Keeton v. Fayette County

• Decision Date: 15 December 1989
• Citation: 558 So.2d 884
• Parties: Charles Edward KEETON, as administrator of the estate of Timothy Edward Keeton, deceased v. FAYETTE COUNTY, Alabama. 88-609.
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

Page 884

558 So.2d 884

Charles Edward KEETON, as administrator of the estate of Timothy Edward Keeton, deceased v. FAYETTE COUNTY, Alabama.

88-609.

Supreme Court of Alabama.

Dec. 15, 1989.

Rehearing Denied Feb. 9, 1990.

M. Clay Alspaugh of Hogan, Smith, Alspaugh, Samples & Pratt, Birmingham, and C. Delaine Mountain of Mountain & Mountain, Tuscaloosa, for appellant.

Susan J. Walker and Clarence L. McDorman, Jr., Birmingham, for appellee.

HOUSTON, Justice.

This is an appeal from a summary judgment for Fayette County in a wrongful death case filed against it by Charles Edward Keeton, the father and administrator of the estate of Timothy Edward Keeton ("Timmy"), a 16-year-old who died as a result of hanging--apparently a self-inflicted hanging--while confined in the Fayette County jail. ¹ We reverse and remand.

This cause of action against Fayette County is not based upon a respondeat superior theory imposing liability for the actions or inactions of the sheriff of Fayette County. If it were, summary judgment would be appropriate. Oliver v. Townsend, 534 So.2d 1038, 1044-47 (Ala.1988); Parker v. Amerson, 519 So.2d 442 (Ala.1987).

Under Ala.Code 1975, § 14-6-1, the sheriff has legal custody and charge of the jail in his county and of all prisoners committed thereto. However, since the enactment of Act 82-33, Alabama Acts 1982, which amended Ala.Code 1975, § 11-14-10, the county commission of each county is required to maintain a jail in its county. ² This Court has not interpreted the phrase "maintain a jail." In Black's Law Dictionary (5th ed. 1979), the term "maintain" is defined as follows:

"The term is variously defined as acts of repairs and other acts to prevent a decline, lapse or cessation from existing state or condition; bear the expense of; carry on; commence; continue; furnish means for subsistence or existence of; hold; hold or keep in an existing state or condition; hold or preserve in any particular state or condition; keep from change; keep from falling, declining, or ceasing; keep in existence or continuance; keep in force; keep in good order; keep in proper condition; keep in repair; keep up; preserve; preserve from lapse, decline, failure, or cessation; provide for; rebuild; repair; replace; supply with means of support; supply with what is needed; support; sustain; uphold. Negatively stated, it is defined as not to lose or surrender; not to suffer or fail or decline."

In Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged, (1971), "maintain" is defined as:

"[T]o keep in a state of repair, efficiency, or validity: preserve from failure or decline ...: to sustain against opposition or danger: back up: DEFEND: UPHOLD ...: to uphold in argument: contend for ...: to preserve in: carry on: keep up: CONTINUE ...: to provide for: bear the expense of: SUPPORT ...: to affirm in or as if in argument: ASSERT, DECLARE ...: to assist (a party to legal action) so as to commit maintenance."

In Holcombe v. Mobile County, 229 Ala. 77, 155 So. 640 (1934), this Court interpreted the phrase "expense incident to the ... maintenance ... of each county jail" in what is now Ala.Code 1975, § 14-6-104, to relate to "maintenance of the building and its equipment" and not to relate to prisoners or to require the county commission to provide the fuel for cooking meals for prisoners. We hold that, by using the phrase "maintain a jail" in § 11-14-10, the Legislature intended to require the county commission to keep a jail and all equipment therein in a state of repair and to preserve it from failure or decline. The chairman of a county commission is authorized and empowered to visit and to examine the condition of the county's jail once a week and without informing the sheriff or jailer. See § 11-14-22.

In March 1982, Fayette County applied to the Alabama Department of Youth Services to have two cells in the jail for adult prisoners in Fayette County approved for juvenile jail detention. This approval was obtained for a period of one year and was renewed each year thereafter until after the death of Timmy. Alabama Code 1975, § 12-15-61, provides that a juvenile may be detained only in facilities that have been established, licensed, or approved by the Department of Youth Services or the Department of Human Resources for such purpose; and minors or juveniles can be detained in a jail for the detention of adults only if no other detention facility is available, if the detention is in a room separate and removed from all contact with adult inmates, if adequate supervision is provided, and if the facility is approved by the Department of Youth Services. To obtain the approval of the Department of Youth Services, Fayette County submitted a "Manual of Operating Procedures: Fayette County Jail Detention Program." This manual provided "[T]here must be one staff person available to monitor Juvenile offenders at all times. There must be visual checks made every 30 minutes. The area [where the juveniles are detained] shall be monitored by intercom [24 hours a day by staff member at least 19 years old, with a high school diploma or equivalent, who is in good health and free of communicable disease]."

In Keeton's complaint, he alleges that the "Fayette County Jail did not meet the requirements for juvenile detention as set forth by the Alabama Department of Youth Services as required by Ala.Code 1975, § 12-15-61," and that Fayette County was "under a duty to properly supervise, care for, and provide adequate detention for [Timmy], ... [and] failed to remove [Timmy's] belt prior to imprisoning and confining him, and failed to use adequate measures to monitor, or otherwise supervise [Timmy], while [he was] in custody...."

Violation of statutes or ordinances may be negligence. Vines v. Plantation Motor Lodge, 336 So.2d 1338 (Ala.1976). If the statute or ordinance violated was enacted or promulgated for the protection of the person claiming to have been injured by reason of the violation, the violation of the statute may be negligence per se or negligence as a matter of law. Allman v. Beam, 272 Ala. 110, 130 So.2d 194 (1961). Perhaps Fayette County had no duty initially to provide cells for the detention of juvenile offenders in the jail used for the confinement of adults; however, that question is not before us, for once Fayette County voluntarily undertook a duty beyond that which the law imposed, it thereafter was charged with the duty of acting with due care. Parker v. Thyssen Mining Constr., Inc., 428 So.2d 615 (Ala.1983); Dailey v. City of Birmingham, 378 So.2d 728 (Ala.1979). There was evidence before the trial court when it granted Fayette...