Whether Prison Officials Violated Eighth Amendment by Leaving Mentally Ill Inmates Unsupervised for Three and a Half Hours Is Issue of Fact

In Lemire v. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, published August 7, 2013, the Ninth Circuit reversed in part and affirmed in part summary judgment in favor of defendant officials and officers of a California state prison in a suit arising out of the death of a mentally ill inmate.  The inmate was found hanged.  The court held that a triable issue of fact existed on whether the prison warden and a supervising officer caused the death by calling back-to-back meeting of floor officers which resulted in the mentally ill inmates being left unsupervised for up to three-and-a-half hours.  The prison's practices called for hourly checks on inmates.  The appellate court let stand summary judgments in favor of lower-level supervisors who complied with the orders that the meetings take place.  The court also reversed summary judgment in favor of the officers who discovered the inmate, ruling that triable issues of fact existed on whether they were deliberately indifferent to the inmate's serious medical needs by not instituting CPR or other life-saving measures.  The court upheld summary judgment for the medical personnel who treated him on the scene.