State Liability for Prisoner Suicide: Council of State Confirms Simple Fault Requirement
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State liability, prison administration, simple fault, gross fault, penitentiary services, Council of State, administrative jurisprudence, detainee, suicide prevention, service fault
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Abstract
The Council of State has made a landmark judgment, confirming the shift from gross fault to simple fault in cases of prison suicide, making it easier for victims' families to seek compensation. Previously, administrative case law required a serious fault to be proven, but now a simple fault is sufficient. This change acknowledges that the penitentiary services' lack of surveillance or vigilance can lead to liability for the State. The judgment highlights that the administration's failure to take reasonable measures to prevent suicide, considering the available information, constitutes a fault. This ruling is a significant development in the jurisprudence regarding the State's liability for faults committed by the penitentiary services, and it opens the door for families of detainees who have taken their own lives to claim damages. The State's liability can now be engaged for simple faults, such as inadequate response to a predictable suicide or poor service organization, marking a crucial step towards holding the prison administration accountable for its actions.
Extract
[...] This criterion of serious fault for a period, required by administrative case law was later abandoned in the matter of prisoner suicides in prison, giving satisfaction to the victims then. The welcome passage to simple fault In its desire for extended compensation of victims, administrative case law, which previously required a serious fault, is now satisfied with a responsibility for simple fault in the case of a prisoner's suicide in prison. The Council of State replaced the criterion of serious fault with a simple fault by a decision Chabba dated May By this decision, the Council of State admits responsibility for simple fault following a prisoner's suicide resulting from a succession of faults imputable to the prison service. [...]
[...] of 10 April 1992 abolishing the requirement of a serious fault in the matter of a medical act at the public hospital). Beyond the prison suicide of an inmate, the Council of State has recognized since a decision Boussouar of 9 July 2008, simple fault regarding the damage caused to the property of inmates. This abandonment of the criterion of gross fault in favor of the so-called simple fault is explicitly based on the 'imperative character of the right to life' of inmates (CE November 2001, Kechichian). [...]
[...] After a rejection of their request by a judgment dated January the detainee's companion and his parents appealed to the Bordeaux Court of Appeal. This court, by an order dated April rendered on the basis of Article R. 222-1 of the Code of Administrative Justice, dismissed their request. The detainee's companion and his parents then lodged a cassation appeal before the Council of State. The question raised was to what extent the State could see its liability engaged for the fault of the penitentiary services due to the suicide of a detainee. [...]
[...] This clarification by the Council of State regarding the responsibility engaged following the suicide of a detainee is a reaffirmation of what it had previously judged in a ruling of 28 December 2017. The lack of surveillance and control is of a nature to engage the responsibility of the prison administration (CAA May 2009; CE March 2009; CE March 2009). In reality, it is a specific fault governed by the particular laws of the prison environment and will be assessed in concreto, au cas par cas. [...]
[...] It will be noted that the penal responsibility can be engaged by proving, in addition to the existence of a penal fault related to the lack of vigilance and surveillance, a personal injury, direct and certain, as well as a causal link linking the realization of the damage to the generating fact. Demonstrating the causal link and simple penal fault is always difficult to establish. In reality, it is the circumstances of the case that determine the scope of the penal fault in the suicidal intention. It requires a good appreciation of the detainee's medical history, knowing that imprisonment and the psychological consequences it generates are not sufficient on their own. In any case, not all situations are quite equivalent and a case-by-case assessment is required. [...]
