Rickey Christmas v. Lieutenant J. Nabors

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[PUBLISH]
In the
United States Court of Appeals
For the Eleventh Circuit
____________________
No. 21-14230
____________________
RICKEY LEE CHRISTMAS,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
versus
LIEUTENANT J. NABORS,
Individual and Official capacity,
SERGEANT MARSHA HILL,
Individual and Official capacity,
Defendants-Appellees.
____________________
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Middle District of Florida
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2 Opinion of the Court 21-14230
D.C. Docket No. 8:20-cv-00259-TPB-AAS
____________________
Before ROSENBAUM, BRANCH, and BRASHER, Circuit Judges.
ROSENBAUM, Circuit Judge:
Henry L. Stimson said, “Gentlemen don’t read each other’s
mail.” Henry L. Stimson & McGeorge Bundy, On Active Service in
Peace and War 188 (1947). 1 He had a point. After all, no one likes it
when someone else reads their mail. And as it turns out, even the
possibility that a jail official could read a prisoner’s legal mail can
violate the prisoner’s First Amendment rights.
This case is about that possibility at the Polk County Jail.
When Plaintiff-Appellant Rickey Christmas was a pretrial detainee
at that Jail, the Jail required him to scan his legal mail into a com-
puter that contained a memory chip. Though Christmas does not
1 Henry L. Stimson is known for many things. Among others, he served twice
as the United States Secretary of War: first, from 1911 to 1913 in President
William Howard Taft’s administration, and then again more than 25 years
later, in President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s administration, from 1940
through September 1945. Henry L. Stimson (1911-1913), U. VA. MILLER CTR.,
https://perma.cc/X6ZT-MTJJ. That second term included the entirety of
World War II. Stimson also did a stint as Secretary of State, from 1929 to 1933,
in President Herbert Hoover’s administration. Id. He is remembered in that
role for many things, including his articulation of the Stimson Doctrine, which
refuses to recognize any situation, treaty, or agreement procured by the un-
lawful use of armed force. David Turns, The Stimson Doctrine of None-Recogni-
tion: Its Historical Genesis and Influence on Contemporary International Law, 2 Chi-
nese J. Int’l L. 106–07 (2003).
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know whether anyone other than he read his mail, he worried that
the Jail could and may have, since it had access to the computer
into which he had scanned his mail.
So Christmas sued Polk County and two employees who
worked at the Jail. He alleged, among other things, that the Jail
and its employees interfered with his right to communicate freely
and confidentially with his attorneys by forcing him to scan his le-
gal mail into a computer with a memory chip. Because that claim
is plausible on its face, we hold that the district court erred in dis-
missing it. Otherwise, we affirm the district court’s dismissal of
Christmas’s complaint.
I.
Christmas was once a pre-trial detainee at the Polk County
Jail. 2 When he arrived there, he was still recovering from a gunshot
wound to his stomach. For that reason, the Jail initially placed him
in a medical unit.
During his time at the Polk County Jail, Christmas filed sev-
eral grievances. After spending two years in the medical unit, he
complained that he lacked access to outdoor recreation. Lieuten-
ant J. Nabors, an employee at the Polk County Jail, responded by
2 This case arrives here after the district court screened and dismissed Christ-
mas’s amended complaint under 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(b)(1) for failing “to state a
claim upon which relief may be granted.” So for purposes of review, we ac-
cept the factual allegations in his complaint as true. Henley v. Payne, 945 F.3d
1320, 1331 (11th Cir. 2019); K.T. v. Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd., 931 F.3d 1041,
1043 (11th Cir. 2019).
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telling Christmas that he would “be medically eligible to go to out-
side recreation” once he relocated to the prison’s general popula-
tion. Christmas twice repeated his request for outdoor recreation.
Each time Nabors told Christmas that he was not eligible for out-
door recreation until the Jail’s medical staff cleared him to relocate
into the Jail’s general population.
When Christmas was finally relocated from the medical
dorm to the Jail’s general population, he accused Nabors of pun-
ishing him. But Nabors allegedly denied that accusation and told
Christmas that he no longer “qualif[ied] for medical housing” and
that he was “housed appropriately” based on his medical classifica-
tion.
Separate from his grievances and requests for outdoor rec-
reation, Christmas filed a grievance about the Jail’s policy of copy-
ing his legal mail using a machine with a memory chip. Sometimes,
the Jail provided Christmas with only a copy of his legal mail; other
times, Nabors and Sergeant Marsha Hill, who also worked at the
Jail, uploaded the mail to a central database, which Christmas could
then access via a “computer called a kiosk.”
Based on these claims, Christmas filed a pro se complaint in
the district court, invoking 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and asserting that Lieu-
tenant Nabors and Sergeant Hill violated his constitutional rights
in several ways. In particular, he alleged that Lieutenant Nabors
violated his First and Sixth Amendment rights by opening and scan-
ning his mail into a computer. As a result, Christmas complained,
Lieutenant Nabors and other employees at the Jail were able to
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read the contents of Christmas’s mail when Christmas wasn’t
around. According to Christmas, Lieutenant Nabors handled
Christmas’s legal mail—including discovery and anything his attor-
neys sent him—the same way.
Upon Christmas’s filing of his lawsuit, the district court en-
tered an order screening Christmas’s complaint under 28 U.S.C. §
1915A. Construing Christmas’s legal-mail claim “under either or
both the First and Sixth Amendments,” the district court found
Christmas’s “allegations sufficient to proceed to service of process
on Defendant Nabors.” As for Christmas’s remaining claims, the
district court dismissed them without prejudice and granted
Christmas leave to file an amended complaint.
So Christmas filed an amended complaint. In it, he reiter-
ated his legal-mail claim and added new factual allegations. The
district court referred Christmas’s amended complaint to the mag-
istrate judge, who recommended dismissing all Christmas’s claims,
including his legal-mail claim, under 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(b)(1) for fail-
ure to state a claim.
Although Christmas filed extensive objections to the magis-
trate judge’s recommendation, the district court overruled them
and dismissed his complaint. In so doing, the district court did not
explain why it concluded that Christmas’s legal-mail claim, which
the court previously had found sufficient to proceed, warranted dis-
missal.
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II.
When a district court sua sponte dismisses a complaint for
failure to state a claim under 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(b)(1), our review is
de novo. Leal v. Ga. Dep’t of Corrs., 254 F.3d 1276, 1278–79 (11th Cir.
2001). In conducting that de novo review, we apply the same stand-
ard as when a district court dismisses a complaint under Federal
Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). Henley, 945 F.3d at 1331. We
therefore view the allegations in the complaint as true and draw all
reasonable inferences from it in the plaintiff’s favor. Royal Caribbean
Cruises, 931 F.3d at 1043.
In addition, because Christmas drafted his own complaint,
we hold his pleadings to “a less stringent standard” than we would
if an attorney drafted his pleadings. Leal, 254 F.3d at 1280 (quoting
Tannenbaum v. U.S., 148 F.3d 1262, 1263 (11th Cir. 1998) (per cu-
riam)).
III.
Christmas asks us to find that the district court erred in six
ways when it dismissed his complaint. We think the district court
got it mostly right. But we agree with Christmas that the district
court erred by dismissing his legal-mail claim.
A. Christmas stated a claim that Defendants violated his
First Amendment rights.
Because Christmas alleged that Lieutenant Nabors and Ser-
geant Hill could access his legal mail while outside his presence, we
first hold that Christmas stated a claim under the First
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Amendment. We also hold that Christmas stated a First Amend-
ment claim against Nabors in his official capacity and against both
Nabors and Hill in their individual capacities.
1. Christmas alleged sufficient facts to allow for the rea-
sonable inference that the Jail’s mail-scanning policy
infringed on his free-speech rights.
“A simple rule has governed prison mail procedures in our
Circuit for nearly 50 years: a prison official may not open an in-
mate’s properly marked legal mail outside of his presence.” Mitch-
ell v. Peoples, 10 F.4th 1226, 1228 (11th Cir. 2021). 3 If a prison official
does so, that official violates the inmate’s First Amendment “right
to free speech.” Id. at 1230 (citing Al-Amin v. Smith, 511 F.3d 1317,
1334 (11th Cir. 2008)). Of course, the legal-mail rule anticipates
that a prison official may open a prisoner’s mail in the prisoner’s
presence—but only for the purpose of permitting that official to
check the mail for contraband, not for allowing the official to read
the mail. Id. This longstanding rule strikes a balance that enables
inmates to “trust that their legal communications” remain “confi-
dential,” while still permitting “jail officials” to “preserve security.”
Id. (citing Taylor v. Sterrett, 532 F.2d 462, 477 (5th Cir. 1976)). 4
3 This rule applies as much to pretrial detainees (like Christmas) as it does to
convicted prisoners. Id. at 1229 (citing Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520, 545 (1979)).
4 The decisions of the former Fifth Circuit handed down before October 1,
1981, are binding on this Court. Bonner v. City of Prichard, 661 F.2d 1206, 1209
(11th Cir. 1981) (en banc).
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Lieutenant Nabors and Sergeant Hill urge us to affirm the
district court’s dismissal of Christmas’s legal-mail claim because he
failed to allege that they “actually read his legal mail.” But that’s
irrelevant here.
Our cases applying the legal-mail rule hinge on whether a
prison official’s conduct “sufficiently chills, inhibits, or interferes
with” an inmate’s “ability to speak, protest, and complain openly
to his attorney so as to infringe his right to free speech.” Id. at
1230–31 (quoting Al-Amin, 511 F.3d at 1334). Although Christmas
did not allege that Lieutenant Nabors and Sergeant Hill opened his
mail outside of his presence, he did allege that they could access his
legal mail outside of his presence in the future. In particular, he
asserted that Nabors and Hill made him open his legal mail in their
presence and scan it into a computer that allegedly contains “a
memory chip.” That kind of technology stores a prisoner’s mail
and, at least on the allegations in Christmas’s complaint, enables
jail officials to access a prisoner’s mail outside his presence. So we
can reasonably infer that Nabors and Hill could read Christmas’s le-
gal mail outside his presence. 5
And it’s easy to understand why that kind of ability could
“chill, inhibit, or interfere with” a prisoner’s “ability to speak, pro-
test, and complain openly to his attorney so as to infringe his right
5 Our plausibility determination here is limited to instances when a prisoner
alleges that his legal mail was scanned and uploaded onto a “memory chip” or
other electronic storage medium that enables prison employees to later access
that mail outside the prisoner’s presence.
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to free speech.” Mitchell, 10 F.4th at 1230–31 (quoting Al-Amin, 511
F.3d at 1334). For that reason, Christmas plausibly alleged a First
Amendment claim.
2. Christmas stated a First Amendment claim against
Nabors in his official capacity.
By suing Lieutenant Nabors in his official capacity as the
Lieutenant of the Polk County Jail, Christmas effectively sued Polk
County. E.g., Ireland v. Prummell, 53 F.4th 1274, 1288 (11th Cir.
2022). 6 “The ‘touchstone of [a] § 1983 action against a government
body is an allegation that official policy is responsible for a depriva-
tion of civil rights protected by the Constitution.’” Hoefling v. City
of Miami, 811 F.3d 1271, 1280 (11th Cir. 2016) (alteration in original)
(quoting Monell v. Dep’t of Soc. Servs., 436 U.S. 658, 690 (1978)). A
plaintiff can establish that an official policy caused the deprivation
of his constitutional rights by identifying “a widespread practice
that, although not authorized by written or express municipal pol-
icy, is so permanent and well settled as to constitute a custom or
usage with the force of law.” Baxter v. Roberts, 54 F.4th 1241, 1270
(11th Cir. 2022) (quoting Griffin v. City of Opa-Locka, 261 F.3d 1295,
1308 (11th Cir. 2001)).
As we’ve noted, Christmas alleged that Jail officials scan all
the incoming legal mail and upload it to “a computer called a ki-
osk.” That computer allegedly has “a memory chip” that stores
6 Christmas’s complaint also asserted a claim against Sergeant Hill in her offi-
cial capacity. But Christmas has abandoned that claim on appeal.
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copies of inmates’ legal mail. We think these allegations establish
that an official policy caused Christmas’s alleged constitutional dep-
rivation. After all, it’s hard to imagine why the Jail would even have
this technology if not for an official policy.
Lieutenant Nabors contends that Christmas failed to plausi-
bly allege that Lieutenant Nabors “had decision-making authority
for the jail.” But Christmas need not assert that Lieutenant Nabors
had final decision-making authority. Indeed, “identifying and prov-
ing that a final policymaker acted on behalf of a municipality is ‘an
evidentiary standard, and not a pleading requirement.” Hoefling,
811 F.3d at 1280 (quoting Swierkiewicz v. Sorema, N.A., 534 U.S. 506,
510 (2002)). Christmas needed only to “allege a policy, practice, or
custom of the [County] which caused the [violation of his First
Amendment rights].” Id. And as we’ve explained, Christmas
cleared that bar.
3. Christmas stated First Amendment claims against Na-
bors and Hill in their individual capacities.
Christmas also asserted legal-mail claims against Lieutenant
Nabors and Sergeant Hill in their individual capacities. But the dis-
trict court dismissed those claims, reasoning that Christmas’s alle-
gations connect neither Lieutenant Nabors nor Sergeant Hill to his
asserted constitutional deprivation. We disagree.
A supervisor may be liable for the unconstitutional acts of
his subordinates when he personally participates in those acts or
when a causal connection exists between his actions and the con-
stitutional deprivation. Douglas v. Yates, 535 F.3d 1316, 1322 (11th
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Cir. 2008) (citation omitted). A causal connection exists, in turn,
when the “facts support an inference that the supervisor directed
the subordinates to act unlawfully or knew that the subordinates
would act unlawfully and failed to stop them from doing so.” Id.Here, Christmas alleged not only that Lieutenant Nabors
and Sergeant Hill failed to stop their subordinates from acting un-
lawfully, but also that Nabors and Hill directed their subordinates
to act unlawfully. In fact, Christmas alleged that Lieutenant Nabors
and Sergeant Hill continued to direct their subordinates to enforce
the Jail’s mail-scanning policy even after Christmas filed grievances
and complained about the policy’s illegality. As a result, Christmas
has stated a First Amendment legal-mail claim against Nabors and
Hill in their personal capacities. See Mitchell, 10 F.4th at 1231 (hold-
ing that a prisoner stated a claim under the legal mail rule against
a prison’s mailroom supervisor when the latter “apparently knew
about the illegal conduct after [the prisoner] filed grievances, but
still failed to stop that” conduct from continuing).7
7 As we’ve mentioned, Christmas’s legal-mail claim is at the § 1915A stage,
where we must accept the facts as he has alleged them and draw all reasonable
inferences in his favor. Henley, 945 F.3d at 1331; Royal Caribbean Cruises, 931
F.3d at 1043. On top of that, Christmas filed a pro se complaint, so we hold
his pleadings to “a less stringent standard.” Leal, 254 F.3d at 1280. Of course,
in a review of an order dismissing claims at the § 1915A stage, our ruling that
a plaintiff has stated a plausible claim does not purport to opine on the ultimate
merits of the claim. Should the actual facts turn out to differ from the facts
we’ve assumed here, obviously, that could bear on the outcome of Christ-
mas’s legal-mail claim.
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B. We affirm the district court’s dismissal of Christmas’s
claim under the Due Process Clause.
Christmas also argues that the district court erred by dis-
missing his claim that Lieutenant Nabors violated his rights under
the Due Process Clause when Nabors denied Christmas access to
outdoor recreation for two years. We cannot agree that the district
court erred because Christmas failed to address—and thus con-
ceded—an element necessary to prevail on his Due Process Claim.
We have held that “in regard to providing pretrial detainees
with such basic necessities as food, living space, and medical care[,]
the minimum standard allowed by the due process clause is the
same as that allowed by the eighth amendment for convicted per-
sons.” Hamm v. DeKalb Cnty., 774 F.2d 1567, 1574 (11th Cir. 1985);
see also Ireland, 53 F.4th at 1287 n.4 (noting that “decisional law in-
volving prison inmates applies equally to cases involving arrestees
or pretrial detainees” (quoting Cottrell v. Caldwell, 85 F.3d 1480, 1490
(11th Cir. 1996)).
The Eighth Amendment’s standard requires a plaintiff to sat-
isfy both objective and subjective components. See, e.g., Farmer v.
Brennan, 511 U.S. 825, 834 (1970); Hoffer v. Sec’y, Fla. Dep’t of Corr.,
973 F.3d 1263, 1270 (11th Cir. 2020) (quoting Farrow v. West, 320 F.3d
1235, 1243 (11th Cir. 2003)). So a prisoner claiming that the condi-
tions of his confinement violate the Eighth Amendment must first
show that the condition objectively exposes the prisoner to “a sub-
stantial risk of serious harm.” Farmer, 511 U.S. at 834. If the pris-
oner can satisfy that objective inquiry, he must then satisfy a
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subjective one by showing that the prison official who imposed the
challenged condition had a “sufficiently culpable state of mind.” Id.
(quoting Wilson, 501 U.S. at 297).
Because Christmas was a pretrial detainee, and because his
claim involves the deprivation of a “basic necessity” like access to
recreational activity, he must satisfy the Eighth Amendment’s ob-
jective and subjective standards to prevail on his claim under the
Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause. And that’s where
his problem arises, as he argues only that the conditions of his con-
finement were objectively unreasonable.
Invoking our decision in Bass v. Perrin, 170 F.3d 1312 (11th
Cir. 1999), Christmas asserts that the “complete denial of outdoor
exercise may” violate the Constitution when there’s no “penologi-
cal justification” for that condition. Id. at 1316–17 (citation omit-
ted).
That argument misapprehends Bass, though. Even if a pris-
oner alleges prison officials completely denied a prisoner access to
outdoor exercise without any penological justification (the objec-
tive inquiry), Bass still requires the prisoner to assert that prison of-
ficials acted with deliberate indifference to a serious risk of harm
to the prisoner (the subjective inquiry).
Bass involved two prisoners who claimed that prison officials
violated their Eighth Amendment rights by “complete[ly]” denying
them access to “outdoor exercise,” id. at 1317. We rejected those
claims because the plaintiffs satisfied neither the objective nor sub-
jective inquiries.
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The prisoners in Bass failed to satisfy the objective inquiry
because the prison officials denied them access to outdoor exercise
to enhance “the safety and security of the prison.” Id. at 1316.
Those prisoners received sentences for “violent crimes”: one “for
robbery, kidnapping, and armed burglary;” and the other “for
armed robbery.” Id. Worse still, those prisoners “continued to en-
gage in violent behavior” after being incarcerated. Id. One pris-
oner stabbed another prisoner. Id. And during their allotted time
for outdoor exercise, both prisoners “scaled a fence, comman-
deered a dump truck (by ejecting the driver at knifepoint), and
drove through the perimeter fence in an attempt to escape.” Id. at
1315. As a result, prison officials suspended those inmates’ access
to “outdoor exercise,” id. Although we acknowledged that the
complete denial of outdoor exercise involved the “infliction of
pain,” we concluded that the pain inflicted was not “totally without
penological justification.” Id. at 1316 (quoting Gre, 428 U.S. at
183). “On the contrary,” we continued, “it would be hard to imag-
ine a situation in which two persons had shown a greater threat to
the safety and security of the prison.” Id.
The prisoners in Bass also failed to satisfy the subjective ele-
ment because the prison officials were not deliberately indifferent
“to a substantial risk of serious harm to” the prisoners. Id. at 1317
(quoting Farmer, 511 U.S. at 836). We noted that the record was
“filled with evidence indicating that prison officials were very con-
cerned” that the plaintiff-prisoners might harm other prisoners if
the plaintiff-prisoners were permitted to exercise outdoors. Id. We
also noted that the plaintiffs received “daily” medical attention and
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“weekly cell-front psychological evaluations.” Id. We therefore
concluded that the prison officials did not act with deliberate indif-
ference. Id.
Bass is thus consistent with our Eighth Amendment cases
that require a plaintiff to satisfy both objective and subjective in-
quiries. And as we’ve noted, that’s problematic for Christmas be-
cause he argues only that Lieutenant Nabors denied him access to
outdoor recreation without “any legitimate reason.” For our pur-
poses at the § 1915A stage, we can assume without deciding that
Christmas is right—that is, we can assume that Lieutenant Nabors
denied him access to outdoor recreation without any legitimate
reason. See, e.g., Spain v. Procunier, 600 F.2d 189, 200 (9th Cir. 1979)
(Kennedy, J.) (holding that neither security, cost, nor inconvenience
are “adequate justification[s] for failing to provide resources for
outdoor exercise during [inmates’] long period of confinement”).
But even if that’s so, that satisfies only the objective inquiry.
And Christmas’s briefs altogether ignore the subjective prong,
which, again, requires a showing that the prison official who im-
posed the challenged condition had a “sufficiently culpable state of
mind.” Farmer, 511 U.S. at 834 (quoting Wilson, 501 U.S. at 297).
Nor can we address that prong for him; “the law is by now well
settled in this Circuit that a legal . . . argument that has not been
briefed before the court is deemed abandoned and its merits will
not be addressed.” Access Now, Inc. v. Sw. Airlines Co., 385 F.3d 1324,
1330 (11th Cir. 2004); see also, e.g., U.S. v. Nealy, 232 F.3d 825, 830
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(11th Cir. 2000) (“Parties must submit all issues on appeal in their
initial briefs.”).
Without pleading facts that we can reasonably infer establish
that Lieutenant Nabors intended to punish him, Christmas cannot
show that the district court erred in dismissing his claim under the
Due Process Clause. We therefore affirm the district court’s dis-
missal of Christmas’s claim under the Due Process Clause.
C. The district court did not err by failing to construe
Christmas’s complaint as stating claims under either
the Americans with Disabilities Act or the Rehabilita-
tion Act.
Christmas also argues that the district court erred by failing
to construe his complaint as stating claims under the Americans
with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) and the Rehabilitation Act. In his
view, his complaint made such claims by alleging that Lieutenant
Nabors, while acting in his official capacity, implemented a policy
that denied recreation time to detainees in the medical unit, includ-
ing those with disabilities. We cannot agree with Christmas,
though, because he again failed to address an element necessary to
prevail on his discrimination claim.
Title II of the ADA prohibits public entities from discrimi-
nating against qualified individuals with disabilities. See 42 U.S.C. §
12132; see also Bircoll v. Miami-Dade Cnty., 480 F.3d 1072, 1081 (11th
Cir. 2007) (observing that this prohibition applies to prisons and
that a disabled prisoner can state a claim under the ADA if a state
prison denies that prisoner access to an activity because of his
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disability). Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act contains an anal-
ogous prohibition. See 29 U.S.C. § 794. So we assess discrimination
claims under both statutes using “the same standards,” J.S., III ex
rel. J.S. Jr. v. Houston Cnty. Bd. of Educ., 877 F.3d 979, 985 (11th Cir.
2017); see also Cash v. Smith, 231 F.3d 1301, 1305 n.2 (11th Cir. 2000)
(“Cases decided under the Rehabilitation Act are precedent for
cases under the ADA, and vice versa.”).
To prevail on a claim under either Title II or Section 504, a
plaintiff must satisfy three elements:
(1) that he is a qualified individual with a disability; (2)
that he was either excluded from participation in or
denied the benefits of a public entity’s services, pro-
grams, or activities, or was otherwise discriminated
against by the public entity; and (3) that the exclusion,
denial of benefit, or discrimination was by reason of
the plaintiff’s disability.
Houston Cnty. Bd. of Educ., 877 F.3d at 985 (quoting Bircoll, 480 F.3d
at 1083). Besides these requirements, because Christmas seeks
damages, he “must clear an additional hurdle: he must prove that
the entity that he has sued engaged in intentional discrimination,
which requires a showing of deliberate indifference.” Ingram v. Ku-
bik, 30 F.4th 1241, 1257 (11th Cir. 2022) (quoting Silberman v. Mia.
Dade Transit, 927 F.3d 1123, 1134 (11th Cir. 2019)). Put differently,
Christmas must show that the Jail had “actual knowledge of dis-
crimination in the entity’s programs” and failed to adequately re-
spond. Id. at 1250 (quoting Silberman, 927 F.3d at 1134).
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That additional hurdle proves fatal here because Christmas
contends neither that the Jail knew about Lieutenant Nabors’s al-
leged discrimination nor that it failed to respond adequately. As a
result, we cannot say that the district court erred when it did not
construe Christmas’s complaint as stating claims under the ADA
and the Rehabilitation Act.
D. The district court did not err by failing to construe
Christmas’s complaint as alleging a First Amendment
retaliation claim.
Christmas also argues that the district court erred by failing
to construe his complaint as stating a First Amendment retaliation
claim against Lieutenant Nabors and Sergeant Hill. In Christmas’s
view, he stated such a claim by alleging that Nabors and Hill
stripped him of his “medically necessary cane” and prematurely
moved him from the Jail’s medical dorm into its general population
as retaliation for his filing grievances and asking for access to out-
door recreation.
Prison officials violate a prisoner’s “First Amendment rights
to free speech and to petition the government” by punishing that
prisoner “for filing a grievance concerning the conditions of his im-
prisonment.” Yates, 535 F.3d at 1321 (quoting Boxer X v. Harris, 437
F.3d 1107, 1112 (11th Cir. 2006)). To prevail on such a claim, a plain-
tiff must satisfy three elements: “first, that his speech or act was
constitutionally protected; second, that the defendant’s retaliatory
conduct adversely affected the protected speech; and third, that
there is a causal connection between the retaliatory actions and the
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adverse effect on speech.” Id. (quoting Bennett v. Hendrix, 423 F.3d
1247, 1250 (11th Cir. 2005)).
Christmas’s allegations satisfy the first element because he
engaged in protected speech when he filed grievances and asked for
access to outdoor recreation. E.g., Smith v. Mosley, 532 F.3d 1270,
1276 (11th Cir. 2008) (observing that an inmate exercises “his First
Amendment right of freedom of speech when he complains to the
prison’s administrators about the conditions of his confinement”).
We can also assume that Christmas satisfies the second ele-
ment, which turns on whether the discipline he received for engag-
ing in protected speech “would likely deter a person of ordinary
firmness from engaging in” that speech. Brannon v. Finkelstein, 754
F.3d 1269, 1274 (11th Cir. 2014).
This brings us to the causal-connection requirement. To es-
tablish a causal connection between the retaliatory actions and the
adverse effect on speech, Christmas must show that Lieutenant Na-
bors and Sergeant Hill “were subjectively motivated to discipline
[Christmas] because [he] complained of some of the conditions of
his confinement.” Mosely, 532 F.3d at 1278.
The allegations in Christmas’s complaint undercut his claim
that Nabors and Hill were subjectively motivated to discipline
Christmas because he filed grievances when they relocated him
from the Jail’s medical dorms into its general population. When
Christmas asked to sign up for outdoor recreation, Nabors denied
his request and told him that the Jail’s medical staff had “deter-
mined that” Christmas was “not fit for outside recreation.” When
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20 Opinion of the Court 21-14230
Christmas repeated that request, Nabors told him that he would
“be medically eligible to go to outside recreation” once the Jail’s
medical staff cleared him for relocation into general population.
And when Christmas repeated his request for outdoor recreation a
third time, Nabors responded that Christmas needed to convince
the Jail’s medical staff “to clear [him] for normal dorms” to gain
access to outdoor recreation. Then, when Christmas was finally
relocated from the medical dorm to the Jail’s general population,
he accused Nabors of punishing him. But according to Christmas,
Nabors not only denied that accusation, but he also told Christmas
that Christmas no longer “qualif[ied] for medical housing” and that
he was “housed appropriately” based on his medical classification.
In other words, Christmas alleges no facts to support his conclu-
sory allegation that Christmas removed Nabors from the medical
unit in retaliation for Christmas’s complaints. To the contrary, all
his allegations support the conclusion that Christmas was trans-
ferred to general population because he no longer required medical
housing, and the medical unit—not Nabors—was responsible for
making that decision.
To be sure, Christmas also contends that his cane was taken
as retaliation for filing grievances. But he alleged that his cane was
taken when he was transferred from the Jail’s medical unit into its
general population. And allowing Christmas to take his cane into
the general population, according to Lieutenant Nabors and Ser-
geant Hill, would have jeopardized the Jail’s safety and security. We
find that explanation more than plausible. See, e.g., Kiman v. N.H.
Dep’t of Corr., 451 F.3d 274, 285–86 (1st Cir. 2006) (noting that “a
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21-14230 Opinion of the Court 21
cane . . . could be used as a weapon”). And Christmas has failed to
allege any facts suggesting it was pretextual.
At bottom, Christmas failed to plausibly allege that Lieuten-
ant Nabors and Sergeant Hill retaliated against him for filing griev-
ances. Instead, his allegations suggest that he was relocated to the
Jail’s general population because the medical unit found it medi-
cally appropriate to do so. And taking Christmas’s cane was neces-
sary to preserve the Jail’s safety and security. For these reasons, we
cannot say that the district court erred in failing to construe Christ-
mas’s complaint as stating a claim for retaliation under the First
Amendment.
E. The district court did not err by failing to construe
Christmas’s complaint as stating a claim for deliberate
indifference.
Finally, Christmas argues that the district court erred by fail-
ing to construe his complaint as stating a claim for deliberate indif-
ference under the Eighth Amendment. Christmas asserts that he
stated such a claim by alleging that Lieutenant Nabors and Ser-
geant Hill acted with deliberate indifference when they took his
cane, even though they knew he had a serious medical need that
required him to use a cane.
Like prisoners, pretrial detainees “have a right to receive
medical treatment for their illnesses and injuries.” Taylor v. Hughes,
920 F.3d 729, 732–33 (11th Cir. 2019). Deliberate indifference to a
pretrial detainee’s serious medical needs “is therefore a constitu-
tional violation.” Id. at 733 (citing Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97, 103
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22 Opinion of the Court 21-14230
(1976)). To state a claim for deliberate indifference, Christmas
needed to have alleged (1) that he had a serious medical need; (2)
that Nabors and Hill exhibited deliberate indifference to that need;
and (3) that Nabors’ and Hill’s deliberate indifference caused
Christmas’s injury. Id. (citing Mann v. Taser Int’l, Inc., 588 F.3d 1291,
1306–07 (11th Cir. 2009)).
Christmas failed to allege that he suffered any injury when
Nabors and Hill took his cane. Instead, he contends that he “devel-
oped complications from his gunshot wound, including hernias,”
while at the Jail. But he failed to allege a causal link between those
complications and his inability to use a cane after being relocated
to the Jail’s general population. So even assuming that Nabors and
Hill acted with deliberate indifference when they took his cane,
Christmas still failed to allege an essential element of his claim:
that is, that Nabors’ and Hill’s deliberate indifference caused his in-
juries. As a result, we cannot say that the district court erred by
failing to construe Christmas’s complaint as stating a claim for de-
liberate indifference.
IV.
For these reasons, we REVERSE the district court’s judg-
ment and REMAND for further proceedings consistent with this
opinion.