U.S. Appeals Court: SUICIDE.

• Position: Prisoners and prisons - Brief Article

Anderson v. Simon, 217 F.3d 472 (7th Cir. 2000). A widow of a county prisoner brought a [sections] 1983 action against a prosecutor alleging that he violated the prisoner's Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights by failing to approve charges against him and ordering police to keep him in custody until a lineup could be arranged, leading to his death from suicide. The district court dismissed the action and the appeals court affirmed. The appeals court held that the prosecutor was absolutely immune from the claim predicated on a delay in charging. The prisoner had been held in a...