Woodward v. Correctional Medical Services.

• Position: Private mental health service contractor's employee's lack of training and carelessness caused prisoner suicide - Brief Article

U.S. Appeals Court

SUICIDE

Woodward v. Correctional Medical Services, 368 F.3d 917 (7th Cir. 2004). The administratrix of the estate of a pretrial detainee who had committed suicide in a county jail brought a [section] 1983 action against a private contractor hired by the county to provide medical and mental health services at the jail, and against the contractor's agents. The district court entered judgment on a jury verdict against the contractor and the contractor's social worker, awarding $250,000 in compensatory damages and $1.5 million in punitive damages, and denied motions for summary judgment as a matter of law. The contractor appealed. The appeals court affirmed, finding that the contractor's employee's lack of training and carelessness were relevant toward establishing deliberate indifference, even though the employee herself was not found liable. The court held that the fact that no previous suicides had occurred in the jail did not preclude the contractor's liability. According to the...