Family of inmate who died in jail plans suit

A Seattle civil rights law firm filed an $8.5 million tort claim against Garfield County on behalf of the family of Kyle L. Lara, a 36-year-old man who died after he hung himself while awaiting trial at the Garfield County Jail.

The claim, which is a precursor to a lawsuit, alleges that “Garfield County housed Kyle in the basement of a courthouse built in 1901 — in dungeon-like conditions of confinement that are intolerable in any civilized society.”

Further, the claim asserts Lara had been dead “for over 18 hours” by the time he was found, and that the jail staff twice served food to Lara’s “corpse.” The in-custody death was discovered on April 14, 2022.

“Instead of checking on Mr. Lara, jail staff ‘jamm(ed) the food into the hole in the door on top of the untouched breakfast,’ ” said attorney Ryan Dreveskracht, of the Galanda Broadman firm.

The claim further alleges the jail is not staffed by trained corrections officers but instead is “supposedly monitored” by civilian (noncommissioned) dispatch officers.

The dispatch officers are often working alone and are responsible for answering all 911 calls; dispatching law enforcement, emergency medical and fire department personnel; entering warrants and protection orders; and serving as de facto corrections personnel by monitoring and attending to inmates, according to the claim.

“These dispatch officers are tasked with things way beyond what they are trained to do,” Dreveskracht said in a news release issued Thursday. “They can’t do their jobs as dispatchers and adequately monitor and take care of inmates at the same time — that’s what correctional officers and correctional medical professionals are for.”

Dreveskracht is also a board member on the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission, the state agency responsible for establishing standards and processes for certification, suspension and decertification of corrections officers, according to the news release.

“Under the law, all pre-trial detainees have a right to direct-view safety checks. That doesn’t happen at the Garfield County Jail and Kyle Lara died as a result,” he said.

Beyond the alleged improper monitoring, the conditions of Lara’s confinement also contributed to his death, according to the claim. Lara was placed into a solitary confinement cell because he was deemed a “special management inmate” due, in part, to expressing suicidal ideation at intake — a situation that the claim likens to “throwing gasoline on a fire: extremely dangerous.”

Lara died in a cell that is supposed to be monitored by the Garfield County dispatchers via video. According to a Washington State Patrol investigative report, Lara was the lone occupant in an isolated “female” cell “due to fighting with other inmates.”

His exact cause of death and “suicide images” were redacted from the WSP report provided to the Lewiston Tribune last year, but a suicide note was found in the cell, and the report noted the shower area was not monitored via video by dispatchers because of privacy reasons.

On Thursday, Garfield County Commission Chairman Justin Dixon said the tort claim has been received on behalf of the estate of Lara and his family members, “arising out of his unfortunate death at the Garfield County Jail.”

“Because of the threatened litigation, we will not comment on the tort claim or the underlying facts giving rise to the tort claim,” Dixon said, “other than to allow us to express our condolences to Mr. Lara’s family for their loss.”

At the time of the suicide, Lara was being held on a $50,000 bond and facing felony charges of second-degree assault (strangulation) and unlawful imprisonment, according to court records.

The charges were filed last year by Prosecutor Matt Newberg on March 24 and formally dismissed April 18 in Garfield County Superior Court, following Lara’s death.

After the inmate’s body was discovered, Sheriff Drew Hyer contacted the Washington State Patrol to investigate, along with a deputy coroner from Asotin County.

No criminal charges were recommended after the state’s investigation.

David Lara, the father of the inmate, said the death should never have been allowed to happen.

“As a parent to a young man with addiction issues, sometimes I prayed that my son would get picked up because he is ‘safer’ in jail than on the streets. I trusted the system. I trusted that the government would abide by the law and provide reasonable care to my son. My trust has been betrayed. Now, all I can hope for is some semblance of accountability,” said David Lara in the news release distributed by the Galanda Broadman firm. “Kyle had problems, don’t we all, but he was still a person; a father, and a son,” she said in the news release. “He still deserved to be treated with dignity and respect. And he didn’t get either. The county served two meals to his dead body. How am I going to tell his daughter that? How am I going to explain to her that this is why she doesn’t have a daddy?”

Sandaine can be reached at kerris@lmtribune.com.