James LeBlanc, et al. v. Jessie Crittindon, et al.

Because of overcrowding in Louisiana prison facilities, locally elected sheriffs incarcerate some state prisoners in parish jails in accordance with agreements between the sheriffs and the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections (DPSC). But in this case, the sheriffs mistakenly delayed informing DPSC officials of many of the prisoners’ existence. Some of those prisoners, including the plaintiffs, were overdetained as a result. The plaintiffs seek damages against high-ranking DPSC officials under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, contending that the officials violated their Fourteenth Amendment due process rights by failing to adopt policies—duplicative of state law—to ensure that the sheriffs did their jobs. Some of the plaintiffs also contend that certain DPSC officials did not react quickly enough—17 days—to their mothers’ phone calls to DPSC alerting them to the fact that their sons lacked release dates. The Fifth Circuit upheld the district court’s denial of qualified immunity to the DPSC officials—though the officials’ en banc rehearing petition garnered seven votes in favor of rehearing. (1) Do high-ranking state prison officials violate a prisoner’s constitutional rights by failing to promulgate policies cajoling independent, locally-elected sheriffs to do their jobs timely and efficiently?