U.S. Appeals Court: SUICIDE.

Jacobs v. West Feliciana Sheriff's 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 defendants 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 cell under similar circumstances. The female arrestee had been brought to the local jail by state troopers who informed jail employees that she had tried to kill herself when she was apprehended. She was placed in a "detox" cell which is used to house inmates who are intoxicated, who need to be isolated for security reasons, or who are designated for placement on a suicide watch. The arrestee was placed on a suicide watch, but the cell could be completely observed only if an officer viewed it from an adjacent hallway. The following evening the arrestee was discovered hanging from a light fixture in the cell, having not been observed by jail staff for as many as 45 minutes prior to being discovered. (West Feliciana Parish Prison, Louisiana)