Can a prison official be held liable for failing to protect inmates from attacks by other inmates?

Prison officials have a duty to protect prisoners from violence at the hands of other prisoners. Farmer v. Brennan, 511 U.S. 825, 833 (1994). The failure of prison officials to protect inmates from attacks by other inmates may rise to the level of an Eighth Amendment violation when: (1) the deprivation alleged is "objectively, sufficiently serious" and (2) the prison officials had "a sufficiently culpable state of mind," acting with deliberate indifference. Farmer, 511 U.S. at 834. "[D]eliberate indifference entails something more than mere negligence ... [but] is satisfied by something less than acts or omissions for the very purpose of causing harm or with knowledge that harm will result. Id. at 835. The prison official must "know and disregard an excessive risk to inmate health or safety." Id.