Deschutes paid $145K to settle two jail abuse, neglect claims

As the Oregon Department of Justice investigates the death of an inmate at the Deschutes County Jail, the sheriff’s office faces a multimillion dollar lawsuit from the family of Edwin Mays, who died behind bars from a methamphetamine overdose in December.

If the sheriff’s office pays up, it won’t be the first time in recent years.

A NewsChannel 21 investigation has found Deschutes County and taxpayers have paid $145,000 to two individuals in the past year to settle jail abuse and neglect lawsuits. Two other lawsuits are pending, while three claims have been dismissed over the past five years.

According to documents obtained by KTVZ following a public records request, the jail settled with former inmate Michael Cason on March 4th for $105,000. Cason was arrested and booked into the jail on DUII charges on Sept. 16th 2011. He filed his lawsuit in September 2013.

In his lawsuit, Cason claims deputies assaulted him when he refused to sign a medical form that stated he was in good health. The filing states Cason decided to instead write on the form that he was disabled.

The narrative goes on say that Cason’s actions made deputies angry and Cason ended up slamming the pen he was using on the counter.

Cason claimed Deputy Benjamin Smith lunged at him, picked him up by the throat and slammed him head-first into a wall. The lawsuit alleged deputies again slammed Cason’s head into the closed door of a jail cell.

Lawsuit reports claimed jail staff allege Cason threw his pen at a deputy.

Cason claimed he suffered injuries to his neck, back and shoulder during the attack.

Read the full complaint here:

NewsChannel 21 has a copy of video from this incident and will be showing portions of it in Thursday night’s newscasts.

KTVZ has reached out to the sheriff’s office several times for comment on this case. Legal officials told NewsChannel 21 Wednesday that the sheriff’s office denies all charges in the claim. They have agreed to share their side of the story Thursday.

Cason sent NewsChannel 21 a statement where he quoted South African civil rights activist Desmond Tutu: “To treat anyone as if they were less than human, less than a brother or a sister, no matter what they have done, is to contravene the very laws of our humanity.”

In another settlement reached last year, the sheriff’s office paid former inmate Wade Reynvaan $40,000.

St. Charles also paid Reynvaan $40,000 — making his total settlement $80,000.

Reynvaan alleges the jail neglected him while he was having a stroke, waiting hours to take him to the hospital.

Reynvaan also sued St. Charles Bend, claiming the hospital failed to diagnose him as having had a stroke and sent him back to the jail. The records show it was two days before Reynvaan was taken back to the hospital.

In the lawsuit, he claimed he suffered permanent brain damage and disfigurement.

Read his full claim here:

Records show the sheriff’s office denied all allegations in that claim as well.

An ongoing claim filed against the jail by Scott Wilson in February 2014 alleges the deputies refused to provide him medical treatment for his broken jaw, causing him permanent damage to his jaw, mouth and teeth.

Legal counsel for the jail declined to comment on that case, citing the pending lawsuit.

Another pending suit against the jail was filed by Darren Webster in February, who is suing on Fourth and Eighth Amendment rights violations.

NewsChannel 21 learned that lawsuits against the county, settled in or out of court, are paid for by the county’s risk-management funds if the claims are less than $1 million. Settled claims between $1 million and $10 million are paid through a liability policy. The county is self-insured and charges each county department fees that are pooled into the risk management fund.

Here’s some background on the Edwin Mays case:

The Oregon Department of Justice said Tuesday that it has agreed to review the death of an inmate last December at the Deschutes County Jail in Bend, as requested by District Attorney John Hummel.

Hummel made that request last week in the case of of Edwin Mays, an inmate who died Dec. 14 of a methamphetamine overdose, according to an autopsy by the state medical examiner.

Hummel said he asked the department to take the case after he reviewed the investigation and jail security video of the incident, deciding it was in the best interest of the community for an outside opinion.

Video from the jail shows deputies laughing and mimicking Mays as he overdosed in a booking cell. On the video, jail staff can be heard commenting that Mays probably needed to go to the hospital, several hours before he died.

The Mays family is suing the sheriff’s office for wrongful death in state court and also plans to do so in federal court, once the state Department of Justice completes its investigation.