2d Circuit Notes Split Re Whether to Treat Convicted Unsentenced Inmates as Pretrial Detainees

Per Iqbal v. Hasty, 490 F.3d 143 (2d Cir.(N.Y.) Jun 14, 2007):

FN8. The Defendants do not seriously contest Judge Gleeson's characterization of the Plaintiff as a pretrial detainee, although Ashcroft and Mueller briefly contend that his private interest in avoiding detention in the ADMAX SHU after he pled guilty should be evaluated "within the context of the prison system," i.e., under Eighth Amendment standards. The Plaintiff argues that he should be treated as a pretrial detainee until he was sentenced, citing Fuentes v. Wagner, 206 F.3d 335, 341 (3d Cir.2000).

The circuits are divided as to whether to treat convicted, but unsentenced, inmates as pretrial detainees. Compare id. (treated as pretrial detainee) with Resnick v. Hayes, 213 F.3d 443, 448 (9th Cir.2000) (treated as prisoner), Whitnack v. Douglas County, 16 F.3d 954, 956-57 (8th Cir.1994) (same), and Berry v. City of Muskogee, 900 F.2d 1489, 1493 (10th Cir.1990) (same). Because none of the Defendants seriously challenges Judge Gleeson's characterization of the Plaintiff as a pretrial detainee throughout his entire confinement in the ADMAX SHU, we will refer to him as a pretrial detainee, a status that plainly applies during the several months of confinement prior to the Plaintiff's plea. We do not consider the question of whether convicted, but unsentenced, inmates are pretrial detainees under the Supreme Court's jurisprudence establishing criteria for evaluating constitutional limits on conditions of confinement.