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Abstract: 

Georgia prison inmate Carl Merkerson brutally assaulted and killed Terrance Bowen, his cellmate. Bowen’s administrator filed a Sec. 1983 federal lawsuit alleging that some prison officials were deliberately indifferent to the decedent’s right to a reasonably safe environment; to not be double-celled with a known, dangerously mentally ill fellow inmate. The 11th Circuit reversed a district court ruling for the prison, finding that documentary evidence including internal prison population charts, cell checklists, and staff testimony, showed the officials were aware of the danger posed by Merkerson and ignored their own placement guidelines with respect to double-celling patients with severe mental illness.

Keywords: Bowen v. Warden, Baldwin State Prison; severe mental illness; double-celling

Affiliations:  1: Executive Editor.