Opinion ID: 6931624
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Failure to Prevent Suicides by Covering the Bars of the Jail-Cell Doors

Text: Mrs. Belcher also contends that, at the time of her son’s death, it was clearly established that a reasonable jail official, who knew that an inmate could hang himself by tying some material to the bars of a jail-cell door and yet who failed to prevent that possibility, was acting with deliberate indifference to an inmate’s taking of his life. She cites no decisions supporting her contention. Instead, she relies upon the National Commission on Correctional Health Care’s 1987 “Standards for Health Services in Jails” and the requirements of the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies. Such non-legally enforceable standards are not the law and cannot clearly establish it. Our research reveals no decisions clearly establishing that a police chief who fails to cover the bars of the jail-cell doors is acting with deliberate indifference to inmates who seek to take their own lives. Therefore, we conclude that, at the time of Mr. Belcher’s death, this contention was not clearly established law.