Virginia Jail Suicide Results in $950,000 Settlement, Claims Against Wellpath still Pending
by Chuck Sharman
A $950,000 settlement received approval from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia on January 28, 2026, resolving claims against the City of Norfolk by the Estate of Philemon S. Vinson, alleging that his suicide in the city lockup should have been prevented by guards working for Sheriff Joe Baron.
The agreement does not include claims against Wellpath, which was the jail’s contracted healthcare and mental healthcare provider at the time; those claims are proceeding in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, which is overseeing Wellpath’s Chapter 11 reorganization, as PLN reported. [See: PLN, May 2025, p.56.]
Vinson, 24, was picked up in August 2022 on a failure to appear warrant. He was denied bond and placed in the Norfolk jail. At intake screening, Wellpath Nurse Practitioner Sharon Rice asked whether he had “feelings that there is nothing to look forward to or [felt] hopelessness/helplessness.” Vinson responded that both statements were true for him. But he was not placed on suicide watch. In fact, Wellpath Director of Mental Health Services Anne Purkeson released him into the jail’s general population. He was found fatally hanged in his cell four days later when guards went to deliver a meal tray.
Purkeson later created a phony medical record and backdated it to the second day of Vinson’s incarceration, falsely claiming that she held a meeting with Vinson during which he denied any suicidal ideation. On the day he died, guard Dep. Cinclair Howard dutifully recorded 10 cell-checks but somehow failed to notice that Vinson was unconscious before delivering his supper tray late that afternoon. “Howard later admitted that not every round he made on [August] 18, 2022, was a ‘quality round’ and that he ‘might have short-changed or, you know, didn’t thoroughly look at some point,’” according to the complaint filed on Vinson’s behalf. In an interview with WAVY in neighboring Portsmouth, Baron admitted “there were things missed by staff that we specifically have in place to mitigate risks.”
“We own that, and I supported the need to settle for that reason,” the sheriff added.
“If the deputy had looked at 12:04 p.m., he would have seen” that Vinson was passed out, Estate Attorney Randy A. Singer said. Instead, “that entire afternoon, for four hours, they walk by the cell and never looked inside—this whole thing could have been prevented.”
With the aid of Singer and fellow attorneys Kevin D. Hoffman and Rosalyn Singer of Singer Hoffman LLC in Virginia Beach, the suit was filed by Vinson’s mother, Jamie Vinson, in September 2024. Proceedings were stayed in November 2024 when Wellpath filed for bankruptcy. Four months later, Plaintiff severed those claims from her suit into a separate action filed in the Southern District of Texas Bankruptcy Court, allowing her case against the Norfolk defendants to resume as a wrongful death action. The parties then proceeded to reach their settlement agreement.
Under its terms, fees of $285,000 were paid to Singer Hoffman and another $95,000 to co-counsel from Klein Rowell & Shall in Virginia Beach. Singer Hoffman was also reimbursed $107,249.91 in costs. From the balance, $107,105.12 was paid to Vinson’s wife, Kaitlym S. Braggs, including a $6,795 reimbursement for Vinson’s funeral and cremation expenses. His minor children received the rest in trusts totaling $100,310.12 for “I.L.A.”; $168,703.38 for “N.S.V.”; and $86,631.47 for “N.M.V.” See: Vinson v. Cinclair, USDC (E.D. Va.), Case No. 2:24-cv-00560.
Singer listed several reforms that were driven by the settlement, including an increase from “only one mental health provider for 750 inmates” to 10. The jail budget will also grow by $4 million, and training will be added to improve “mental health awareness and accountability to help inmates,” he said.
Additional source: WAVY
As a digital subscriber to Prison Legal News, you can access full text and downloads for this and other premium content.
Already a subscriber? Login