×
You've used up your 3 free articles for this month. Subscribe today.
Qualified Immunity Law Clarified
Loaded on Feb. 15, 1994
published in Prison Legal News
February, 1994, page 3
Joseph Rankin was a pretrial detainee in the Harris County, Texas, jail. While awaiting a court appearance in a large holding cell a disturbance broke out after female prisoners passed in front of the cell. A deputy sheriff removed Rankin from the cell and, according to Rankin's complaint, placed him …
Filed under:
Excessive Force,
Guard Brutality/Beatings,
Appeals,
Qualified Immunity.
Location:
Texas.
Full article and associated cases available to subscribers.
As a digital subscriber to Prison Legal News, you can access full text and downloads for this and other premium content.
Already a subscriber? Login
More from this issue:
- How to Secure the Attendance of Witnesses at Trial, by Paul Wright
- Ninth Circuit Upholds Ban on Attorney Contact Visits
- Murder Incorporated, by Bill Dunne
- Qualified Immunity Law Clarified
- California DOC Starts Use of Electric Fence
- Shackling of Con Litigants Discussed
- Reviews, by Paul Wright
- Estate Proper Party When Defendant Dies
- Officials Must Assess Informant's Credibility
- Delay of Medical Care States Claim
- Prisoner Entitled to Interest From Prison Account
- Loved One in Prison?
- No Right to TV Interviews
- More Censorship and Repression in Indiana
- Twenty-Seven Cons Die in El Salvador Riot
- Class Differences in Crime Control, by Ed Mead
- What's Wrong in the Ohio DOC?, by John Perotti
- City Liable for Negligent Medical Care
- Involuntary PC Violates Due Process
- WA DOC Wants to Open New Prison, Close Old Ones
- Attorneys File Briefs for Peruvian POW's, by Paul Wright
- Third Circuit Announces Rules for Appointment of Counsel
- Rule of Law or Rule of Five?, by Mark Tushnet
- Court Upholds Silencing of Dan Quayle's Drug Supplier
- From The Editor, by Paul Wright
More from these topics:
- Fourth Circuit Upholds Denial of Qualified Immunity to Jail Supervisors Who Ignored Detainee’s Cranial Abscesses, Oct. 1, 2026. Failure to Treat, Infections, Qualified Immunity, Fourteenth Amendment, rights, Deliberate Indifference.
- Sixth Circuit: Qualified Immunity Granted to Guard in Delayed Treatment for Prisoner who Suffered Heart Attack, Oct. 1, 2026. Pain, Cardiovascular, Failure to Treat, Qualified Immunity, Deliberate Indifference.
- Ninth Circuit Rules Favorably for Washington Prisoner Whose Writing Submission Was Censored, Oct. 1, 2026. Retaliation, Qualified Immunity, Mail Regulations, Censorship, First Amendment, rights.
- San Francisco Jail Survey Exposes Abuse, Malnutrition and Constitutional Violations, Oct. 1, 2026. Failure to Protect (General), Food, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Attorney Visits, Pretrial Detention and Detainees.
- Eighth Circuit Reverses District Court’s Denial of Motion to Dismiss Some Defendants from Lawsuit Over Missouri Prisoner’s Suicide, Oct. 1, 2026. Qualified Immunity, Sovereign Immunity, Failure to Protect (Wrongful Death), Suicides, Deliberate Indifference.
- Second Circuit Affirms Denial of Qualified Immunity but Clarifies that 14th Amendment ‘Objective Reasonableness’ Is Standard of Review for Pretrial Detainee’s Claim of Sexual Abuse, Oct. 1, 2026. Staff-Prisoner Assault, Qualified Immunity, Fourteenth Amendment, rights, Pretrial Detention and Detainees, Wrongful Use of Force.
- Eighth Circuit Grants Summary Judgment to Sheriff and County of Nebraska Jail Where Guard Sexually Assaulted Female Prisoner, Oct. 1, 2026. Staff-Prisoner Assault, Failure to Protect (General), Qualified Immunity, Failure to Train/Supervise, Monell Liability.
- Second Circuit Rules Eighth Amendment Governs Claims of Excessive Force Brought by Parole Violator, Oct. 1, 2026. Eighth Amendment, Excessive Force, Qualified Immunity, 42 U.S. Code § 1983, civil action for deprivation of rights, Probation, Parole & Supervised Release.
- Wave of Staff Arrests Exposes Persistent Misconduct at South Carolina Jail, Sept. 1, 2026. Staff-Prisoner Assault, Guard Misconduct, Jail Misconduct, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Obstruction of Justice.
- Eight Circuit Reverses Denial of Partial Qualified Immunity in Detainee’s Pepper Ball Claim, Remands Excessive Force Claims, Sept. 1, 2026. Guard Brutality/Beatings, Stun Guns/Tasers, Pepper Spray/Tear Gas, Qualified Immunity, Wrongful Use of Force.