Thompson v. Haws

While confined at Centralia Correctional Center, James Thompson filed a pro se complaint pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against various employees of the Illinois Department of Corrections claiming that they exposed him to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) in violation of the Eighth Amendment. Thompson sought both injunctive relief and monetary damages. Based on this courts decision in Steading v. Thompson, 941 F.2d 498 (7th Cir. 1991), cert. denied, 112 S. Ct. 1206 (1992), the district court found that the alleged failure to provide a non-smoking area was insufficient to suggest that the defendants intended any harmful effect and dismissed the complaint pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6).