William Townsend, Jr. v. D. Sisto
Opinion
Opinion
MEMORANDUM
California state prisoner William Townsend, Jr. appeals pro se from the district court’s judgment dismissing his 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action alleging Eighth Amendment violations in connection with a fall he sustained in the prison showers. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 . We review de novo a dismissal under 28 U.S.C. § 1915A. Resnick v. Hayes, 213 F.3d 443, 447 (9th Cir.2000). We reverse and remand.
Dismissal of Townsend’s action was improper, at this early stage, because Townsend alleged that prison officials were aware that the poorly maintained shower floors posed a significant threat to inmate safety yet failed to take reasonable measures to avoid that threat. See Farmer v. Brennan, 511 U.S. 825, 847 , 114 S.Ct. 1970 , 128 L.Ed.2d 811 (1994) (a prison official violates the Eighth Amendment prohibition against inhumane conditions of confinement if he or she knows of a substantial risk of serious harm to an inmate and fails to take reasonable measures to avoid the harm); Frost v. Agnos, 152 F.3d 1124, 1129 (9th Cir.1998) (“Slippery floors without protective measures could create a sufficient danger to warrant relief.”).