Opinion ID: 1640607
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Custom or policy

Text: Jenkins also alleges that Sheriff Hale had in place at the jail the following four specific policies and/or customs that, she alleges, proximately resulted in Hodge's death: (a) policy and/or custom of failing to adequately staff the jail with medical personnel; (b) policy and/or custom of failing to train deputies and/or jail personnel on how to respond to an inmate's request for medical attention; (c) policy and/or custom in place of failing to administer the correct dosage of medications and/or antibiotics to inmates of the County Jail; (d) policy and/or custom of failing to monitor and/or properly treat inmates of the County Jail who have known serious medical problems. Jenkins's brief, Exhibit B. [8] Sheriff Hale argues: As set out in the DJA, Jefferson Metropolitan Health Care Authority and/or Jefferson County d/b/a Cooper Green Hospital and/or Jefferson Health System controlled the provision of inmate healthcare at the Jails. Therefore, these entities that were responsible for providing inmate healthcare enacted the customs or policies relating thereto. .... Because the aforementioned entities undertook and controlled the provision of inmate healthcare, Sheriff Hale did not establish or promulgate policies or customs regarding the provision of inmate healthcare at the Jails. Sheriff Hale's petition at 24. In support of this argument, Sheriff Hale cites Williams v. Limestone County, 198 Fed.Appx. 893 (11th Cir.2006), an unpublished decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, in which that court noted that supervisory officials are entitled to rely on medical judgments made by medical professionals responsible for prisoner care. 198 Fed.Appx. at 897. However, even if this Court were to find Williams persuasive, at least one of the policies alleged by Jenkins to have enabled Jefferson County jail officials to allegedly deprive Hodge of her constitutional rights, that is, the policy and/or custom of failing to train deputies and/or jail personnel on how to respond to an inmate's request for medical attention, is not related to medical judgments made by medical professionals responsible for prisoner care. Williams, supra. Sheriff Hale also cites Fretwell v. Deese, No. 2:04cv878-WHA (M.D.Ala. July 25, 2006)(not reported in F.Supp.2d), an unpublished order adopting the findings of the magistrate judge, in which the district court recognized that [t]he law does not impose upon correctional officials a duty to directly supervise health care personnel, to set treatment policy for the medical staff, or to intervene in treatment decisions where they have no actual knowledge that intervention is necessary to prevent a constitutional wrong. Again, however, at least one of the policies Jenkins alleges contributed to the alleged deprivation of Hodge's constitutional rights was unrelated to medical treatment, medical care, or medical judgment. Therefore, neither Williams nor Fretwell demonstrates that Sheriff Hale is entitled to a dismissal of Jenkins's § 1983 claim under Rule 12(b)(6). Under Hartley, Jenkins was required to plead that Sheriff Hale's improper `custom or policy ... resulted in deliberate indifference to constitutional rights,' Hartley, 193 F.3d at 1269. In her complaint, Jenkins alleges that [Sheriff Hale]... had policies and/or customs in place that caused medical treatment to be denied to inmates of the County Jail and that the failure of [Sheriff Hale] ... to correct these policies and/or customs ... enabled Sheriff's Deputies, jail personnel and/or medical personnel to deprive Hodge ... of [her] constitutional right. Jenkins's brief, Exhibit B. Jenkins's complaint... allege[s] the violation of a clearly established constitutional right, Alabama Dep't of Youth Servs., 880 So.2d at 402. Therefore, at this stage of the proceedings, Sheriff Hale is not entitled to a dismissal of Jenkins's § 1983 claim against him based on qualified immunity and, thus, is not entitled to mandamus relief on this issue.