Johnson v. Johnson

Roderick Johnson (plaintiff) was gay and incarcerated in a Texas prison. Johnson had been housed in safekeeping, a unit for vulnerable prisoners. Johnson was then transferred to a different prison. A prison official told Johnson that this prison did not protect “punks,” which Johnson understood to be a slur for gay men, and placed Johnson into the general population. Various prisoners or prison gangs would claim to own Johnson, beat and rape him, prostitute him out to other prisoners, or sell him to other prisoners or gangs. Johnson filed complaints with the prison officials (defendants), reporting the abuse and seeking protection. The officials documented some physical injuries but allegedly ignored most of Johnson’s complaints, refusing to check Johnson for injuries or investigate. On multiple occasions, prison officials referred Johnson’s complaints to a committee that handled transfer requests. Sometimes, the committee members (defendants) separated Johnson from his alleged abuser but did not transfer him out of the general population. Several times, the committee did nothing, allegedly implying that Johnson probably liked the sexual attacks because he was gay or stating he needed to learn to either fight off his attackers or accept the attacks. Johnson sued the prison officials and committee members in federal district court, alleging they had violated (1) the Eighth Amendment by failing to keep Johnson safe and (2) the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause by refusing to protect Johnson due to animus against his sexual orientation. The prison officials and committee members claimed they did not believe Johnson had faced any serious harm, they had not treated Johnson any differently because he was gay, and Johnson’s claims should be dismissed. The district court denied the dismissal request. The officials and committee members appealed.