A Louisiana sheriff, Ricky Moses, of Beauregard Parish, did not win immunity against the negligent hiring and supervision claims he faces after a male deputy was criminally charged with raping a female pretrial detainee at a hospital in 2019, ruled U.S. District Judge James D. Cain Jr. of the Western District of Louisiana on Thursday, as reported by Courthouse News. The woman, Misty Howell Farmer, was admitted to the hospital for a kidney infection and died. Her mother sued because the guard’s presence violated the sheriff’s written policy against having a male deputy guarding a female inmate without another male deputy present, if no female deputy is available.
The sheriff may be liable because he violated that policy, “his own policy,” the judge noted and because he made the decision to hire Bailey despite issues that should have raised red flags, Cain ruled, citing a 2019 “liability screening” of the deputy, done by a company called Matrix Incorporated, which found that Bailey had a history of chemical dependency and psychological disorders that included a previous demotion and reported mental-health treatment within the previous six months.