歪歪漫画

BEMIDJI -- The family of a former Beltrami County Jail inmate who died in custody filed a lawsuit against the county and other jail staff in late June.

Carol Bunker, the mother of Stephanie Bunker, who hung herself with a bed sheet on July 1, 2017, in the jail, is seeking $6 million and an order mandating policy changes at the jail.

The lawsuit is the third active case filed against Beltrami County in the last two years following the death of inmates. Del Shea Perry, of St. Paul, the mother of Hardel Sherrell, filed a lawsuit in late September after her son died in the jail in 2018. Aldene Morrison filed the first lawsuit in April 2019 in the case of her son Tony May Jr. , 26, who died in the jail in 2016.

The lawsuit filed by Carol Bunker on June 26 claims that Stephanie鈥檚 death was the result of deliberate indifference shown to her from June 26, 2017 to July 1, 2017, following her arrest. It claims a violation of her Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments.

Beltrami County and MEnD Correctional Care are two entities listed in the lawsuit. MEnD is located in Sartell, Minn., and contracts with counties to provide medical care for inmates.

Individuals listed in the lawsuit include Beltrami County correctional officers Barb Fitzgerald, Jared Davis, Katherine Dreher, along with medical staff in the jail including Crystal Pedersen and Geoffrey Keilwitz. Dr. Todd Leonard, who is the owner of MEnD Correctional Care and listed as the medical director and jail physician, is listed in the lawsuit along with former Beltrami County Sheriff Phil Hodapp, who retired in early 2019.

According to the lawsuit:

Stephanie Bunker, of Mahnomen, Minn., was 39 years old when she hanged herself with a bed sheet on July 1, 2017 in the Beltrami County Jail. She was taken to Sanford Bemidji Medical Center and was then airlifted to Sanford Health in Fargo, where a test showed she had no brain function. Her family was alerted on July 11, 2017.

Stephanie was arrested just before midnight on June 25, 2017 for driving under the influence, driving after revocation and shoplifting. She was booked into the jail in the early morning hours of June 26. She also had an active theft warrant in Hennepin County.

The following day, she was asked 鈥渂ooking medical questions鈥� and responded that she was in need of emergency medical care for kidney stones, that she felt suicidal, suffered from depression and anxiety, and had tried to harm herself a couple months before.

She was put on a 15-minute watch and needed to be changed out of regular jail attire and switched to a tear-resistant smock and given tear-resistant bed sheets. However, jail staff allowed Stephanie to refuse the smock.

The Minnesota Department of Corrections said in April 2018 that the jail violated state rules by not making Stephanie wear a smock and also that jail staff was late in making 15-minute checks on several occasions.

The lawsuit also claims that Stephanie should have been seen by a mental health professional, which she was not.

Stephanie was eventually moved to another area in the jail on June 30, a day before she was found hanging in her cell. Leonard, listed as the jail physician, did not review her health assessment until almost a week after she hanged herself.

A suicide risk screening form was filled out for Stephanie by Keilwitz on June 28 and on it she has a 鈥渟core鈥� of 36 points, which requires intervention by a medical provider, a mental health consult or suicide watch.

The lawsuit claims that Keilwitz completed a second suicide risk screening form for Stephanie following her death on July 12, 2017 and changed her risk assessment scored from a 36 to a 28, lowering it below the threshold for intervention. The form filled out following her death said she did not have a prior suicide attempt, which contradicts her original health assessment.

This isn't the first case where the Beltrami County Jail was found to have violated rules leading up to an inmate's death. A DOC investigation into the Aug. 11, 2016, death of Tony May found that multiple checks on May were late.

A letter sent to Beltrami County Sheriff Ernie Beitel in May from Timothy Thompson, inspection and enforcement unit director with Minnesota鈥檚 DOC, found gross violations of Minnesota jail standards in the death of Hardel Sherrell in 2018.

鈥淭he deterioration of Mr. Sherrell鈥檚 condition over his nine-day term of incarceration in the Beltrami County Jail is notable and disturbing,鈥� the letter said.