JACKSON CO. – The estate of 29-year-old Joshua McLemore, who starved to death in the Jackson County Jail, 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 was arrested in Jackson County on July 20, 2021. He was deceased three weeks later, and his family filed a federal lawsuit against the Jackson County Jail and other officials on Tuesday, April 12, 2023, for failing to provide McLemore with adequate treatment for his mental illness.
The family says that for 20 days, McLemore, who suffered from schizophrenia, was locked naked in a small, windowless isolation cell before his death. He was in a state of psychosis, didn’t sleep, and spent hours staring into space, screaming, laughing, talking, gesticulating, and was often covered in his waste. According to the lawsuit, he didn’t eat or drink and would nibble on the Styrofoam boxes his food came in.
During the rare instances McLemore was let out of his cell — four times total over the 20 days, 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.
By August 8, 2021, after 20 days of confinement, McLemore had lost almost 45 pounds and was severely emaciated. On that day, the jail staff called an ambulance. McLemore died two days later of multiple organ failure at Mercy West Hospital on August 10, 2021. He died weighing about 153 pounds.
According to the lawsuit, his condition “deteriorated in plain view of jail officials and security cameras,” and jailers were “deliberately indifferent” to McLemore’s wellbeing, keeping him in solitary confinement 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
McLemore was arrested at his apartment after a request from his mother to check on his wellbeing. The apartment manager found McLemore 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.
In addition to Sheriff Rick 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 settlement involves only the county, Meyer, Everhart, Ferguson, and Rutan. Action against the company and the doctor continues.
Attorney Hank Balsom, who is representing McLemore’s mother, said, “No one deserves to be treated like that, and nobody deserves to be ignored when they’re suffering in that kind of condition. The death of Joshua leaves serious, serious questions about what occurred during his confinement at the Jackson County Jail, and we intend to get to the bottom of it.”
Jackson County Prosecutor Jeff Chalfant released his findings following the review of a nine-month investigation by detectives with the Indiana State Police-Versailles Post into the death of McLemore in June 2022.
While the Jackson County Prosecutor agreed with the Indiana State Police that McLemore likely died due to a prolonged lack of attention by jail staff, no one was charged in connection with his death.
