Lord v. Beahm

Dist. Ct. did not err in granting defendants-prison officials’ motion for summary judgment in plaintiff-prisoner’s section 1983 action, alleging that defendants were deliberately indifferent to material risk of plaintiff’s life by not responding immediately to his suicide threat. Record showed that: (1) after female guard told defendant that she would write him up for exposing himself to her, plaintiff yelled that he had razor blade and intended to kill himself; and (2) female guard then walked away, and male guard came approximately 30 minutes later, saw that plaintiff had minor scratches on his forearm, seized razor blade and treated plaintiff’s scratches with gauze bandage. Dist. Ct. could properly conclude that plaintiff made only insincere suicide threat to get female guard’s attention. Moreover, while plaintiff focused his section 1983 claim on danger he presented to his life, plaintiff failed to present evidence of recoverable injury, where his injuries were only trivial, and where instant risk to his life was not compensable without evidence of injury.