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Eighth Circuit: Arkansas Prisoner Who Had Consensual Sex With Guard Cannot Sustain Eighth Amendment Claim
Loaded on April 1, 2025
by Matthew Clarke
published in Prison Legal News
April, 2025, page 58
Filed under:
Eighth Amendment.
Location:
Arkansas.
by Matt Clarke
On September 20, 2024, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit held that a prisoner’s consensual sexual encounters with a guard cannot, as a matter of law, constitute the pain required to sustain a claim under the Eighth Amendment. Though a blow …
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More from this issue:
- Deaths, Deplorable Conditions, Staff Misconduct Plague Memphis Jail
- From the Editor, by Paul Wright
- New Jersey Guard Sacked for Mocking George Floyd Killing Loses Appeal
- New York Suspends Solitary Ban to Woo Back Striking Prison Guards
- Porn Produced by Georgia Prisoners
- $7.15 Million for Oklahoma Prisoner Exonerated After Nearly 50 Years, by Anthony Accurso
- North Carolina Reimburses Prisoner $2,500 for Law Books Destroyed by Guards, by Anthony Accurso
- No State Oversight of Overcrowded, Understaffed, and Non-Compliant Idaho Jails
- No Sunshine on In-Custody Deaths in Sunshine State
- Little-Known Law Allows Some Texas Prisoners to Vote
- $1.35 Million in Settlements for One-Legged San Francisco Detainee Forced to Hop—Twice
- Ohio Pauses Executions, Louisiana and Arizona Race Ahead
- Self-Harming Wisconsin Prisoner Settles Failure-to-Protect Suit for $7,000, by Sam Rutherford
- Biden Clemency Recipients Included Virginians Sentenced for “Acquitted Conduct”
- 14 Overdoses in Two Weeks Leave One Dead at Phoenix Jail
- “Swing or Kick Rocks”: BOP Guard Alleges Conspiracy to Brutalize Prisoners at Kentucky Lockup
- Tucson Program Slashes Pretrial Misdemeanor Incarceration
- $1 Million Partial Settlement for Washington Jail Detainee’s Leg Amputation
- Tenth Circuit Stretches PLRA to Deny Claim of Colorado Prisoner Shot by Guard While Shackled, by Douglas Ankney
- $42 Million Jury Award for Detainees Tortured by U.S. Military at Abu Ghraib Prison
- Pardoned Insurrectionists Brought to D.C. Jail Demanded Others’ Immediate Release
- Houston Jail Cited for State-Law Violations Twice in a Month
- A Song for Condemned Alabama Prisoner
- Three Former Virginia Jailers Charged After Detainee Dies in “WRAP” Restraint
- Ninth Circuit: No Exception to Due Diligence in Discovery Even for “Conclusive Evidence”, by Anthony Accurso
- Sixth Circuit: Dismissals of Mixed-Claim Complaints Not Strikes Under PLRA
- Former Indiana Jailer Walks from Charges Over “Night of Terror”
- National Class Certified in Washington Jail Debit-Release Card Suit
- CoreCivic Will Cage Migrant Families in Texas Lockup
- Three More Prisoners Die, Three More Staffers Fired at Wisconsin Prison
- Jailing the Homeless: New Data Shed Light on Unhoused People in Local Jails, by Leah Wang
- GTL, Co-Defendant Agree to $21.3 Million Settlement in Price-Fixing Lawsuit
- No Opened Envelopes: Hawai’i Prisons Get New Mail Scanning Technology
- GEO Group Gets $1 Billion ICE Contract at New Jersey Lockup
- DOJ Finds “Horrific” Unconstitutional Conditions at Atlanta Jail
- Alabama Governor Commutes Death Sentence
- California Stops Raiding Released Prisoners’ Gate Money
- $4 Million Settlement Approved in HRDC’s Oregon Debit-Release Card Suit
- Nurse Charged, $2.6 Million Settlement Reached in Minnesota Jail Death
- Tenth Alabama Jail Employee Pleads Guilty in Detainee’s Freezing Death
- Muslim Prisoners Face Price-Gouging
- $250,000 Settlement But No Charges After Alabama Guards Beat Prisoner To Death, by Anthony Accurso
- GOP Washington Lawmaker Trolls Felon Enfranchisement Proponents
- Ninth Circuit: Posting Jail Mugshots on Arizona County’s Website Violates Substantive Due Process
- Georgia Fights Liability for Strip-Searching Prison Visitor, Nevada Pays $126,500
- Half of Hawai’i Prisoners Released With No ID
- Peters Fights Dismissal from BOP, Guards Lose Bonus Pay
- Southern Health Partners Settles Suit Over Kentucky Jail Meth Death
- Federal Watchdog Calls Out BOP for Spiking Suicide Risk at Pennsylvania Lockup, by Matthew Clarke
- Wisconsin DOC Agrees to Improve Services for Hearing-Impaired Prisoners
- $2.5 Million Settlement After South Carolina Jail Detainee Lost 2 Lbs.Per Day and Died, by Anthony Accurso
- More New York Guards Suspended After Another Prisoner’s Fatal Beating
- Fourth Circuit Excuses Maryland Prisoner From Exhaustion Requirement in PREA Claim, by Douglas Ankney
- Eighth Circuit: Arkansas Prisoner Who Had Consensual Sex With Guard Cannot Sustain Eighth Amendment Claim, by Matthew Clarke
- Illinois Pretrial Incarceration Becomes Less Random A Year After Elimination of Cash Bail, by David Reutter
- D.C. Circuit Reverses Dismissal of Federal Prisoner’s Complaint Due to PLRA Three-Strikes Rule
- TDCJ to Run Out of Beds in 2025, by Matthew Clarke
- News in Brief
- Shrewd Federal Prisoner Salvages $5,000 from Suit Against Arkansas Jail Where He Was Held Pre-Trial, by Anthony Accurso
More from Matthew Clarke:
- Federal Court Grants HRDC Preliminary Injunction Against Mail Censorship at New Mexico Jail, May 1, 2026
- Faced with Record-Breaking Jail Deaths, L.A. County Supervisors Tell Sheriff’s Department to Improve Access to Naloxone, Camera Monitoring, and Security Checks at California Jail, May 1, 2026
- Federal Court Places Medical Care in Arizona Prisons Under Receivership, May 1, 2026
- Seventh Circuit Upholds Liability but Reverses Damages in Lawsuit Over Illinois Warden and Investigator Using Prisoner as Bait to Catch Staff Member Raping Her, May 1, 2026
- Texas Moves to Restrict Cashless Bond and Reverse Federal Court-Ordered Misdemeanor Bail Reform, May 1, 2026
- In Texas, Harris County Commissioners Approve $1.2 Million for Fourth Study of Jail Since 2020 After Dozens of Abuse Allegations, April 1, 2026
- Texas Attorney General Clarifies Scope of Statute Requiring Outside Agency Investigation of Jail Deaths, April 1, 2026
- D.C. Judge Blocks Transfer of Biden-Commuted Federal Death Row Prisoners to “Supermax,” Citing Lack of Meaningful Due Process, April 1, 2026
- Eighth Circuit Revives Lawsuit Over Iowa Jail Detainee’s Suicide, April 1, 2026
- Groundbreaking Statistical Study of Pregnant Texas Jail Detainees Finds Over 400 Monthly, April 1, 2026
More from these topics:
- Texas Officials Testify That Cost to Air Condition Prisons Tops $1.5 Billion, May 1, 2026. Eighth Amendment, Exposure to Heat, Administrative Exhaustion (PLRA), Deliberate Indifference, Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA).
- Three Prisoners Killed in Fight at Georgia Prison, Feb. 1, 2026. Prison/Jail Murders, Totality of Conditions, Failure to Protect (General), Eighth Amendment, Staffing.
- California Funds $38 Million Pilot Program to Investigate Methods for Cooling Three Prisons, Jan. 1, 2026. DOC/BOP misconduct, Systemic Medical Neglect, Eighth Amendment, Exposure to Heat, Deliberate Indifference.
- As California Limits Water Use, People in Prison Face Punishment for Showering, Jan. 1, 2026. Overcrowding, Eighth Amendment, Environmental Law, Water, Sanitation.
- First Circuit Greenlights Rhode Island Prisoner’s Damages Suit for Disastrous 450-Day Solitary Confinement, Dec. 1, 2025. Eighth Amendment, Control Units/SHU/Solitary Confinement, 42 U.S. Code § 1983, civil action for deprivation of rights, Immunity - Absolute and Qualified, Deliberate Indifference.
- Now Under Federal Receivership, New York City’s Rikers Island Jails Still Have No Plan to Improve, No Firm Date to Close, Aug. 1, 2025. Guard Misconduct, DOC/BOP misconduct, Jail Misconduct, Corrections Audits, Systemic Medical Neglect, Medical Records, Eighth Amendment.
- Fifth Circuit Greenlights Federal Takeover of Mississippi Jail, Aug. 1, 2025. Sexual Assault, Failure to Protect (General), Eighth Amendment, Staffing, Stun Guns/Tasers.
- Ninth Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Arizona Challenge to Private Prisons, July 15, 2025. Private Prisons, Eighth Amendment, Thirteenth Amendment, rights, Fourteenth Amendment, rights.
- Ongoing Detainee Deaths Push Rikers Island into Federal Court Receivership, July 15, 2025. Totality of Conditions, Failure to Protect (General), Fire Hazards, Overcrowding, Eighth Amendment, Staffing, Environmental Law, Plumbing, Sewage, Jail Specific.
- Punishment TV, July 1, 2025. Totality of Conditions, Food, Eighth Amendment, Staffing, Prison Tourism/Consumerism.

