Jail Suicide

In a case that demonstrates how difficult a jail suicide claim can be, court finds that detainee’s bizarre behavior at time of arrest did not put arresting officers on notice that he was at substantial risk of suicide; medical intake form which detailed detainee’s prescription medications, diagnoses including depression and history of suicide attempts did not show actual knowledge by jail officers and nurses that detainee was at substantial risk of suicide; existence of records from detainee’s prior detentions, showing he was checked by jail staff every 15 minutes for eight hours during eac

Failure to protect claim analyzed under Fourth Amendment prior to Gerstein probable cause finding; officer did not act unreasonably where arrestee was under the influence, crying, had past psychiatric treatment, slammed himself against cell bars, health screen form did not flag whether arrestee was suicidal, and 45 minutes elapsed between welfare checks, but arrestee did not say he was suicidal and said the opposite, and officers did not treat him as suicidal.

Officers’ failures to follow county’s policies did not establish a policy of failure to train; failure to install CCTV monitoring in suicide cells in violation of county’s suicide-prevention policy did not establish deliberate indifference; no evidence supervisor sheriff had actual knowledge of plaintiff’s substantial risk of suicide nor of a generalized risk of suicide; corporal who knew of risk and placed decedent in a regular cell and failed to inform other officers of suicide risk was entitled to qualified immunity because the right was not clearly established.

In disgusting opinion, court affords qualified immunity to sole officer on duty at jail who observed prisoner, who had said he wanted to kill himself, had previously received psychiatric services, and who had earlier been placed on suicide watch, fatally strangle himself with phone cord in his cell; officer called fellow officer for backup and declined to enter cell for ten minutes until second officer arrived; neither officer attempted resuscitation and waited seven more minutes for paramedics to do so; court holds it was unconstitutional for officer not to call for emergency assistance im

Corrections officer and nurse were not deliberately indifferent to detainee’s medical needs based on allegedly inadequate screening for risk of self-harm, failure to provide prescription medication, failure to adequately monitor detainee, or failure to provide suicide prevention bedding.

Reversing summary judgment in favor of defendant, finding issue of fact whether classification officer was deliberately indifferent where decedent with several risk factors had previously attempted suicide at jail, was medically cleared to general population, got into altercation with other inmates, then was placed in solitary where he hung himself; court concludes medical clearance to place someone in general population is not the same as medical clearance to place him in solitary with access to bedsheets and barred windows.

Officer’s order to others to stop CPR on youth who had hung himself from tree, without checking for signs of life, would not violate substantive due process rights if it resulted from recklessness or deliberate indifference, but would violate his rights were jury to find that officer was motivated by desire to cause harm to subject.

Evidence regarding conditions of confinement and failure to monitor was sufficient to deny summary judgment for defendant.

Policy allowing inmates to keep certain medications for self-administration did not establish deliberate indifference on its face, even though policy did not require suicide screening prior to participation.