30. Mental problems (prisoner).

U.S. District Court

SUICIDE

Martin v. Somerset County, 387 F.Supp.2d 65 (D.Me. 2005). The representative of the estate of a county jail inmate who hanged himself in his cell, sued the county, sheriff and jail officials alleging violation of the inmate's federal and state rights. The district court granted summary judgment in part for the defendants, and denied it in part. The court held that summary judgment was precluded by fact issues as to whether jail officials displayed deliberate indifference to the inmate in violation of the Eighth Amendment, prior to the hanging. The court noted that it was necessary to determine if a jail shift supervisor and a control room officer subjectively knew that the inmate was suicidal and whether they unreasonably disregarded the risk. The court found that an officer who merely assisted in cutting down the inmate was not liable for deliberate indifference, where he brought a seat belt cutter to the cell on orders of the shift supervisor, and when it failed to release the sheet the inmate had used to hang himself, he brought scissors. The court found officials did not show deliberate indifference after the hanging when they did not apply cardio-pulmonary resuscitation, noting that the inmate was warm and appeared to be breathing, and it was only a few minutes before an emergency medical team arrived. The court held that the county did not show deliberate indifference to the suicide-prone inmate when it established a suicide prevention protocol, noting that the thrust of this claim was that the officials failed to follow the protocol in supervising the inmate. (Somerset County Jail, Maine)

U.S. District Court

SUICIDE

DELIBERATE INDIFFERENCE

STAFF

Perez v. Oakland County, 380 F.Supp.2d 830 (E.D.Mich. 2005). The father and personal representative of the estate of an inmate brought a suit under [section] 1983, alleging that the defendants violated the inmate's Eighth Amendment rights by failing to provide appropriate mental health treatment or monitoring when the inmate was being held in the county jail, leading to the inmate's suicide. The district court held that the county did not act with deliberate indifference in allowing the inmate caseworker, who allegedly lacked sufficient medical background or expertise, to make decisions affecting the health care needs of me inmate. The court noted that the challenged practice was widespread, with the "vast majority" of county jails allowing employees who were not...