PHILADELPHIA -- A former inmate can sue the Delaware prison system over his claim that being forced to share a cell with heavy smokers was cruel and unusual punishment, a federal appeals court ruled.
Roger Atkinson, who said he quit smoking in 1995, showed sufficient evidence that prison officials disregarded his health concerns, the court said. Prison officials argued his symptoms - nausea, headaches, chest pains and a chronic cough - were due to allergies.
The decision Tuesday from the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court's decision that prison officials can't claim immunity from the lawsuit. State employees generally are immune unless their actions violate constitutional rights.
Prison officials haven't decided whether to appeal, Deputy Attorney General Gregory E. Smith said. If they don't, the lawsuit could go to trial. The lawsuit names as defendants the Department of Correction, the commissioner, prison warden and guards.
Atkinson's attorney did not return a phone call Wednesday.
Many states in recent years have banned smoking in prisons, and Delaware went smoke-free last November. Smith said one Delaware prisoner filed a lawsuit in state court claiming the ban is unconstitutionally cruel. The court upheld the legality of the prison smoking ban.
A 1993 U.S. Supreme Court decision said that some secondhand smoke in prisons was acceptable, but an inmate forced to share a cell with a five-pack-a-day smoker was subjected to cruel conditions.
Atkinson was in prison for seven months. He was convicted of evidence tampering and unlawful sexual intercourse, but his sentence was reduced after the sex charges were overturned.
