Plaintiffs, a group of 435 nonsmoking inmates, assert numerous state law causes of action and violation of federally protected constitutional rights as a result of exposure to secondhand smoke while in federal custody and incarcerated.  The plaintiffs alleged that the defendants were involved in a conspiracy with a federal official, the director of the Bureau of Prisons, to subject the plaintiffs to cruel and unusual punishment.  The court (Sand, J.) denied the defendants’ motion to dismiss, concluding that the plaintiffs “have sufficiently alleged that the defendants were involved in a conspiracy with a federal official.”  After a year of discovery, however, the court (Sand, J.) did dismiss the complaint, at 100 F. Supp. 2d 215, 2000 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7805.  The court concluded that the fact that the tobacco companies sell their products at the prison — nor any other fact presented by the plaintiffs — is not enough to establish a conspiracy to violate the Eighth Amendment.

1999 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6696, 97 Civ. 7344 (U.S.D.C. S.D. N.Y. 1999).