Cite as: 536 U. S. 730 (2002)
Thomas, J., dissenting
June 7 stay on the bar and the record suggests that the periodic water and bathroom-break offers contemplated by the regulation were not made. Petitioner, however, has never alleged that Gates was responsible for supervising or looking after him once he was handcuffed to the post. He has only alleged that Gates placed him there.
While the Court also observes that the regulation provides that an inmate " 'will be allowed to join his assigned squad' " whenever he tells an officer " 'that he is ready to go to work,' " ante, at 744 (quoting App. 103), the Court again does not explain how any of the respondents in this case failed to observe this requirement. Petitioner has never alleged that he informed respondents or any other prison guard while he was on the bar that he was ready to go to work.
Finally, the "binding Eleventh Circuit precedent" relied upon by the Court, ante, at 741-743, was plainly insufficient to give respondents fair warning that their alleged conduct ran afoul of petitioner's Eighth Amendment rights. The Court of Appeals held in Ort v. White, 813 F. 2d 318 (CA11 1987), that a prison guard did not violate an inmate's Eighth Amendment rights by denying him water when he refused to work, and the Court admits that this holding provides no support for petitioner. Instead, it claims that the "reasoning" in Ort "gave fair warning to respondents that their conduct crossed the line of what is constitutionally permissible." Ante, at 743. But Ort provides at least as much support to respondents as it does to petitioner. For instance, Ort makes it abundantly clear that prison guards "have the authority to use that amount of force or those coercive measures reasonably necessary to enforce an inmate's compliance with valid prison rules" so long as such measures are not undertaken "maliciously or sadistically." 813 F. 2d, at 325.
To be sure, the Court correctly notes that the Court of Appeals in Ort suggested that it "might have reached a different decision" had the prison officer denied the inmate
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