Family of inmate who died by suicide sues Sherburne County

The family of a 23-year-old man who died by suicide in the Sherburne County jail is suing the county and two of its correctional officers in connection with his death, after he was found hanged in the same cell where another inmate killed himself in the same manner three years earlier.

Justice L. White died at the hospital on April 21, 2020, 11 days after he made a noose from a sheet inside a segregated unit at the Sherburne County jail. After officers found White in his cell, they performed CPR but he never regained consciousness.

Christine M. Roybal, White's aunt and trustee for his family, is seeking monetary damages for the loss of life "due to the deliberate indifference of the defendants," according to a complaint filed Wednesday in federal court.

The wrongful death lawsuit names the county, as well as correctional officers Lindsey Candor and Ashley Goebel, who were assigned to White's housing unit on the day he hanged himself.

Attorney Jason M. Hiveley, who is representing the county, declined to comment on the case but said the county would file a response to the complaint by May 8.

"Sherburne County shouldn't be surprised that this happened again," said Robins Kaplan attorney Andrew J. Noel, who is representing White's family. "It made the same bad choices with Mr. White that it made with Mr. Lynas, another high-risk individual, with predictable results."

James Lynas died by suicide in the Sherburne County jail in November 2017. Robins Kaplan also represented the Lynas family in a lawsuit that resulted in a $1.3 million settlement from the county.

According to the complaint filed Wednesday, White was indicted by a grand jury in U.S. District Court for a criminal sexual assault that allegedly took place on the Red Lake reservation in 2015. He was arrested in October 2019 and placed in the Sherburne County jail — which often houses federal detainees — in December 2019.

Jail intake forms documented that White had tried to kill himself in 2018 and the jail's electronic management system flagged him as suicidal, the complaint states.

In February 2020, White was placed under suicide precautions after he wrote in a note to jail staff, "I don't feel safe from anyone out here or even myself." The precautions mandated staff observe White every 15 minutes instead of the standard 30-minute intervals, but he was removed from the special watch status after two days.

On April 1, he was assigned to a lockdown cell in a special housing unit due to disciplinary infractions. The inside of the cell could be monitored via a large glass window on the cell door and a small window on the back of the cell viewable from a catwalk. But from that catwalk, where the correctional officers checked on White, there wasn't a clear view of the metal light grate where White secured the makeshift noose, according to the complaint.

The lawsuit cites a 2018 inspection report where the jail was found to be violating inmate well-being check regulations because they were being conducted "at too fast a pace."

According to jail records listed in the lawsuit, the last two checks on the four-cell unit where White was housed were completed in about 30 seconds.

"Accounting for the time walking between cells, Candor and Goebel dedicated mere seconds to check on the well-being of each inmate — inadequate time to protect inmate safety," the complaint states.

Inspection reports conducted before White's death also recommended jail staff stop using the catwalk for well-being checks, according to the complaint.

"Sherburne County was aware that housing a suicidal inmate in special housing, and its policy of conducting well-being checks via the obscured catwalk portholes, was insufficient to protect the inmate's safety," court documents state. "Lynas's suicide was entirely preventable. Justice's was even more so, given Lynas's suicide and the warnings it provided to Sherburne County."

Minnesotans and others struggling with thoughts of suicide or other mental health crises can receive immediate help from the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988.