What is the current state of the law on prison medical care in the context of the Eighth Amendment?
The following excerpt is from Davis v. Colusa Cnty. Court Sys., No. CIV S-11-2745 GGH P (E.D. Cal. 2012):
"Because routine discomfort is part of the penalty that criminal offenders pay for their offenses against society, only those deprivations denying the minimum civilized measure of life's necessities are sufficiently grave to form the basis of an Eighth Amendment violation." See Hudson v. McMillian, 503 U.S. 1, 9, 112 S.Ct. 995, 1000 (1992) (omitting internal quotations and citations). A similar analysis applies to medical needs: "Because society does not expect that prisoners will have unqualified access to health care, deliberate indifference to medical needs amounts to an Eighth Amendment violation only if those needs are 'serious.'" Id.
However, "[p]rison officials have a duty to ensure that prisoners are provided adequate shelter, food, clothing, sanitation, medical care, and personal safety." Johnson v.
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