Dickinson v. Cochran
11th Cir. No. 20-11525
Along with the law firm Wilkinson Walsh, Rights Behind Bars represents Joshua Dickinson who was jailed for three days in the midst of a mental health crisis. He was taken to Mobile County Metro Jail, which has for years been overcrowded, chaotic, and violent. Another person at the jail who was placed in the same cell as Dickinson was able to bring a knife into the jail because of the jail's failures in intake and classification and used it to stab Dickinson.
In a significant win for prisoner’s rights, the Eleventh Circuit agreed that the Sheriff and Warden were not entitled to qualified immunity and allowed Dickinson to continue his lawsuit holding them accountable for failing to protect him from this violent attack. The court declined to rely on its prior ruling requiring prisoners to show that they are confined to a prison “where violence and terror reign” in order to survive a qualified immunity defense.
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