Turney v. Waterbury.

• Position: Prisoner suicide suit - Brief Article

U.S. Appeals Court

PRISONER SUICIDE

Turney v. Waterbury, 375 F.3d 756 (8th Cir. 2004). A mother brought a civil rights action to recover damages related to the in-custody suicide of her son. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the defendants and the mother appealed. The appeals court affirmed in part, and reversed in part and remanded. The appeals court held that the sheriff was not entitled to qualified immunity, where the sheriff knew of, but did not investigate, the arrestee's earlier suicide attempt at a jail from which he was transferred, did not permit a jailer to complete the arrestee's intake form, placed the arrestee in a cell alone with a bed sheet and exposed ceiling bars, and ordered the jailer not to enter the arrestee's cell without backup and yet left the jailer as the only staff member on duty at the jail. Before the arrestee...