Cynthia Ketchum v. County of Alameda Alameda County Board of Supervisors Sheriff Glenn Dyer and Chief Ron Cain

Cynthia Ketchum brought suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (1982) against the County of Alameda and several county officers for their alleged gross negligence in failing to maintain security at an Alameda rehabilitation facility. Ketchum appeals the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the defendants. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 (1982). We affirm.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

In 1981 James Hampton was incarcerated as a minimum security inmate at the Santa Rita Rehabilitation Facility in Alameda County. Hampton was being held at the facility for an alleged parole violation and was awaiting trial on burglary charges. On July 8, 1981, Hampton escaped the facility by cutting through a window security screen and climbing a fence. On September 17, 1981, more than two months after Hampton’s escape, plaintiff-appellant Cynthia Ketchum was allegedly assaulted and raped by Hampton in her home in Sacramento, over fifty miles from the Santa Rita facility. Hampton was subsequently arrested and convicted of committing six rapes in Sacramento County-

Cynthia Ketchum filed suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (1982) against the County of Alameda, the County Board of…