U.S. Appeals Court: SUICIDE.

Jacobs v. West Feliciana Sheriffs Dept., 228 F.3d 388 (5th Cir. 2000). Survivors of an arrestee who had committed suicide brought a [sections] 1983 action against a sheriffs department and against the sheriff and deputies. The district court denied individual defendant's motions to dismiss on the ground of qualified immunity and they appealed. The appeals court affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded the case. The appeals court held that the sheriff and senior deputy, who knew of a prior suicide under similar circumstances, could have been found to have acted with deliberate indifference to the arrestee's known suicidal tendencies, but that a newly-hired deputy who only followed orders which were not facially outrageous, was entitled to qualified immunity. The arrestee had been placed in a cell that had a significant blind spot and tie off points, and was provided with a blanket and towel even though a prior detainee had hanged himself in the same...