Justices Undo Win for Inmate Targeted for ‘Egregious’ Abuse

The US Supreme Court said a federal inmate can’t sue prison officials for what an appellate court said was “egregious physical abuse.”

On Monday, the justices summarily reversed a win for Andrew Fields, who claims he was repeatedly attacked by prison officials at a federal facility in Virginia, even though he was in restraints with both his hands and feet cuffed.

The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit said there was “little doubt that Fields would have a viable § 1983 claim against prison officials if he had been incarcerated at a state prison,” referring to a federal ...