Request By:
Mr. Phil Cummins
Chief of Police
Augusta, Kentucky 41002
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Charles W. Runyan, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
You raised the following question concerning a policeman taking an arrested person to the county jail.
When a police officer delivers an arrested person into a county jail, and unto the custody of the jailer, giving the jailer a copy of charges or arrest warrant, and the prisoner's name is entered into the jails admission log book, is it the duty as stated by law of the police officer to remain at the jail until the jailer has physically locked the prisoner behind bars? Or does the officer's legal responsibility cease, upon his delivery of the prisoner to the custody of the jailer. (This of course would include that the prisoner is not hurt or suffering physical injury at the time of delivery).
In other words, is there a KRS that specifically states that an officer must remain at the jail until the jailer puts the person into a cell?
The county jailer is the custodian of the jail and its prisoners lawfully committed thereto.
KRS 71.020 reads:
Each jailer shall have the custody, rule and charge of the jail in his county and of all persons in the jail and shall keep the same himself or by his deputy or deputies. He or one (1) of his deputies shall reside not more than four hundred (400) yards from the jail and where it is such as admits the residence of the same therein he or one (1) of his deputies shall reside in the jail.
KRS 71.040 reads:
The jailer shall receive and keep in the jail all persons who are lawfully committed thereto, until they are lawfully discharged. He shall treat them humanely and furnish them with proper food and lodging during their confinement. He shall deliver those who die in jail to their friends, if requested, or have them decently buried at the expense of the county.
Under KRS 71.020 and 71.040 the county jailer is required to receive an arrested person in the county jail where such person is lawfully committed to him, i.e., where the arresting officer requests such receiving of the prisoner where no magistrate is immediately available.
The basic procedure in handling arrests made with or without a warrant is set forth in RCr 3.02, which reads:
(1) An officer making an arrest under a warrant issued upon a complaint shall take the arrested person without unnecessary delay before a magistrate as commanded in the warrant. If the arrest is made in a county other than that in which the warrant was issued and the arrested person is not taken as commanded in the warrant, he shall be taken before a magistrate of the county in which the arrest is made, who shall consider the defendant for release on personal recognizance and so release him or admit him to bail for his appearance before the proper magistrate to whom the bail bond and other papers may be transmitted by mail. If the offense is nonbailable, or if the person arrested is unable to give bail, the magistrate shall commit him to jail and he shall be taken as commanded in the warrant within a reasonable time by an officer of the county in which it was issued.
(2) Any person making an arrest without a warrant shall take the arrested person without unnecessary delay before a magaistrate. Only in exceptional cases should delay exceed twelve (12) hours. If the magistrate before whom the arrested person is taken is in a county other than the county in which the offense was committed, the magistrate shall proceed as directed in subsection (1) as on an arrest under warrant in a county other than that in which the warrant was issued.
RCr 3.02 requires that an officer making an arrest, either with or without a warrant, take the arrested person before a magistrate (magistrate means, under RCr 1.06(a), a judge of the circuit or a judge or trial commissioner of the district court) without unnecessary delay. Thus where no magistrate of the county is actually available, or a holiday is involved, the arresting officer could be justified in taking the accused to the local county jail.
Stacy v. Commonwealth, Ky., 254 S.W.2d 917 (1953); and
Wilson v. Hellard, Ky., 333 S.W.2d 777 (1960) 779.
Let us assume, for the sake of answering your ultimate question, that an arresting officer has complied with the requirements of RCr 3.02 in taking an arrested person to the county jail. Once the jailer, or his deputy, assumes the custody of such an arrested person, the responsibility of the arresting officer comes to an end. The "assumption of custody" can occur either by the express declaration to that effect of the jailer or of an authorized deputy, or by the obvious implications of the total actions of the jailer or authorized deputy in actually dealing personally with the arrested person. The sharply definitive assumption of custody could take the form of a form signed by the jailer or deputy indicating the acceptance of custody.