Federal prison officials violated an inmate’s constitutional rights if, as alleged, they ignored his medical directive and assigned him to an upper bunk bed, causing him to fall and injure himself, a judge in Colorado has concluded.

Lesley T. Owens, an inmate at the United States Penitentiary in Florence, filed a federal lawsuit after tumbling from his upper bunk on Feb. 13, 2019. Owens allegedly informed prison officials he had “medical duty status,” and needed a lower bed as the result of an injury. A health services form dated Feb. 11 showed Owens as authorized for a lower bunk for up to a year.

But the officials ignored his request, and Owens reportedly sustained a head injury, hit his elbow and re-injured his knee in the fall.

The prison put him back in his top bunk after his injuries, but Owens said he slept on the floor for two nights until prison personnel noticed his injuries and reassigned him to a lower bed.

On Monday, U.S. District Court Judge R. Brooke Jackson rejected the federal government’s request to dismiss the lawsuit against two prison employees, identified only as “C. Lewis, Counselor” and “Mansfield, Case Manager.” The judge found Owens had plausibly alleged prison officials showed deliberate indifference to his serious medical needs in violation of the Eighth Amendment.

Owens, who so far has represented himself in the lawsuit, wrote in an amended complaint that the defendants’ “intentional denial delaying Owens’s medical care deprived him of a [serious] medical need.”

The government argued in its motion to dismiss the case that prison officials are not liable for Eighth Amendment violations unless they know of and disregard an excessive risk to an incarcerated person’s health and safety.

“There is nothing … to indicate that either defendant had any information about the nature of the medical condition that warranted the assignment, or the risk he faced if not assigned to a lower bunk,” wrote the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Colorado, adding Owens had no clearly-established right to sleep in a lower bunk.

Prior to Jackson’s ruling, U.S. Magistrate Judge N. Reid Neureiter reviewed the legal record and considered whether to recommend qualified immunity for Lewis and Mansfield. Qualified immunity shields government employees from civil liability unless they violate a clearly-established legal right. Neureiter took note of prior cases that established corrections officers may be liable for ignoring the instructions of a medical provider without justification.

“[T]he very fact that prison medical personnel found it necessary to indicate that Mr. Owens should be assigned a lower bunk makes it plausible that the condition is sufficiently serious to put a reasonable prison official on notice of the seriousness of the injury, particularly when the inmate brings it to the official’s attention,” the magistrate judge wrote.

Even though Neureiter recommended postponing the decision on qualified immunity, Jackson elected to rule on the issue and denied immunity for the officials.

He did, however, toss Owens’s claim against the United States under the Colorado Premises Liability Act, which makes landowners responsible for injuries when they fail to protect against dangers – such as slips and falls. Jackson concluded the upper prison bunk was not a danger in itself, even though it was risky to Owens because of his injury.

Owens is requesting that a settlement provide him at least $100,000 in damages, and a jury trial if no agreement is reached. He claimed that he has not, to date, received a brain scan from the Federal Bureau of Prisons in connection with his head injury.

According to a 2004 survey from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 28% of federal inmates reported sustaining an injury after admission, most of which occurred in accidents. For state inmates, the rate of injury was one in three.

The case is Owens v. United States of America et al.