Fergus Falls, MN – On Friday (December 6th), the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota (ACLU) and pro bono co-counsel Norton Rose Fulbright filed a federal lawsuit against the Otter Tail County Detention Facility and multiple individual officials on behalf of former inmate Ramsey Kettle.
The lawsuit follows an investigation by the Department of Corrections (DOC) into mistreatment of Kettle that was reported back in March of this year.
According to court documents, Kettle claims that multiple corrections officers, including two acting Sergeants, placed him in segregation for “outstanding disciplinary time” without accommodating for his documented mental health illnesses, refusing to give him his personal medical paperwork and giving him another detainee’s files, withheld food, water, opportunities to shower, or exercise for almost 52 hours while he was being held in a cell covered in his own fecal matter, which is a biohazard. The lawsuit also claims that the Acting Jail Administrator directed the officers to withhold the meals as a punishment and leave the cell covered in biohazard.
The suit also claims that senior officials of the jail were aware of the incident and attempted to cover it up, before an anonymous whistleblower made the DOC aware of the incident, sparking an investigation that led to the facility being placed on conditional status for just under a month.
“We must never allow ourselves to be fooled into judging whether we are living up to our constitutional promises by evaluating how we treat those with the most rights and privileges. Our constitution is tested by how we treat those on the margins, with the fewest rights, when no one is looking. And this was a total failure for which Otter Tail County and its officers must be held accountable,” said ACLU-MN Staff Attorney Catherine Ahlin-Halverson. “No one – no matter what brings them to be housed in a county jail or other carceral facility – deserves to be deprived of the most basic of our human needs.”
“It is an honor and privilege to represent Mr. Kettle as we seek to hold accountable those responsible for such egregious wrongdoing,” said Norton Rose Fulbright’s Andy Crowder. “Withholding food and water from a helpless detainee as punishment is something you read about in stories, not something you’d imagine occurs in a civilized society in the 21st Century. This case is about restoring dignity to a man who, although he was housed in a cell—for crimes that were later dropped, I might add—was no less a human being than any other. This case is about showing that such brutish tactics will not be tolerated.”
When reached out to for a statement, a representative for Otter Tail County said the county cannot comment on pending litigation.
Kettle is suing for punitive and exemplary damages as well as attorneys’ fees and costs.
Click here to read the lawsuit and ACLU’s full statement.
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