51 Ga. App. 402 | Ga. Ct. App. | 1935
1. Where a sheriff has charge of the county jail and one of his deputies is jailer and lives in the jail house, the sheriff and the sureties on his official bond would be liable for any negligence in the performance of acts colore officii by such deputy, or for his failure to perform a duty imposed by law, regarding a prisoner placed in his care and custody. 57 O. J. 799, 1015, §§ 195, 795; Re Stephens, 1 Ga. 584; Matthis v. Pollard, 3 Ga. 1; Crawford v. Howard, 9 Ga. 314; Robertson v. Smith, 16 Ga. App. 760 (85 S. E. 988); Richards v. American Surety Co., 48 Ga. App. 102 (171 S. E. 924); Kusah v. McCorkle, 100 Wash. 318 (170 Pac. 1023, L. R. A. 1918C, 1158).
2. A sheriff owes to a prisoner placed in his custody a duty to keep the prisoner safely and free from harm, to render him medical aid when necessary, and to treat him humanely and refrain from oppressing him; and where a sheriff is negligent in his care and custody of a prisoner, and as a result the prisoner receives injury or meets his death, or where a sheriff fails in the performance of his duty to the prisoner and the latter suffers injury or meets his death as a result of such failure, the sheriff, would, in a proper case, be liable on his official bond, to the injured prisoner or to his dependents as the case might be. 57 O. J. 899, 1044, §§ 512, 95S; 50 O. J. 339, 340, §§ 29, 30; Penal Code of 1910 §§ 786, 1149, 1150, 1156; Code of 1933, §§ 26-2303, 77-101-102, 77-110.
3. However, as in the case sub judice, where a prisoner has been placed in the custody of and accepted by a sheriff through his deputy, the jailer of the county, and where the prisoner is drunk and as a result of his drunkenness sets fire to himself and is burned to death, the sheriff and the sureties on his official bond are not liable to the dependents. of the deceased prisoner, upon the ground that the jailer was negligent in incarcerating him in a cell by himself without first searching him and removing from his. person any object or article with which he might in
Judgment affirmed.