Home      Login

Abstract: 

Blaise DeJesus arrived at a Delaware prison in visual and vocal distress. Not long after arrival he committed suicide. The same judge granted defendant’s motion for summary judgement after they lost in the Third Circuit (Orlando & Paulette DeJesus v. Drace, 2021 WL 3145191). After the reversal and remand this same district court again granted summary judgement for defendant. The lower court and the Third Circuit were confused on the issue of whether there are two ways to decide on “seriousness of any mental illness.” One is analysis of whether seriousness, decided by deliberate indifference, is reached by analyzing seriousness as to mental illness or in terms of the seriousness of a risk of suicide. We analyze the appellate court’s ruling in favor of defendants, who displayed a cold indifference to the detainee’s condition and behavior, but not, in the court’s view, sufficient to rise to the legal standard necessary for liability.

Keywords: Negligence v Deliberate Indifference

Affiliations:  1: Executive Editor.