2021 Georgia Code
Title 42 - Penal Institutions
Chapter 4 - Jails
Article 1 - General Provisions
§ 42-4-5. Cruelty to Inmates

1. No jailer, by duress or other cruel treatment, shall make or induce an inmate to accuse or give evidence against another; nor shall he be guilty of willful inhumanity or oppression to any inmate under his care and custody.
2. Any jailer who violates subsection (a) of this Code section shall be punished by removal from office and imprisonment for not less than one year nor longer than three years.

(Cobb's 1851 Digest, p. 805; Code 1863, § 4367; Code 1868, § 4405; Code 1873, § 4473; Code 1882, § 4473; Penal Code 1895, § 282; Penal Code 1910, § 286; Code 1933, §§ 77-104, 77-9901.)

- Prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment, U.S. Const., amend. 8 and Ga. Const. 1983, Art. I, Sec. I, Para. XVII.

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Duty of care sheriff owes prisoners.

- Sheriff owes to a prisoner placed in the sheriff's custody a duty to keep the prisoner safely and free from harm, to render to the prisoner medical aid when necessary, and to treat the prisoner humanely and refrain from oppressing the prisoner; and when a sheriff is negligent in the sheriff's care and custody of a prisoner and as a result the prisoner receives injury or meets death, or when a sheriff fails in the performance of the sheriff's duty to the prisoner and the latter suffers injury or meets death as a result of such failure, the sheriff would, in a proper case, be liable on the sheriff's official bond, to the injured prisoner or to the prisoner's dependents. Kendrick v. Adamson, 51 Ga. App. 402, 180 S.E. 647 (1935).

- When a prisoner has been placed in the custody of and accepted by a sheriff through the sheriff's deputy, the jailor of the county, and if the prisoner is drunk and as a result of the prisoner's drunkenness sets fire to himself and is burned to death, the sheriff and the sureties on the sheriff's official bond are not liable to the dependents of the deceased prisoner, upon the ground that the jailor was negligent in incarcerating the prisoner in a cell alone without first searching the prisoner and removing from the prisoner's person any object or article with which the prisoner might inflict injury upon himself or others, such as matches, and on the ground that the jailor did not respond to the drunken cries of the prisoner for help. Kendrick v. Adamson, 51 Ga. App. 402, 180 S.E. 647 (1935).

- Arrestee's state law claims in 42 U.S.C. § 1983 suit against a county sheriff, alleging that she was raped by a deputy at the county jail, failed as a matter of law because O.C.G.A. § 42-4-5 did not provide for a civil remedy. Boyd v. Nichols, 616 F. Supp. 2d 1331 (M.D. Ga. 2009).

- See Waddell v. State, 224 Ga. App. 172, 480 S.E.2d 224 (1996).

Cited in Irwin v. Arrendale, 117 Ga. App. 1, 159 S.E.2d 719 (1967); Jackson v. Zant, 210 Ga. App. 581, 436 S.E.2d 771 (1993); Dep't of Corr. v. Barkwell, 256 Ga. App. 877, 570 S.E.2d 13 (2002); Manders v. Lee, 338 F.3d 1304 (11th Cir. 2003).

RESEARCH REFERENCES

Am. Jur. 2d.

- 60 Am. Jur. 2d, Penal and Correctional Institutions, §§ 20-22, 157, 171, 172.

- Liability for death or injury to prisoner, 61 A.L.R. 569.

Liability of prison authorities for injury to prisoner directly caused by assault by other prisoner, 41 A.L.R.3d 1021.

Duress, necessity, or conditions of confinement as justification for escape from prison, 69 A.L.R.3d 678.

Duress, necessity, or conditions of confinement as justification for escape from prison, 54 A.L.R.5th 141.

Constitutional right of prisoners to abortion services and facilities, 28 A.L.R.6th 485.