Jeffry Cintron v. Paul Bibeault, et al.

Providence, Rhode Island personal injury lawyers represented the Plaintiff who sued on a civil rights violation theory.



In July 2019, Jerry Cintron overdosed on a fentanyl-laced pill while in Rhode Island Department of Corrections (RIDOC) custody. For his alleged role in acquiring, possessing, and consuming the pill, RIDOC sanctioned Cintron with 450 days in solitary confinement. While so confined, Cintron allegedly experienced severe mental and physical deterioration, stemming from the conditions of confinement that characterized his stint in solitary.



Relying on 42 U.S.C. § 1983, Cintron sued eight current and former RIDOC officials ("defendants"), accusing them of

violating his Eighth Amendment "right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment by deliberately and recklessly placing him at substantial risk of serious harm." He alleges, among other things, that defendants deliberately responded indifferently to his suffering by continuing his punitive solitary confinement even as his physical and mental deterioration went untreated. Defendants moved for judgment on the pleadings, arguing, among other things, that Cintron's claim failed on its merits and that defendants were entitled to qualified immunity from his § 1983 claim for damages.

Defendants' motion for summary judgment granted.



Affirmed in part and reversed in part.