Families sue Alabama prison officials over suicide deaths

The families of four men who died by suicide inside Alabama prisons in 2018 and 2019 are suing state prison officials for failing to enact and enforce standard mental health procedures such as using unlicensed, unsupervised health workers and failing to transport prisoners to treatment appointments. 

Attorney Mitch McGuire — representing the families of Paul Ford, Billy Lee Thornton, Ryan Rust and Matthew Holmes — said the families want to hold individual state officials like Commissioner Jeff Dunn accountable who "did nothing meaningful to remedy the abysmal treatment of these inmates."

The lawsuit alleges defendants were aware of men "often" using self-harm or destructive behavior to get the attention of mental-health staff who could help them get treatment, and men were often disciplined for self-injurious behavior despite their records reflecting they suffered from severe mental illnesses (SMI).

The lawsuit also alleges only a small percentage of mental health professionals employed by ADOC's health contractors were fully licensed, contrary to Alabama's contract with its mental health provider, and they often went unsupervised while unorganized record-keeping led to inappropriate and unsafe dorm assignments for men in mental health crisis. 

Prison officials often failed to provide individuals with counseling and therapy appointments, the lawsuit states.

"The Alabama corrections officials named as defendants along with the mental healthcare providers even failed to comply with remedial mental health procedures to which they consented and agreed to have memorialized in federal court orders," Mitch McGuire, the families' attorney, said. "The defendants can no longer rely on excuses such as staffing shortages and poor administrative discipline. They must now be held accountable for the deaths of humans who suffered so greatly from the state's failure to provide adequate mental health care, that suicide appeared to them to be the only option.  Meanwhile, these state defendants effectively stood idle — indifferent to the mental health needs of these desperate inmates — and over and over again, suicide was indeed, the tragic result."

Alabama and the Southern Poverty Law Center are engaged in a lengthy legal battle over mental health care in state prisons. In 2017, U.S. District Court Judge Myron Thompson found the state's care "horrendously inadequate" and ordered systemic overhauls, many of which are still moving through the courts. 

The SPLC contends ADOC fails to follow some its own policies, such as conducting regular security checks in segregation housing, an isolated environment in which the majority of recent suicide deaths have occurred. Prison officials last year said they have implemented a remedial suicide prevention plan "proposed and promoted by SPLC."

When asked to comment on the new lawsuit, an Alabama Department of Corrections spokesperson said the department declines comment on pending or ongoing litigation "out of respect for the legal process."

Families of two of the inmates, Paul Ford and Billy Thornton Jr., rallied in front of the statehouse last year with SPLC attorneys who called the spate of 13 deaths in 14 months a "life-or-death emergency."

"I miss him terribly," said Jeri Ford, Paul Ford's wife. His granddaughter, nephew and sister also attended Friday's news conference. "What has happened to him will affect us for the rest of our lives."

Paul Ford, who testified in October about staffing problems in solitary confinement, died by suicide on Jan. 17, 2019 in Kilby Correctional Facility.

Court records outline a litany of mental health concerns for Ford, who first attempted suicide in Holman prison in April 2018, setting his segregation cell on fire and hanging himself.

The noose broke, causing Ford to hit his head and lose consciousness. He was later treated for smoke inhalation and placed on a two-day suicide watch. When he was returned to his cell, Ford reported that the noose was still hanging where he tied it. 

For weeks after, he wasn't seen outside of his cell by any mental health contacts. 

In July 2018, he was again placed on suicide watch after guards found him bleeding, with a noose hanging in the cell. He was later transferred to Kilby, where he was moved into segregation, but Ford's medical records indicate he did not have an "SMI flag" during his placement screening at Kilby, despite the previous incidents at Holman. 

Attorneys in the ongoing mental health lawsuit have argued that a significant number of suicides in ADOC custody occur in segregation, or solitary confinement, which evidence shows can seriously debilitate even mentally stable people. 

In February 2019, despite Matthew Holmes responding affirmatively that he was feeling "sad, hopeless or depressed" and had a history of attempted suicide, a nurse practitioner released him from a mental health observation into segregation. Holmes hanged himself 12 hours later. 

The lawsuit alleges that while out-of-cell time standard around the U.S. is 20 hours per week,bSMI- designated patients in Alabama received only five. 

"Hope that their loved ones would return home after paying their debts to society is forever lost," McGuire said. "They deserve justice for these senseless deaths. Their loved ones were not just inmates or prison numbers.  Billy Lee Thornton, Jr., Ryan Rust, Matthew Holmes, and Paul Ford were human beings with real names, real families and real dreams of life after incarceration."

The lawsuit requests a jury trial over the wrongful death and 8th Amendment violations claims. 

 Contact Montgomery Advertiser reporter Melissa Brown at 334-240-0132 or mabrown@gannett.com.