By Eric Scicchitano
The News-Item
WILLIAMSPORT — A blanket hung over the cell door of Cyrus Lewis for one full hour at Northumberland County Prison before an inmate, on orders from a corrections officer, peered behind it to find that the Shamokin man had hanged himself, according to a federal lawsuit.
The civil rights action filed Thursday on behalf of Hope Lewis, of Shamokin, claims prison administrators and staff were deliberately indifferent when supervising her 34-year-old husband following his June arrest. The lawsuit claims a due process violation and wrongful death. Unspecified compensatory damages are sought.
It’s the fourth federal lawsuit filed against the prison this year.
Named as defendants are
Northumberland County and its prison board members, former Warden Roy Johnson, Commander Brian Wheary, the acting warden, Sgt. Jason Greek and a corrections officer identified only as “Jen.”
According to the lawsuit, Lewis was not placed on suicide watch or jailed in a suicide cell following intake June 10. He allegedly told staff and inmates he was in withdrawal and feeling suicidal. His cell was not checked intermittently leading up to his death. He was not given security smocks or blankets designed to prevent hanging.
Prison policy calls for enhanced supervision - constant supervision, 15 minute cell checks and 30 minute cell checks - for inmates believed to be at risk or in withdrawal. Those inmates would be provided security smocks and blankets.
Instead, Lewis received standard bedding and clothing, the suit claims. He wrapped a bedsheet around his neck on June 15 and tied the other end to a windowsill. He was pronounced dead at Sunbury Community Hospital.
Some of the claims contradict what former warden Roy Johnson told the media in the days after the suicide. Johnson cited federal privacy regulations when declining to say what suicide prevention measures were in place for Lewis. He did, however, say he was on 30-minute cell checks.
Johnson said 27 minutes elapsed between the last time Lewis was observed alive and when he was discovered by a corrections officer. At the time, he said he didn’t expect prison policy to change as a result of the death. Already facing criticism from some prison board members over other issues, Johnson came under further fire in the wake of Lewis’ death, and was fired in August.
The lawsuit tells a different story. Both “Jen” and Greek were allegedly aware of Lewis’ suicidal thoughts. It claims Lewis was behind the cell door for one hour without checks, and that a blanket covered the door’s window. Rather than checking the cell, “Corrections Officer Jen” allegedly sent an inmate to check the cell. It’s a practice she’d done for other “watched” inmates up to five times in the three weeks leading up to the suicide, according to the lawsuit.
“Jen looked dumbfounded” as the inmate screamed for help for Lewis, the lawsuit claims, and allegedly asked him “What do I do?” as other corrections officers worked to administer CPR.
Tim Bowers, attorney for Hope Lewis, said Thursday that corrections officers don’t wear ID tags. Identification is often an issue when exploring inmate claims, he said. He said “Jen’s” full name will come through requests for discovery evidence.
“We think that’s part of the problem when holding people accountable,” Bowers said.
A Paxinos man, Andrew Beers, committed suicide in August 2013. The lawsuit says the defendants were indifferent in that case, too, and that nothing changed as a result.