 While handcuffing prisoners to fences for "long periods of time" could be considered malicious and sadistic under these binding precedents, it was not clear to Justice Thomas whether 7 hours counted as a "long period of time" under this precedent.Finally, "deliberate indifference" means that the prison official knew of and then disregarded an excessive risk to health and safety, and there was no evidence that these guards knew that merely attaching Hope to the restraining bar posed such a risk.In November 2005, a Judge ruled that Larry Hope failed to prove that his treatment in prison amounted to cruel and unusual punishment, and the case was dismissed.