Denial of medical care
A jail or prison that takes a person's liberty takes on the duty to treat them, and an official who knows of a serious risk to a prisoner's health and does nothing about it violates the Constitution. The test is deliberate indifference: not whether the care was good, but whether the official knew of the risk and disregarded it. A person still inside must finish the grievance process first, and the law limits damages where there was no physical injury. This page goes through the test, the detainee question this site does not answer, the two Prison Litigation Reform Act rules, the records that decide the case, and the clocks.
Denied medical care is the custody claim that is proved almost entirely on paper. Sick-call slips, medication logs, the nurse's notes, the grievance and its denial, the hospital record when the person finally got there. Nothing in this claim depends on a fight or a beating. It depends on showing that someone with the authority to act knew there was a serious problem and let it go. The jail and prison abuse page covers force and conditions; this page is about care that was not given.
What the claim requires
Section 1983 supplies the cause of action against a person acting under color of state law (42 U.S.C. § 1983). The right, for a convicted prisoner, is the Eighth Amendment's, and the test is the one the Supreme Court set in Farmer v. Brennan, 511 U.S. 825 (1994): the official must know of and disregard a substantial risk of serious harm. That is a subjective test. It is not enough that the risk was obvious or that a careful official would have noticed it. The official must actually have known, and then done nothing reasonable about it.
In practice the claim has two parts. The first is the risk: a condition serious enough that ignoring it risked serious harm. A broken bone, a diabetic without insulin, a withdrawal that was not managed, a wound that was not cleaned, chest pain that was not assessed. The second is the knowledge: proof that the official knew. That proof is usually the prisoner's own words in the facility's own records. A sick-call request describes the symptoms and is dated by the facility. A grievance says the request was ignored and is answered by a supervisor. A cellmate or an officer saw the person unable to stand. The more times the facility was told, in writing, the harder it is for anyone to say they did not know.
Not malpractice
A doctor who examined the person and reached the wrong conclusion in good faith did not disregard a known risk; the doctor misjudged it. Under Farmer's subjective test that is not a constitutional violation, however serious the result. Whether it is medical malpractice under state law is a different question with its own rules, and this page does not cover it.
Pretrial detainees: the question this site does not answer
A person held before trial is protected by the Fourteenth Amendment, not the Eighth, and the Supreme Court held in Kingsley v. Hendrickson, 576 U.S. 389 (2015), that a pretrial detainee's excessive force claim requires only objective unreasonableness, not subjective intent. Whether that objective standard also governs a detainee's medical care claim in the federal courts of New York is a question the circuit courts have addressed, and it is not in this site's verified ledger, so we do not publish an answer. The difference matters: an objective test asks what a reasonable official would have done with the information; Farmer asks what this official actually knew. A complaint for a detainee is drafted with both standards in view, and the facts that prove actual knowledge are gathered either way.
The two Prison Litigation Reform Act rules
The first rule is exhaustion. "No action shall be brought with respect to prison conditions under section 1983 by a prisoner until such administrative remedies as are available are exhausted" (42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a)). The Supreme Court in Ross v. Blake, 578 U.S. 632 (2016), held that there is no "special circumstances" exception to that rule, and that the only limit is availability: a grievance process that is a dead end, one so opaque that no ordinary prisoner can use it, or one that officials thwarted through misrepresentation or intimidation is not "available," and a prisoner need not exhaust what does not exist.
The second rule is the injury requirement. A prisoner may not bring a federal civil action for mental or emotional injury suffered in custody without a prior showing of physical injury or the commission of a sexual act (§ 1997e(e)). In a medical case the physical injury is usually the untreated condition and what it became, which is why the records from the outside hospital, when the person was finally taken there, are requested first. Nominal damages for a completed constitutional violation remain available and keep a case alive where the loss is hard to measure (Uzuegbunam v. Preczewski, 592 U.S. 279 (2021)).
Grievance deadlines are counted in days
Each facility's grievance rules set short deadlines for the first complaint and for each appeal. This site does not publish the Department of Correction's or DOCCS's grievance deadlines because they are not in our verified ledger; the facility's rulebook is the source. File the grievance in writing as soon as care is refused or delayed, keep a copy of everything, and appeal every denial within the time the rulebook gives. Keep requesting care at every sick call while the grievance runs, in writing, because each unanswered request adds to the record of knowledge.
The records that decide the case
The case is the paper, so the first work is getting all of it. From the facility: the medical chart, every sick-call request and its response, the medication administration records, the intake screening, the mental health notes, the injury reports, and the grievance file with every appeal and every answer. From outside: the records of any hospital or clinic the person was taken to, which are dated by someone other than the defendant. From the person: a dated list of every request for care, who it was made to, and what was said back, written as soon as possible, and the names or descriptions of the officers and medical staff on each shift. From the family: the dates of calls and visits where the condition was described.
Since the repeal of Civil Rights Law § 50-a in June 2020, an officer's disciplinary records are subject to FOIL with personal information redacted; the disciplinary records page explains the request. Facility video is requested in writing, immediately; this site publishes no retention period for it because none is in our verified ledger, and in New Jersey the body-worn camera retention statute excludes correctional police officers (N.J.S.A. 40A:14-118.5), so there is no floor to rely on. The evidence page goes through each request.
If a criminal charge is still pending, talk to your defense lawyer before describing what happened in custody to anyone outside the grievance process, and do not name officers in a letter or on a call you do not control. The criminal case and civil case page explains how the two cases are sequenced.
Who is sued, and where
The federal claim is against the individuals who knew and did nothing: the officer who did not pass on the request, the nurse who did not see the patient, the supervisor who denied the grievance. The City or the county is liable under Section 1983 only where an official policy or custom caused the violation (Monell v. Dep't of Social Servs., 436 U.S. 658 (1978)), and a failure to train supports liability only where it amounts to deliberate indifference, ordinarily shown by a pattern of similar violations (City of Canton v. Harris, 489 U.S. 378 (1989); Connick v. Thompson, 563 U.S. 51 (2011)). Punitive damages are available against the individuals and never against the municipality (City of Newport v. Fact Concerts, 453 U.S. 247 (1981)), and a prevailing plaintiff may recover attorney's fees as part of costs (42 U.S.C. § 1988(b)).
The state-law claim depends on who ran the facility. The Department of Correction is a City agency, so a Rikers claim under state law is against the City of New York and needs a notice of claim served on the Comptroller within 90 days after the claim arises (N.Y. Gen. Mun. Law § 50-e(1)(a)), suit within one year and 90 days (§ 50-i(1)), and a 50-h examination if the City demands one (§ 50-h); a county jail is the same rule with the county as defendant. The City's 2021 civil rights law does not reach correction officers; it covers NYPD employees and special patrolmen only (N.Y.C. Admin. Code § 8-801). A DOCCS prison belongs to the State, which is not a "person" under Section 1983 (Will v. Michigan Dep't of State Police, 491 U.S. 58 (1989)); the federal claim runs against the staff personally, and the state-law claim goes to the Court of Claims, where a claim or a notice of intention must be filed and served within 90 days of accrual, a timely notice of intention extending the time to file (N.Y. Court of Claims Act §§ 10(3), 10(3-b), 10(6)). No notice of claim is needed for the federal claim (Felder v. Casey, 487 U.S. 131 (1988)), which has three years (Owens v. Okure, 488 U.S. 235 (1989); CPLR 214(5)), and a New York court may hear it (Haywood v. Drown, 556 U.S. 729 (2009)).
| Facility | Federal claim | State-law claim | Notice | Authority |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rikers Island and other City jails | Against the staff; the City through Monell; 3 years | Against the City; 1 year and 90 days | Notice of claim to the Comptroller, 90 days | Gen. Mun. Law §§ 50-e, 50-i, 50-h; CPLR 214(5) |
| A county jail | Same | Against the county; 1 year and 90 days | Notice of claim, 90 days | Gen. Mun. Law §§ 50-e, 50-i |
| A DOCCS state prison | Against the staff personally; 3 years | Against the State, in the Court of Claims | Claim or notice of intention, 90 days | Court of Claims Act §§ 10(3), 10(3-b), 10(6); Will v. Michigan |
| Any facility, person still inside | After the grievance process is exhausted | Same clocks | Same | 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a); Ross v. Blake |
The notice of claim page and the New York page go through each row.
New Jersey and Florida
The Farmer test and the two Prison Litigation Reform Act rules are federal and apply in all three states. In New Jersey the federal claim and the New Jersey Civil Rights Act claim have two years (N.J.S.A. 2A:14-2; 10:6-2). A state tort claim against the county or the State needs a Tort Claims Act notice within 90 days of accrual, a six-month wait, and suit within two years (N.J.S.A. 59:8-8), with a late notice possible within one year on extraordinary circumstances (59:8-9); the notice does not apply to the Civil Rights Act claim (Owens v. Feigin, 194 N.J. 607 (2008)). In Florida the federal claim has four years (Fla. Stat. § 95.11(3); Doe v. Swearingen (11th Cir. 2022)), and the state claim against the county or the Department of Corrections needs a written claim to the agency and, except for a city or county, to the Department of Financial Services within three years, with a six-month wait (Fla. Stat. § 768.28(6)). Damages against the State and its subdivisions are capped at $200,000 per person and $300,000 per incident, with no punitive damages; those are statutory caps (§ 768.28(5)(a)). An officer or employee has no personal liability under Florida law unless they acted in bad faith, with malicious purpose, or with wanton and willful disregard of human rights or safety (§ 768.28(9)(a)). The New Jersey and Florida pages go through each.
Force and conditions inside
The two constitutional standards, the grievance rule, and which court hears a claim against Rikers, a county jail or a state prison.
Jail and prison abuse →When the person died
Who sues, what survives, the two-year clock, and the notice that runs from the estate's appointment.
Death in custody →Getting the records
Medical records, grievance files, facility video and the officers' histories, and the requests that go out first.
Evidence and body cameras →Common questions
The jail doctor made a mistake. Is that a civil rights claim?
Not by itself. The constitutional test under Farmer v. Brennan is subjective: the official must have known of a substantial risk of serious harm and disregarded it. A diagnosis the doctor honestly got wrong is not deliberate indifference. A sick-call request that was never answered, a known condition whose medication was stopped, a visible injury that was ignored for days: those are the facts the claim is built on. A medical malpractice claim under state law is a different claim with different rules, and this page does not cover it.
I am still inside. What do I do first?
File a grievance about the medical care, in writing, now, and keep a copy. The Prison Litigation Reform Act bars a prisoner's Section 1983 action about prison conditions until available administrative remedies are exhausted, and there is no special-circumstances exception. Keep requesting care in writing at every sick call, because each request that goes unanswered is evidence of what the staff knew.
Nobody hit me. I was just denied care. Can I still sue?
Yes. The claim does not require force. It requires a known risk to your health that was disregarded. One rule to know: a federal civil action by a prisoner for mental or emotional injury requires a prior showing of physical injury or a sexual act. An untreated condition that got worse is a physical injury; the medical records are how it is shown.
How long do I have?
In New York the federal claim has three years, and for a person still inside the grievance process comes first. A state-law claim against the City for a Rikers facility, or against a county for its jail, needs a notice of claim within 90 days and suit within one year and 90 days. A claim against the State for a DOCCS facility goes to the Court of Claims within 90 days. New Jersey and Florida have their own clocks, at the end of this page.
Tell us what happened.
One conversation with an attorney, in your language. We tell you which claims the facts support, which deadline runs first for the agency involved, what evidence to preserve this week, and whether a pending criminal case changes the timing. If it is not a case we can take, we say so and tell you where to go.
(718) 484-7510If a criminal charge is still open, talk to your defense lawyer before you describe the arrest to anyone, including us. English, Russian and Spanish in-house; an interpreter for any other language. Contingency fee, confirmed in writing before we begin.