Opinion ID: 550875
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Formulation of Policy

Text: 19 The plaintiff further contends that the district court should have allowed the supervisory liability verdict to stand based upon the participation of defendants Norris and Dutton in formulating flawed policies. Specifically, the plaintiff charges both defendants with installing the door to the unit that prevented Fails from reaching the safety of the prison yard. The unrefuted testimony of warden Dutton, however, established that prison policy included posting a guard at the door to intervene in cases of emergency. Here, defendant Ritz was guarding the door, yet failed to take the type of action anticipated by prison policy. Thus, the record is bereft of evidence to suggest that the policy devised by warden Dutton concerning the door caused or facilitated Eggleston's attack upon Fails. Similarly, the record contains no support for the plaintiff's assertion that defendants Norris and Dutton were responsible for an informal policy permitting prisoners to produce and consume the alcoholic beverage known as julep. Norris testified that alcoholic beverages were explicitly forbidden, and Dutton explained the prison policy requiring discipline of inmates found to be intoxicated. The plaintiff merely established that Dutton, in attempting to ensure security within the prison, gave guards some discretion in dealing with intoxicated inmates. As the district court concluded, neither Norris nor Dutton could reasonably be found to have promulgated or tolerated an informal policy of allowing inmates access to julep. The entry of a directed verdict on the plaintiff's theory that Norris and Dutton instituted unconstitutional policies is AFFIRMED.