A split Second Circuit has revived a man's lawsuit alleging state prison officials unconstitutionally placed him in solitary confinement, worsening his mental health condition and ultimately causing him to stab his mother to death after his release.

In a 2-1 majority opinion written Tuesday, U.S. Circuit Judge Sarah Merriam wrote that the trial court erred in tossing the lawsuit on summary judgment, as plaintiff Elvin Suarez alleged genuine disputes of material fact on allegations that each of the state prison and mental health officials and agencies violated his Eighth Amendment rights.

Suarez sued in September 2020, alleging officials with the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision and the New York State Office of Mental Health failed to notice his deteriorating mental health. The lawsuit said that, in 2017, Suarez's assigned psychiatrist took him off his anti-psychotic medication, and a fight with a corrections officer landed him in solitary confinement.

Suarez was initially diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2014 after he reported hearing voices and began engaging in self-harm. He was prescribed an anti-psychotic medication but would often refuse to take it, leading to a relapse in his symptoms known as decompensation, the opinion said.

The lawsuit claimed that, in 2016, Suarez was arrested for vandalizing police cars and assaulting a police officer but was deemed unfit to stand trial because of his mental health issues. Suarez was held in a psychiatric hospital until he was deemed fit, and after accepting a plea deal with prosecutors was placed in Downstate Correctional Facility in 2017, the complaint said.

In the psychiatric hospital, Suarez was diagnosed with a host of illnesses including bipolar disorder, episodic mood disorder, drug-induced psychotic disorder with delusions and psychosis. Suarez was prescribed Zyprexa, an anti-psychotic treatment, while at the hospital, which caused his symptoms to stabilize, the opinion said.

Suarez's psychiatrist discontinued his Zyprexa prescription when he transferred to Downstate, and over the course of two months, his condition worsened. Suarez decompensated and, after a fight with a corrections officer, was placed in the facility's special housing unit, a kind of solitary confinement for two weeks.

A disciplinary officer ordered that Suarez be placed in "keeplock," another kind of disciplinary housing that required inmates to stay in their cell for 23 hours per day. Suarez was held in keeplock confinement for two weeks. His mental condition began to deteriorate and he began to hallucinate and have anxiety attacks, the opinion said.

Suarez was released in September 2017 directly from solitary confinement. Both his parole officer and healthcare coordinator noticed he was smiling and laughing inappropriately in meetings. One day after being released, Suarez stabbed his mother multiple times in the chest, face and arms with a kitchen knife, the opinion said.

Suarez filed a federal civil lawsuit in September 2020, claiming that, because of the actions of health and prison officials, his mental health was allowed to deteriorate in violation of his constitutional rights and alleged violations of state and federal law. The complaint requests that Suarez receive unspecified compensatory damages and that he be awarded attorneys fees.

A federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York held in February 2024 that no jury would be able to find that prison or mental health officials disregarded Suarez's mental health. The district judge granted each defendant summary judgment finding that officials had no reason to believe Suarez was decompensating and sought to remove him from solitary as quickly as possible.

Suarez appealed, and the majority held that, under the Eighth Amendment, both groups of officials engaged in reckless disregard of Suarez's constitutional rights. Officials disregarded the possibility of decompensation even if they were not aware of Suarez's individual condition, the opinion said.

U.S. Circuit Judge Michael Park dissented from Tuesday's majority opinion, finding that the district court "sensibly" tossed Suarez's lawsuit. Judge Park said the majority opinion could potentially chill prison officials' use of segregated housing for mentally ill individuals.

"The majority's decision faults prison officials for failing to predict that Suarez would decompensate upon release and brutally stab his mother," Judge Park wrote. "It incentivizes officials to assume that mentally ill patients showing any signs of decompensation are actually decompensating."

A spokesperson for the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision and a spokesperson for the New York State Office of Mental Health declined to comment.

An attorney representing Suarez and a spokesperson for the New York Attorney General who represented the agencies did not respond to a request for comment.

U.S. Circuit Judges Michael Park, Myrna Pérez and Sarah Merriam sat for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Suarez is represented by Alexandra Avvocato, Jamie Levitt, Jocelyn Greer and Brian Matsui of Morrison Foerster LLP and Robert M. Quackenbush of The Legal Aid Society.

The government is represented by Anagha Sundararajan, Barbara Underwood and Judith Vale of the New York State Attorney General's Office.

The case is Elvin Suarez v. Robert Morton, case number 24-872, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

--Editing by Dave Trumbore.