A nonsmoking inmate at the Illinois Department of Corrections filed a civil rights action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. sec. 1983, alleging that his exposure to secondhand smoke there violates his Eighth Amendment right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment.  The Court ruled that the “plaintiff’s evidence falls far short of establishing” either that the defendants were deliberately indifferent to the plaintiff’s future health or that he was being subjected to “unreasonably high levels” of secondhand smoke.  The Court noted that the plaintiff “presented no evidence at all to show the level of smoke to which he is exposed.”

2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16657 (U.S.D.C. S.D. Ill.)