility that plaintiff would be sexually assaulted.