Does a prison guard's "malevolent touch" by a fellow inmate constitute an actionable violation of the Eighth Amendment?

MultiRegion, United States of America

The following excerpt is from Bontemps v. Romero, No. 2:13-cv-0614 EFB P (E.D. Cal. 2013):

While malicious and sadistic uses of force always violate contemporary standards of decency, not every "malevolent touch" by a prison guard is actionable as an Eighth Amendment violation. Hudson v. McMillian, 503 U.S. 1, 9 (1992). "The Eighth Amendment's prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment necessarily excludes from constitutional recognition de minimis uses of physical force, provided that the use of force is not of a sort repugnant to the conscience of mankind." Id. at 9-10 (internal quotation marks and citations omitted).

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