Thompson v. Spears.

U.S. District Court

ELECTRONIC SURVEILLANCE

FAILURE TO SUPERVISE

STAFFING LEVELS

PRISONER CHECKS

Thompson v. Spears, 336 F.Supp.2d 1224 (S.D.Fla. 2004). A prisoner brought an action against a county and a jail official, alleging deliberate indifference to his safety, negligent supervision, and negligent infliction of emotional distress. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the defendants. The court held that a lack of monitoring devices in jail cells did not pose an objectively substantial risk of harm to the inmate, particularly in light of the fact the state Model Jail Standards did not require cameras. The court found that the inmate presented no evidence that the officer posts were located so far that officers could not hear calls for help. The court held that the county was not liable under [section] 1983, even if jail officers did not actually follow the county policy of making hourly walk-throughs to monitor cells, where there was no evidence that the county had officially sanctioned or ordered the officers to disregard the county policy. The prisoner had been temporarily transferred from a state prison to the county jail in order to be involved in a family court matter. The inmate, who was from Jacksonville, Florida, alleged that he was severely beaten by other inmates for over two hours, after the Miami Dolphins beat the Jacksonville Jaguars in a football game. (Pretrial Detention Center, Miami-Dade County, Florida)