For Immediate Release
July 30, 2013

Contact:
Lauren Regan, Amber Mongan, CLDC–541-687-9180
Lane County Jail Forced to Change Mental Health Policies and Training: Must Pay $500,000 to Local Homeless Man

Mark Kemp settled a federal civil rights lawsuit against Lane County and several employees after he was forced to endure inhumane conditions and was critically injured while incarcerated in Lane County Adult Correctional Facility for 13 days.

Eugene, OR—Lane County has paid $500,000 in damages to a McKenzie River man suffering from severe bipolar disorder and psychosis that rendered him homeless and unable to care for himself in 2008-2009. The County also agreed to bring the jail into compliance with national standards for policies and training regarding the treatment of mentally ill people who find themselves in jail largely based on their psychiatric issues.

In December 2008, Mark Kemp was arrested while suffering from acute psychosis that left him in a state of almost complete incapacitation. Rather than bringing him to the emergency room for medical treatment and evaluation, Springfield Police brought him to the jail. The jail failed to provide adequate intake assessments on Mr. Kemp, and despite documenting extreme mental illness, the jail literally forced Kemp out the back door of the jail late at night, without shoes or winter clothing. He walked across the street to an office building and the next morning police responded and found Mr. Kemp naked in a flooded office restroom. Eugene Police reported that Mr. Kemp told them he had fallen in a well and needed help. EPD brought Kemp back to the jail and placed a mental health hold on him so that he would not be released until he could care for himself. Mr. Kemp spent the next 12 days without psychiatric treatment or medical care of any kind despite the fact that he was placed on suicide watch and guards were required to document his condition every 30 minutes. The jail guard observation notes, that were never read by medical or mental health staff at all, detailed Kemp’s psychotic state and suffering, including the fact that he remained unbathed in his own food and feces, that he did not eat or drink water, was punched in the head by one of the defendant guards, and moaned and laid naked on the cement floor for days.

For example, Deputy Myers wrote, “Kemp appears to be totally delusional. He has spent the entire day alternating between playing in his toilet water, trying to open the pie flap and sticking his hands out under the blue door, thinking he can come out under the door.” For the entire day, he slept for less than one hour, he refused dinner and “smashed up” breakfast, and no water consumption was recorded. Several days later, Deputy Clark wrote that Kemp “spent the night groveling around on the floor with the only sounds being an occasional moan or howl after breakfast.”

On the 13th day, one jail guard noticed Kemp was frothing at the mouth and his eyes were rolled into his head as he lay naked on the floor. He summoned medical attention and the nurses could not find a pulse. He was transported to the hospital where he spent two weeks in intensive care suffering from acute renal failure, sepsis, altered level of consciousness, metabolic encephalopathy, hypocalcaemia, hyperglycemia and severe dehydration. The complete denial of medical or psychiatric care for 13 days nearly killed Mr. Kemp and caused greater difficulty in treating his psychiatric condition after he was released.

“This was a tragic and inexcusable case of systemic deliberate indifference to the mental health needs of a community member who suffers from bipolar disorder. Many of us know a friend or loved one who has a mental health condition. No one would want their loved one to endure what Mr. Kemp endured if that person somehow ended up jailed in Lane County. This case will ensure through policy and training changes that no one else has to suffer the same abuse at the hands of Lane County Adult Corrections,” said Lauren Regan, attorney with the Civil Liberties Defense Center (CLDC) who represented Mr. Kemp in his federal civil rights lawsuit for three years. Attorney Marianne Dugan co-counseled the case on behalf of Kemp. “No amount of money can make up for the abuse and neglect Mr. Kemp was forced to endure. We hope it is an amount that will force Lane County and other jails to take mental illness more seriously, particularly as the number of untreated people suffering from mental health issues in all communities continues to grow.”

The federal civil rights lawsuit alleged that Lane County Adult Corrections’ policies, customs and practices deprived Mr. Kemp of his constitutional right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment. Examples of those unconstitutional practices include: inadequate intake and release protocols; including accepting Kemp two days in a row with serious altered mental status and releasing him while on a suicide watch and incompetent; numerous days where there was no communication between security and medical/mental health staff regarding a segregated mentally ill inmate’s obvious inability to care for himself; the practice of turning all water off to a given cell without authorization and/or monitoring of hydration intake; failing to ensure adequate training, supervision and discipline for LCAC staff; medical staff failing to monitor or advocate for Kemp’s medical and psychiatric needs said failures known to be well below the standards of care, including failing to advocate for his transfer out of the jail and to the hospital; medical staff egregiously failing to comply with their duties of care which also denied and delayed obvious and necessary medical care to Kemp for twelve days until he was unconscious and almost dead. Plaintiff also alleged that jail Deputy Harvey Marshall used excessive force when he demanded that Mr. Kemp provide him with a spoon that was on the floor; and when Kemp was unable to comply due to his mental state, defendant Marshall used excessive force upon Kemp, including punching him with a closed fist to the head. Further claims against Lane County jail included violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Oregon Vulnerable Person statute, and other State claims including Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress.

 

“If the Civil Liberties Defense Center had not agreed to take on Mr. Kemp’s case, what happened to him would never have seen the light of day, and the serious issues at the jail would never have been addressed. We do not know how many other vulnerable people suffered a similar fate as Mr. Kemp, but because of their mental illness and homelessness, were simply turned out into the street without redress. The case illustrates how a one person—or a few people– can truly help turn a fellow community member’s life around,” said Kim Marks, President of the Civil Liberties Defense Center Board of Directors. During the time Regan represented Mr. Kemp, she assisted him in gaining psychiatric treatment and medication, as well as Medicare and Social Security Disability so that he could regain control of his life, move out of the Mission homeless shelter, and treat his bipolar. He is no longer homeless, and is doing much better. The damages paid by Lane County will be placed in trust to ensure his needs for many years to come.

The CLDC undertakes strategic civil rights litigation on behalf of marginalized and at risk communities to ensure basic human and civil rights are respected by local and national governments, police departments and jails.

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The Civil Liberties Defense Center focuses on defending and upholding civil liberties through education, outreach, litigation, and legal support and assistance. https://cldc.org