Section 341.27 | Qualified immunity for injuries to work detail prisoners.
(A) As used in this section:
(1) "County correctional facility" has the same meaning as in section 341.42 of the Revised Code.
(2) "County correctional officer" has the same meaning as in section 341.41 of the Revised Code.
(B) The sheriff and board of county commissioners of any county jointly may establish in writing a prisoner work program pursuant to which prisoners and adult offenders confined in a county correctional facility under control of the county work outside of the facility in a work detail administered by the facility. A program established under this division shall be separate from and independent of any program or camp established under section 341.31, 5147.28, or 5147.30 of the Revised Code or under any other provision of the Revised Code. A sheriff and board of county commissioners that jointly establish a program under this division shall specify rules for the operation of the program. The rules shall include, but are not limited to, rules that provide the following:
(1) That no prisoner or adult offender confined in the facility under a charge of, or a sentence imposed for, an offense of violence may be assigned to a work detail under the program;
(2) That no prisoner or adult offender may be assigned to a work detail under the program unless the prisoner or adult offender volunteers for the work detail;
(3) That no prisoner or adult offender under supervisory authority of the adult parole authority may be assigned to a work detail under the program.
(C) If all the prisoners or adult offenders working on a work detail administered by a county correctional facility and outside the facility have volunteered for the work detail and are imprisoned or reside in that facility for an offense other than a felony of the first or second degree and if the applicable county correctional officer complies with division (D) of this section, both of the following apply:
(1) No sheriff, deputy sheriff, or county correctional officer is liable for civil damages for injury, death, or loss to person or property caused or suffered by a prisoner or adult offender working on the work detail unless the injury, death, or loss results from malice or wanton or reckless misconduct of the sheriff, deputy sheriff, or county correctional officer.
(2) The county in which the prisoners or adult offenders work on the work detail and that employs the sheriff, deputy sheriff, or county correctional officer is not liable for civil damages for injury, death, or loss to person or property caused or suffered by a prisoner or adult offender working on the work detail unless the injury, death, or loss results from malice or wanton or reckless misconduct of the sheriff or any deputy sheriff or county correctional officer.
(D) To qualify for the immunity described in division (C)(1) of this section regarding a work detail, a county correctional officer, prior to having the prisoners or adult offenders of the county correctional facility, work outside the facility on the work detail, shall inform each prisoner or adult offender on the work detail of the provisions of this section, including notifying the prisoner or adult offender that, by volunteering for the work detail, the prisoner or adult offender cannot hold the sheriff, deputy sheriff, or county correctional officer or the county liable for civil damages for injury, death, or loss to person or property unless the injury, death, or loss results from malice or wanton or reckless misconduct of the sheriff, deputy sheriff, or county correctional officer.
Available Versions of this Section
- March 22, 2013 – House Bill 247 - 129th General Assembly [ View March 22, 2013 Version ]