Aholelei

Before us is the sole issue of whether the State of Hawaii Department of Public Safety and ten State officials who are sued in their official capacities (“the State defendants”) have waived sovereign immunity as regards appellant William S. Aholelei’s state law claims. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we affirm the district court’s grant of summary judgment on sovereign immunity grounds.

I

In October 2003, appellant William S. Aholelei was beaten by other inmates while incarcerated in a state prison in Hawaii. On July 9, 2004, proceeding pro se, Aholelei filed a complaint against the State defendants and others. Here, we are only concerned with Aholelei’s state law negligence claims for money damages against the State defendants.

The State defendants asserted sovereign immunity as an affirmative defense to Aholelei’s complaint. Subsequently, all defendants moved for leave to file a third-party complaint against the inmates who had attacked Aholelei. The district court granted the defendants’ motion, and a third-party complaint was filed on September 23, 2005. The State of Hawaii is expressly named as a third-party plaintiff in the third-party complaint.…