858
Thomas, J., concurring in judgment
clearly states that prisoners can obtain relief before being victimized, see ante, at 845 ("[A] subjective approach to deliberate indifference does not require a prisoner seeking 'a remedy for unsafe conditions [to] await a tragic event [such as an] actua[l] assaul[t] before obtaining relief' "). Finally, under the Court's holding, prison officials may be held liable for failure to remedy a risk of harm so obvious and substantial that the prison officials must have known about it, see ante, at 842-843. The opinion's clear message is that prison officials must fulfill their affirmative duty under the Constitution to prevent inmate assault, including prison rape, or otherwise face a serious risk of being held liable for damages, see ante, at 842-844, or being required by a court to rectify the hazardous conditions, see ante, at 845-847. As much as is possible within the constraints of Wilson v. Seiter, the Court seeks to ensure that the conditions in our Nation's prisons in fact comport with the "contemporary standard of decency" required by the Eighth Amendment. See DeShaney v. Winnebago County Dept. of Social Servs., 489 U. S. 189, 198-200 (1989). Short of overruling Wilson v. Seiter, the Court could do no better.
Justice Stevens, concurring.
While I continue to believe that a state official may inflict cruel and unusual punishment without any improper subjective motivation, see Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U. S. 97, 116-117 (1976) (dissenting opinion); Wilson v. Seiter, 501 U. S. 294, 306-307 (1991) (White, J., concurring in judgment), I join Justice Souter's thoughtful opinion because it is faithful to our precedents.
Justice Thomas, concurring in the judgment.
Prisons are necessarily dangerous places; they house society's most antisocial and violent people in close proximity with one another. Regrettably, "[s]ome level of brutality and sexual aggression among [prisoners] is inevitable no
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