U.S. district court officer on prisoner assault use of force.

• Position: Failure to Protect - Brief Article

Lewis v. Board of Sedgwick County Com'rs 140 F.Supp.2d 1125 (D.Kan. 2001). A detainee brought a federal civil rights suit against a county alleging that jail officers used excessive force against him. A jury returned a verdict of $500,000 in favor of the inmate and the county asked for a new trial or for judgment as a matter of law. The district court granted judgment as a matter of law, finding that evidence was insufficient to show that the county had been deliberately indifferent to the use of excessive force against detainees at the county detention facility. According to the court, the size of the damage award suggested that the jury was excessively or improperly motivated by its desire to punish the county. The court held that the county was not deliberately indifferent to the rights of the detainee because it provided training designed to prevent the use of excessive force at both a training academy and on-the-job, and had established a use-of-force policy of which its detention...