4.23 Definition: Deliberate Indifference — Convicted Prisoners and Pretrial Detainees is a term used to refer to a form of neglect or negligence in which prison staff, officers, and administrators fail to provide an adequate level of care or protection to prisoners and pretrial detainees in their custody. This form of neglect can take many forms, including physical abuse, medical neglect, lack of access to necessities such as food and water, inadequate protection from other inmates, and lack of access to legal services. There are two distinct types of deliberate indifference — that which is aimed at convicted prisoners and that which is aimed at pretrial detainees. In both cases, it is the prison officials’ failure to take reasonable steps to protect their inmates that is considered to be deliberate indifference.