Estate Settles for $135,000 for Michigan Jail Prisoner’s Suicide

A federal civil rights lawsuit alleges that a prisoner’s suicide at Michigan’s Kalamazoo County Jail (KCJ) was caused by depriving him of medical treatment for depression.

The suit, filed by the family of 28-year-old Derrick Burroughs, was brought against the Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Office, the Michigan Department of Community Health (DCH), former guard Jeffrey Miller, Sgt. James DeLaBarre, and jail clinician Aki Nearcho. It alleges violations of Burroughs’ Fourth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights.

Burroughs was booked into KCJ on February 23, 2012, on three outstanding bench warrants and charges of second-offense domestic violence on a girlfriend, fleeing and eluding police, possession of marijuana, and driving while license suspended. Jail officials moved him to a close-supervision cell on March 1 after he sent out a request to staff stating he needed help for depression and that he was suffering panic attacks and having issues at home.

A DCH worker saw him and cleared him to be moved on March 2 to a one-man cell. Jail documents show that Burroughs made 163 collect phone calls from KCJ on March 4 to family members, pleading with them to bond him out of jail. None of the calls were accepted.

“I’m [fixing] to kill myself…Just tell everybody I love them,” a call recorded on March 4, 2012 at 9:44 p.m. captured Burroughs telling his family in an unaccepted call.

Guards’ common practice of not conducting rounds enabled Burroughs in carrying out his death wish. Sometime between 12:06 a.m. and 1:36 a.m. on March 5, Burroughs hung himself with a bed sheet tied to the air ventilation grate in his cell. KCJ policy required guards to conduct rounds every 30 minutes.

Miller, a four-year veteran of KCJ, came on shift at 12 a.m. on March 5. Although KCJ policy required him to conduct a cell check within 5 minutes of coming on shift and every 30 minutes thereafter, he did not conduct his first check until 1:31 a.m.

“Deputy Jeffrey Miller did not cause Mr. Burroughs’ death, but adherence to the sheriff’s office written directives may have prevented it,” concluded Capt. Bill Timmerman after an internal probe. “[Miller] was derelict in performing his duties on the morning of March 5, 2012.” As a result, he was fired.

That investigation also found Miller failed to have Burroughs remove a sheet and towel from the cell bars that obstructed the view into Burroughs’ cell. Additionally, Lt. Robert Phillips said Miller’s incident report about the matter was “rejected more than five times due to conflicting information.”

“It was evident that his initial reports were falsified or at least misleading to Miller seeing Burroughs in the cell the first time, and then seeing movement inside the cell as reported to Lt. [Wally] Kipp,” wrote Phillips.

During his April 24, 2012, disciplinary hearing, Miller was asked if he believed Burroughs’ suicide was preventable. “I don’t believe so,” he said. “I really don’t. I believe Burroughs, is, is been part of our system before. I believe he knows that he had half an hour no matter when I did a round, and I believe he would have timed it to that. Especially with his three-page note and his intent.”

Investigators found four letters from Burroughs that spoke to his despair and sadness about his life. He said his family “gave up on me in my time of need.”

“I needed y’all more than ever, but it didn’t matter to y’all, so that’s why I gave up hope. If I don’t have a family, I don’t have nothing,” he wrote. “Don’t cry. Be happy. This is what you all wanted. I’m gone. Have a good funeral for me. Pour out a lil liquor.”

The lawsuit, however, charges it was the failure to provide Burroughs with medical care for his depression that caused the suicide. It also focuses on the policy of guards not making rounds as required and Miller’s cover-up as being at the heart of the claim for liability.

Miller said his experience was that the count done by guards coming off shift counted as a first round for guards coming on shift.

“I know that’s against actual written policy, but that is basically the way things have been done since I’ve been working here,” Miller said at his disciplinary hearing. “You know, on the midnight shift we’ve always done that. It’s pretty common practice.”

The investigation confirmed Miller’s position. “There is a clear pattern of rounds being done late,” said Sgt. Heather McTavish. KCJ authorities say they have taken corrective action, but it comes too late for Burroughs.

The county agreed in July 2013 to settle the lawsuit for $135,000, including $45,000 in attorney fees. See: Anderson v. Kalamazoo County, Circuit Court for Kalamazoo County, Michigan, Case No 12-0624. Miller, who had been fired following Burroughs’ death, was reinstated by the sheriff’s office on August 10, 2013 following a grievance filed by the Kalamazoo County Deputies’ Association.

Additional source: www.mlive.com

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