Cerniglia

MEMORANDUM **

Steven Cerniglia was detained in 1997 pursuant to California’s Sexually Violent Predator Act (SVPA), Cal. Welf. & Inst. Code § 6000 et. seq., and adjudicated to be a sexually violent predator (SVP). Two years later, during his civil recommitment process, Cerniglia was held in “total separation” (T-Sep) at the Sacramento County Jail. He alleges in this civil rights action that jail officials there treated him “in a manner more harsh than both other civil detainees and the convicted prisoners in the jail” and thus violated his constitutional rights. The district court granted summary judgment, ruling the individual defendants were entitled to qualified immunity. The court reasoned that SVP detainees did not have a “clearly established right not to be housed in a county jail” and that “a reasonable correctional officer ... would not have concluded that Cerniglia’s constitutional rights were being violated.” The court also ruled the institutional defendants were immune because the SVP detainees were confined pursuant to state law rather than county policy. After the court’s decision, we issued two opinions reviewing the constitutionality of treatment afforded to SVP…