INDIANA — Tarra Garner-Jones, a resident of Michigan City, Indiana, has filed a federal lawsuit against the Indiana Department of Corrections after prison and medical staff abandoned her mentally ill son despite multiple suicide attempts and repeated reports of intent to self-harm, resulting in his death by suicide on July 16, 2020.

Archon Garner, 29, or “Shawnie” as he was known to family and friends, was described by his family as funny, kind-hearted, and loving, especially to his young nieces. He had also battled severe mental illness since early childhood. At the time of his death, Garner was serving a five-year prison sentence for striking a staff member while receiving inpatient mental health treatment at a state psychiatric hospital.  Rather than advocate for further treatment, the State prosecuted him for battery.

Garner-Jones’ lawsuit details the repeated ways in which prison and medical staff failed to follow policy or deliver adequate mental health care to Garner in the months leading to his death, despite his multiple suicide attempts and repeated reports of suicidal intent.

In addition to IDOC staff, the lawsuit names individuals employed by Wexford of Indiana, which provides healthcare services to those incarcerated within IDOC.

“I want people to know what happened to my son and how the system failed him,” said Tarra Garner-Jones of her lawsuit. “Archon should still be alive.”

While housed in IDOC’s Intensive Residential Treatment Unit (IRT) at Pendleton Correctional Facility, Garner repeatedly experienced acute psychiatric crises and suicidality in the first half of 2020, demonstrating clear, severe indicators of an immediate need for hospitalization. During that time, Garner was shuffled on and off of suicide watch. In a matter of months, Garner made four serious attempts at suicide, including an attempted hanging, an overdose, and twice lacerating his own neck. His fifth attempt was fatal.

“There was no doubt that Archon was severely suicidal,” says Vanessa del Valle, who represents Garner-Jones in this lawsuit. “This is not a case where those in charge of Archon’s mental health care and his safety can plausibly claim ignorance of his serious mental health needs.”

Throughout his incarceration at Pendleton, Garner consistently voiced fears for his own safety and repeatedly pleaded to be transferred to another facility.  His family, worried about his health, reached out to the prison and echoed the request. 

“Had any one of these people said ‘he needs help,’ he would have been alive,” said Garner-Jones. “Not only did they turn their back on my son, they kept him away from his family when he was ill. They locked him in isolation, which only made his mental illness worse. All the things that would have helped his mental illness were taken away from him. I want to know why. Why did they do this to my son?”

After his fourth suicide attempt, where he reopened a wound in his neck from a previous suicide attempt, Garner was suddenly and inexplicably taken off suicide watch and moved back to general population. Despite Garner’s peers alerting staff that Garner was actively suicidal, he was left alone in a single-man cell and staff failed to conduct adequate checks on him.

“Prisons, correctional officers, and mental health staff are required to protect suicidal inmates, which mandates systematic and frequent safety checks”, said Guy S. DiMartino, who represents Garner-Jones in this lawsuit.

Within 48 hours of being taken off suicide watch, on the morning of July 16, 2020, Garner was found dead in his cell of suspected suicide. He was discovered lying on the floor, motionless, in pools of blood with a single gaping wound in the left side of his neck and a razor blade nearby.

“It is unacceptable that someone with Archon’s level of demonstrated, ongoing suicidal intent and planning could somehow access a razor blade in a secured prison setting,” says del Valle.

Garner’s tragic death is unfortunately not unique. In addition to Garner, at least 32 other IDOC prisoners have died by suicide since April 1, 2017, when Wexford began providing healthcare services for IDOC. In 2016, prior to the Wexford contract, there were five.

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The Roderick & Solange MacArthur Justice Center is a national, nonprofit legal organization dedicated to protecting civil rights and fighting injustice in the criminal legal system through litigation at the trial, appellate, and Supreme Court levels. www.macarthurjustice.org