Jackson v. West, No. 14-13282 (11th Cir. 2015)
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Plaintiff, mother of Darius Johnell James, filed suit under 42 U.S.C. 1983 against the county sheriff and ten corrections officers after Darius committed suicide while in the custody of the county jail. The district court ruled that qualified immunity barred suit against three officers,
but not against the remaining seven. The seven officers appealed. The court held that, under its precedent, an officer is liable under section 1983 for the suicide of an inmate only if he had subjective knowledge of a serious risk that the inmate would commit suicide and he disregarded that known risk. In this case, the court found no genuine factual dispute that these seven officers did not have subjective knowledge of a serious risk of suicide. Accordingly, the court reversed and remanded.
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