Third Circuit Judge Anthony J. Scirica
PHILADELPHIA – The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has affirmed the ruling of a lower federal court, which dismissed an incarcerated man’s lawsuit alleging violation of the Eighth Amendment and other charges as unsupported.
In a per curiam
ruling on Feb. 23, the federal appellate court upheld a decision from the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, which dismissed the lawsuit of plaintiff Ramon Vasquez against a number of corrections and psychological officials.
Vasquez in his suit alleged that he had requested to be confined in a single cell without a cellmate due to his fears of being sexually assaulted, but was instead placed in a cell with a cellmate. Vasquez claimed that he was then sexually assaulted by his cellmate, which he reported to prison employees and the police.