$10 Million Lawsuit Filed against Tennessee Jail in Hanging Death

by David Reutter

The estate of a pre-trial detainee who hanged himself at the Robertson County Detention Facility (RCDF) in Springfield, Tennessee has filed a $10 million federal lawsuit alleging deliberate indifference to his serious mental health needs. The death of Matthew Burns, 23, occurred just over a year after the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a letter stating it found “a pattern or practice of constitutional violations in RCDF’s provision of mental health care.”

Burns was arrested for allegedly robbing a bank in September 2012. At the time of his arrest, his family notified jail officials that he had “an established history of mental problems [including] drug abuse, minor legal infractions, and both self-abuse and prior suicide attempts,” the complaint stated.

His family asked guards “to ensure that he did not attempt a further suicide effort.” Yet according to the lawsuit, Burns’ mental health condition was not listed in the special cautions and medical section of his jail intake forms, and following his death the sheriff’s office said he had not displayed any signs of suicidal tendencies.

It is questionable, however, whether such notations or signs would have had an impact given the dismal mental health care provided to detainees by RCDF staff. For example, the DOJ found the sole physician overseeing medical care at the jail spent only two hours a week at the facility.

To compensate, “the nursing staff provide clinical care that exceeds their licensure and training,” the DOJ wrote. RCDF allowed “LPNs – individuals with little or no mental health training – to both place prisoners on and remove them from suicide watch.”

Further, the DOJ’s review “revealed numerous instances where RCDF nurses removed prisoners from suicide watch after prisoners signed contracts essentially promising not to harm themselves.” Such “contracts for safety” have “little protective validity” for “someone with suicide ideation or who is actively suicidal,” the DOJ noted.

Further, “RCDF uses seclusions and restraint inappropriately and without necessary safeguards when responding to the risk of suicide.” The use of the restraint chair without a doctor’s order was a form of “suicide watch” that nurses and staff at the jail utilized regularly. After spending hours in the chair, prisoners would be removed but not provided with a “face-to-face evaluation by the physician” or “a comprehensive mental health evaluation or ... adequate treatment plan.”

Rather than providing chronic care to prisoners with serious mental health problems, RCDF essentially relied on “therapeutic lockdown,” according to the DOJ. The psychiatric nurse regularly took “two to three weeks ... to respond to a prisoner referral.” Finally, the physician did not review prescribed psychotropic medications. “Instead, the psychiatric nurse essentially prescribes and manages medications for patients with mental health conditions, responsibilities that are beyond the scope of a nurse’s training.”

Burns was dropped into this dysfunctional environment at the jail following his arrest and hanged himself just four days later, on September 16, 2012. He died the next day at a hospital. His family filed suit against Sheriff Bill Holt and jail administrator Tony Crawford in September 2013 – five months after Robertson County entered into a settlement agreement with the DOJ to improve medical care at the facility. [See: PLN, June 2015, p.58].

“This was a nice boy who had a serious mental issue,” said the estate’s attorney, Ken Burger. “People perceive these people as trouble makers when they are really just suffering. This young man was tormented, and his family struggled to deal with it on a daily basis.”

The defendants filed a motion for summary judgment in the lawsuit in April 2015, which remains pending. See: Burns v. Robertson County, U.S.D.C. (M.D. Tenn.), Case No. 3:13-cv-00974.

Sources: Tennessean, U.S. Department of Justice

by David Reutter

The estate of a pre-trial detainee who hanged himself at the Robertson County Detention Facility (RCDF) in Springfield, Tennessee has filed a $10 million federal lawsuit alleging deliberate indifference to his serious mental health needs. The death of Matthew Burns, 23, occurred just over a year after the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a letter stating it found “a pattern or practice of constitutional violations in RCDF’s provision of mental health care.”

Burns was arrested for allegedly robbing a bank in September 2012. At the time of his arrest, his family notified jail officials that he had “an established history of mental problems [including] drug abuse, minor legal infractions, and both self-abuse and prior suicide attempts,” the complaint stated.

His family asked guards “to ensure that he did not attempt a further suicide effort.” Yet according to the lawsuit, Burns’ mental health condition was not listed in the special cautions and medical section of his jail intake forms, and following his death the sheriff’s office said he had not displayed any signs of suicidal tendencies.

It is questionable, however, whether such notations or signs would have had an impact given the dismal mental health care provided to detainees by RCDF staff. For example, the DOJ found the sole physician overseeing medical care at the jail spent only two hours a week at the facility.

To compensate, “the nursing staff provide clinical care that exceeds their licensure and training,” the DOJ wrote. RCDF allowed “LPNs – individuals with little or no mental health training – to both place prisoners on and remove them from suicide watch.”

Further, the DOJ’s review “revealed numerous instances where RCDF nurses removed prisoners from suicide watch after prisoners signed contracts essentially promising not to harm themselves.” Such “contracts for safety” have “little protective validity” for “someone with suicide ideation or who is actively suicidal,” the DOJ noted.

Further, “RCDF uses seclusions and restraint inappropriately and without necessary safeguards when responding to the risk of suicide.” The use of the restraint chair without a doctor’s order was a form of “suicide watch” that nurses and staff at the jail utilized regularly. After spending hours in the chair, prisoners would be removed but not provided with a “face-to-face evaluation by the physician” or “a comprehensive mental health evaluation or ... adequate treatment plan.”

Rather than providing chronic care to prisoners with serious mental health problems, RCDF essentially relied on “therapeutic lockdown,” according to the DOJ. The psychiatric nurse regularly took “two to three weeks ... to respond to a prisoner referral.” Finally, the physician did not review prescribed psychotropic medications. “Instead, the psychiatric nurse essentially prescribes and manages medications for patients with mental health conditions, responsibilities that are beyond the scope of a nurse’s training.”

Burns was dropped into this dysfunctional environment at the jail following his arrest and hanged himself just four days later, on September 16, 2012. He died the next day at a hospital. His family filed suit against Sheriff Bill Holt and jail administrator Tony Crawford in September 2013 – five months after Robertson County entered into a settlement agreement with the DOJ to improve medical care at the facility. [See: PLN, June 2015, p.58].

“This was a nice boy who had a serious mental issue,” said the estate’s attorney, Ken Burger. “People perceive these people as trouble makers when they are really just suffering. This young man was tormented, and his family struggled to deal with it on a daily basis.”

The defendants filed a motion for summary judgment in the lawsuit in April 2015, which remains pending. See: Burns v. Robertson County, U.S.D.C. (M.D. Tenn.), Case No. 3:13-cv-00974.

Sources: Tennessean, U.S. Department of Justice

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