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By Eric Ferkenhoff
Investigative Reporter
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The estate of a 29-year-old Indiana man who starved to death in a local jail has settled a federal wrongful death and civil rights lawsuit with Jackson County officials for $7.25 million, the largest known settlement ever reached involving a jail or prison death in Indiana.
Joshua McLemore, who suffered from schizophrenia, lost 45 pounds over less than three weeks in the Jackson County Jail, received no medical attention and slept about 15 hours over 20 days while locked up, rolling in his feces and urine and chewing Styrofoam instead of food, according to the federal lawsuit that brought the settlement.
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Newsweek first reported on McLemore's case after the suit was filed April 12.
McLemore was arrested in July 20, 2021, after a wellbeing check called in by his mother to the apartment manager, who found him naked and confused on his floor. He was hospitalized at Schneck Hospital in Seymour, Indiana, where McLemore pulled a nurse's hair, fearing demons and gangsters were after him when she tapped on his shoulder, according to medical and police records.
With that, McLemore was arrested and jailed at the Jackson County Jail, located in the county seat of Brownstown in the southern part of Indiana. McLemore was locked in isolation for 20 days, with jail video of his cell showing him never coming out of his psychosis. He was booked into the jail weighing almost 198 pounds "and appeared fit and robust," according to the 47-page federal civil rights complaint, which includes graphic video exhibits showing how McLemore, naked the entire time, was treated while locked up.
He died weighing about 153 pounds.
"Jailers immediately placed Josh in a small, windowless, padded isolation cell, where he remained confined, naked, alone, and in a constant state of psychosis for the next 20 days," according to the suit filed in the Southern District of Indiana New Albany Division.
Still, the complaint says McLemore received no medical help and little assistance from jailers, jail leaders and the county sheriff, Rick Meyer — all of whom, the complaint says, knew about his condition, which withered mentally and physically during the 20 days.
In addition to Meyer, others named in the federal complaint were Jackson County; the jail commander, Chris Everhart; jail Sergeant Scott Ferguson; jail nurse Edward Rutan and Dr. Ronald Everson, employed by Advanced Correctional Healthcare, Inc. The Tennessee-based company, a private medical provider to correctional facilities in 22 states, is also named in the lawsuit.
The defendants who settled could not be immediately reached by Newsweek for comment about the settlement.
The settlement involves only the county, Meyer, Everhart, Ferguson and Rutan. Action against the company and the doctor continues.
Soon after the suit was filed, Newsweek received the following comments from Jessica Young, president and chief executive at the medical company, which was founded in 2002:
"We take criticisms of the care provided by our team seriously," Young wrote. "We are prohibited from disclosing patient information due to federal HIPAA privacy and confidentiality laws...ACH manages contracts to care for over 34,685 patients in more than 370 correctional facilities...ACH's family of businesses retain 74% of full-time employees. ACH is proud to have a 95% client retention rate. ACH has a reputation for solving problems by doing the right thing the first time. In the last year, at least 52 patient lives have been saved."
During the rare instances McLemore was let out of his cell — four times total over the 20-day stretch, despite Indiana law requiring an hour out of solitary each day — he was put in a restraining jacket and a restraint chair to shower so other inmates could mop up his urine, feces and the food he mixed in, the federal complaint says.
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The county jail footage was obtained by the Seattle law firm Budge & Heipt, which filed the suit.
When he was seen medically on August 8, 2021, he was first taken to a regional hospital which didn't have the resources to handle his case. So McLemore was airlifted to Mercy West Hospital in Cincinnati, where he was admitted August 9, 2021, but died two days later of acute dehydration and starvation, the complaint states. The primary cause of death was "multiple organ failure due to refusal to eat or drink with altered mental status due to untreated schizophrenia," according to the autopsy, which listed the manner of death as natural.
At the time, then-Jackson County Prosecuting Attorney Jeffrey Chalfant put the blame on the jail, saying his review of a state police investigation into McLemore's death revealed "Mr. McLemore most likely died due to a prolonged lack of attention by Jackson County Jail staff as a group."
But in his June 2022 findings, Chalfant indicated there was not enough evidence to charge specific employees, saying the investigation did not indicate he was knowingly or intentionally killed or died because of a reckless act.
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McLemore's death mirrors that of Larry Eugene Price, Jr., who also died of dehydration and starvation, in the Sebastian County Adult Detention center in Fort Smith, Arkansas, just weeks apart.
Newsweek chronicled Price's death in January. Price, according to a lawsuit filed on behalf of his estate, suffered from schizophrenia and bipolar disorder like McLemore. Price died over a year and 10 days in an isolated jail cell, allegedly neglected by jail staff and private medical personnel contracted to provide care at the jail. Jail, autopsy and EMS records showed Price dropped from 185 pounds to 90. A federal lawsuit is pending.
McLemore grew up in Gulfport and Long Beach, Mississippi, graduated from Long Beach High School and attended Mississippi State University. He had struggled with drugs and his mental health while in high school. He was later diagnosed with schizophrenia.
The Jackson County Sheriff's Department has since hired a mental health nurse "to identify those subjects struggling with a serious mental health condition as quickly as possible so that they may receive appropriate care," said a statement from Brian Thompson, president of the Jackson County Council.
The council maintains law enforcement liability coverage through its insurance carrier, the statement said. It also said the sheriff's department, which runs the jail, "refined the Fit for Confinement policy to evaluate detainees more closely" before they are held.
Attorney Hank Balson of Budge & Heipt characterized the settlement as an acknowledgment of the suffering McLemore endured.
"A settlement of this size cannot be ignored or dismissed," he said. "It reminds jailers that the people in their custody are sons and daughters, nieces and nephews, siblings and friends. They are not throw-away people."
Asked whether the settlement offers justice to McLemore or his family, Balson said, "This is one form of accountability. It doesn't undo the harm and it doesn't make things right, but it holds Jackson County accountable for what it allowed to happen in its jail, and hopefully causes the people responsible for the jail's operations to do what's necessary to make sure it never happens again."
Eric Ferkenhoff can be reached at e.ferkenhoff@newsweek.com. Follow him @EricFerk
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