Civil Rights Claim of Unconstitutional Jail Conditions Against County Sheriff Reinstated

Tafoya v. Huerfano Co. Sheriff John Salazar, No. 06-1191 (10th Cir. 2/21/08) (published):

Ms. Tafoya was sexually assaulted by a detention center guard while being detained in the jail. This assault occurred three years after the Tenth Circuit had held, in another case involving assaults on female detainees by male detention officers, that the assaults were the result of unconstitutional jail conditions and that Sheriff Salazar was deliberately indifferent to those conditions. Despite that earlier 10th Cir. decision, the district court granted Sheriff Salazar's motion for summary judgment, concluding that Ms. Tafoya had failed to show that the Sheriff was actually aware of a substantial risk of harm to female inmates and she had failed to show a causal connection between Salazar's managerial failures and the sexual assault. The Tenth disagreed, holding that the Sheriff was aware of the dangerous conditions and that a jury could conclude that the assault was the result of those conditions.

Among the deficiencies noted by the Tenth Circuit were: 1) despite the addition of surveillance cameras, there were still "blind spots" where assaults (like this one) could occur and the Sheriff knew this; 2) he continued to knowingly employ guards with criminal records (like the detention guard who assaulted Ms. Tafoya and who had a record that included assault convictions); 3) he failed to implement regular training programs despite their ready and inexpensive availability; and 4) he did not establish an adequate grievance procedure. The dismissal of Ms. Tafoya's Section 1983 claim was reversed.