$200,000 for Detainee Thrown in “Rollover” Solitary Without Food or Water at Minnesota Jail
by Chuck Sharman
Ramsey Kettle, now 34, is a member of the White Earth Nation with a diagnosed serious mental illness (SMI). Yet when he arrived at Minnesota’s Otter Tail County Jail in February 2024, he was immediately thrown in disciplinary segregation, without a mental health assessment or even a disciplinary hearing. Why?
Jailers decided that he needed to serve out the remainder of a 60-day sanction earned during an earlier pre-trial incarceration in 2022, which had been interrupted when he was convicted and sentenced to a term of imprisonment with the state Department of Corrections (DOC). It was upon completion of that sentence that he was returned to the jail to await trial on additional witness tampering charges—which were later dropped—and jailers tossed him in solitary to serve out the earlier sanction.
Arriving on a Friday, Kettle was initially given a cup of water and a carton of milk, but no food. When he asked for his legal paperwork, jailers mistakenly gave him some that belonged to another detainee. Worried that a similar mix-up might expose sensitive details in his paperwork, he requested that the error be corrected, growing more agitated as his requests were ignored. Eventually he acted out, spreading his feces around his cell. In retaliation, jailers isolated him in the dirty cell for the next two days without access to food, water, a bathroom or a break for exercise. He still didn’t get his legal papers, either.
Meanwhile, jailers logged at least 100 cell checks, reporting in each that Kettle was “OK”—without mentioning his filthy cell or even opening its door, since the window was too caked with his feces to see through it. The cells around his were vacated, and detainees that were held in them were relocated away from the stench, which guards warded off with masks and a shared jar of vapor rub. Over 52 hours later, when the weekday shift showed up for work, Kettle was finally allowed to shower, eat and see medical professionals.
Over a week later, Jail Administrator Beth Carlson finally notified the DOC’s Inspection and Enforcement (I&E) Division that Kettle had missed meals over the weekend. But she lied and said that he missed only three. In reality, he had missed at least six. Carlson’s report also omitted mention of Kettle’s dirty cell and denial of his meals, water, and healthcare. Eight days later, an unnamed guard filed a whistleblower complaint with the I&E Inspector General, who launched an investigation resulting in temporary suspension of the jail’s license to hold detainees longer than 72 hours. Staffers were forced to undergo retraining, and Sheriff Barry Fitzgibbons issued a public apology.
Suit Filed, Motion to Dismiss Largely Denied
With the aid of attorneys from Norton Rose Fulbright in Minneapolis and the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Kettle filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota. Proceeding under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, he challenged the constitutionality of his conditions of confinement and the jail’s rollover disciplinary segregation policy. Defendants moved to dismiss the complaint, claiming qualified immunity (QI). But on August 25, 2025, the district court largely denied that motion.
Individual Defendants were granted QI because Kettle “identifie[d] no caselaw placing the constitutionality of the practice of imposing rollover disciplinary segregation beyond debate,” the district court declared. However, his Fourteenth Amendment due-process claim was sustained against the County and its officials for maintaining the policy, using the mechanism to recognize a municipal constitutional violation laid out in Monell v. New York Dep’t of Soc. Servs., 436 U.S. 658 (1978). Claims against the County were sustained for violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. ch. 126 §§ 12101, et seq., and the Rehabilitation Act, 29 U.S.C. §§ 701, et seq.
Individual Defendant guards and Carlson were denied QI on Kettle’s claim that they improperly withheld his access to food, water and medical care. They attempted to argue that he was in control of access because they had predicated withholding it on one simple request—that he clean up the feces smeared around his cell. But the district court wasn’t buying this semantic game. Withholding necessities was punishment, which may not be inflicted on pretrial detainees. However, since Sheriff Fitzgibbons’ personal involvement in withholding them was inadequately alleged, individual capacity claims against him were dismissed. See: Kettle v. Otter Tail Cty., 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 158330 (D. Minn.).
Just over two months later, Kettle stipulated to dismissal of his suit after reaching a settlement agreement with the County. Under its terms, he was promised a $200,000 payment, which included fees and costs for his attorneys. The agreement also obligated the jail to cease any form of rollover disciplinary segregation and to ensure that cell checks make a meaningful evaluation of detainees, noting whether they could be seen, if they displayed signs of life or mental illness, if they had access to water, ot if any biohazard material threatened their health or safety. See: Kettle v. Otter Tail Cty., USDC (D. Minn.), Case No. 0:24-cv-04406.
The Minnesota Reformer reported that Kettle was released in April 2024 after the witness tampering charge was dropped, only to get into a scuffle with a family member that he then bit and stabbed before setting a kitchen trash can on fire. At the end of October 2025, Kettle was being held in the Becker County Jail on charges of arson and felony assault.
Additional source: Minnesota Reformer
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Related legal case
Kettle v. Otter Tail Cty.,
| Year | 2025 |
|---|---|
| Cite | USDC (D. Minn.), Case No. 0:24-cv-04406 |
| Level | District Court |