A federal inmate who suffers from asthma brought a civil rights action, alleging that he was subjected to secondhand smoke in violation of his Eighth Amendment right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment.  Both parties filed motions for summary judgment.  The court granted the defendant’s motion for summary judgment, ruling that he had avised inmates that smoking regulations would be “vigorously” enforced.  The court found that the plaintiff “did not produce any objective evidence concerning the level” of secondhand smoke at the prison or that the amount of secondhand smoke “created an unreasonable risk.”  Thus, Panton failed to meet the first prong of the Helling test.

2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 21110 (U.S.D.C. M.D. Penn.).