O.C.G.A.

O.C.G.A. § 42-4-5 (2019)

Cruelty to inmates

✓ O.C.G.A. — 2019 edition (Public.Resource.Org Release 73)

Code text and O.C.G.A. statutory annotations on this page reflect the 2019 Official Code of Georgia Annotated (Public.Resource.Org Release 73, 2019-08-21; public domain per Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). The Syfert case-law annotations in Notes of Decisions, below, are current.

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(a) 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.

(b) 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.

History

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.

Annotations

Cross references. 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 Ga. App. LEXIS 713 (1935). Liability of sheriff for prisoner’s death. - 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 Ga. App. LEXIS 713 (1935). Rape allegation failed. - 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, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 37750 (M.D. Ga. 2009). Evidence sufficient to support conviction. - See Waddell v. State, 224 Ga. App. 172, 480 S.E.2d 224.

RESEARCH REFERENCES Am. Jur. 2d. 60 Am. Jur. 2d, Penal and Correctional Institutions, § 17 et seq. ALR. 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.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 5 cases, 1993–2009 · leading case: Waddell v. State, 480 S.E.2d 224 (Ga. Ct. App. 1996).

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Waddell v. State, 480 S.E.2d 224 (Ga. Ct. App. 1996). · cites it 4× “Jonathan Scott Waddell, a former jailer at the Paulding County jail, appeals his convictions on one count of cruelty to inmates *173 (OCGA § 42-4-5) and one count of party to the crime of simple battery (OCGA §§ 16-2-20; 16-5-23).”

Boyd v. Nichols, 616 F. Supp. 2d 1331 (M.D. Ga. 2009). · cites it 5× “I, § I, ¶15^11 of the Georgia Constitution; (2) cruelty by jailers, in violation of O.C.G.A. § 42-4-5; (3) rape; (4) aggravated sodomy; (5) false imprisonment; (6) kidnapping; and (7) intentional infliction of emotional distress.”

Bunyon v. Burke Cnty., 306 F. Supp. 2d 1240 (S.D. Ga. 2004). · cites it 2× “In addition, Georgia has many policies regarding how inmates are treated and jails are operated, see O.C.G.A. §§ 42-4-5, -31, -32; and as discussed, supra, it is state law that a person charged with a misdemeanor shall not be refused bail and sheriffs are instructed to accept…”

Jackson v. Zant, 436 S.E.2d 771 (Ga. Ct. App. 1993). · cites it 2× “Jackson’s complaint alleges inhumane and oppressive treatment in violation of due process and OCGA § 42-4-5, in that he has been forced to sleep on the floor for several months.”

Willie Santonio Manders v. Thurman Lee, 338 F.3d 1304 (11th Cir. 2002). “” O.C.G.A. § 42-4-5. The State sets the minimum safety and security requirements for jails.”

— 42-4-5(b) — 1 case

Boyd v. Nichols, 616 F. Supp. 2d 1331 (M.D. Ga. 2009). “I, § I, ¶15^11 of the Georgia Constitution; (2) cruelty by jailers, in violation of O.C.G.A. § 42-4-5; (3) rape; (4) aggravated sodomy; (5) false imprisonment; (6) kidnapping; and (7) intentional infliction of emotional distress.”

Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.