Yoemans v. Campbell
| Decision Date | 18 November 2020 |
| Docket Number | Civil Action No. 19-cv-00249-RBJ |
| Citation | 501 F.Supp.3d 1034 |
| Parties | The ESTATE OF Kyle Christopher YOEMANS, BY AND THROUGH its putative personal representative Aimee ISHMAEL, and Aimee Ishmael, individually, Plaintiffs, v. Christopher CAMPBELL, individually, Michael McIntosh, individually, Richard Reigenborn, in his official capacity as Sheriff of Adams County, and The Board of County Commissioners of County of Adams, Colorado, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Colorado |
Jeffrey S. Pagliuca, Haddon Morgan & Foreman, P.C., David George Maxted, Maxted Law LLC, Denver, CO, for Plaintiffs.
Heidi M. Miller, Kerri Ann Booth, Adams County Attorney's Office, Brighton, CO, for Defendants.
This matter is before the Court on defendants’ motion for summary judgment. ECF No. 88. For the reasons outlined below, defendants’ motion is DENIED.
This is a case where immeasurable tragedy meets us at every turn. The following facts are not in dispute. On February 7, 2017 Che Bachicha, an inmate at the Adams County Detention Facility ("ACDF"), murdered his cellmate, twenty-six-year-old Kyle Yoemans. Mr. Bachicha suffered from both bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. ECF No. 91-4 at 4. Mr. Yoemans’ mother, Aimee Ishmael, and Mr. Yoemans’ estate ("plaintiffs") have filed suit against ACDF employee Christopher Campbell, and former Sheriff Michael McIntosh, in their individual capacities; current Sheriff Richard Reigenborn in his official capacity; and the Adams County Board of County Commissioners ("defendants"). ECF No. 61.
Plaintiffs claim that defendant Campbell violated Mr. Yoemans’ Fourteenth Amendment due process rights when he classified Mr. Bachicha as a maximum-security inmate and cleared him to have a cellmate. Plaintiffs next claim that then-Sheriff McIntosh's management actions—and inactions—caused Mr. Yoemans’ death. Finally, plaintiffs allege Monell liability against defendants Reigenborn and the Adam County Board of County Commissioners ("county defendants"). Although Mr. Yoemans was murdered on February 7, 2017, there are several months—and in some cases years—of events that must be discussed to fully contextualize plaintiffs’ claims.
On June 6, 2016 police were dispatched to 580 East 116th Avenue, North Glenn, CO in response to a suspected shooting. ECF No. 88-5 at 7. A man—later confirmed to be Mr. Yoemans—left the shooting location on a motorcycle at a high rate of speed. Id. at 8. Officers pursued the motorcyclist, and a chase ensued. Id. Mr. Yoemans eventually crashed into a raised curb on a highway exit ramp. Id. at 8. His motorcycle was broken in half and he was ejected into traffic, where he was hit by an oncoming car. Id. at 9. Mr. Yoemans was severely injured. He suffered a traumatic brain injury, and doctors placed him on a ventilator. Id. at 9. He was unable to talk when investigating officers arrived at the hospital. Id.
Mr. Yoemans spent three months in the hospital. He was finally cleared to be transferred to ACDF to await trial on September 23, 2016. ECF No. 91 at 4. On December 15, 2016 Mr. Yoemans was transferred to the Colorado Mental Health Institute in Pueblo to undergo a competency evaluation. Id. On January 30, 2017 Mr. Yoemans was transferred back to ACDF. Id. at 5. Upon returning to ACDF Mr. Yoemans was placed in general population and assigned to cell B-231, the same cell as Che Bachicha. Id.
On January 22, 2017 police were dispatched to 1075 North Pond Drive in Adams County, Colorado due to a suspected stabbing. Upon arriving at the scene, police learned that Mr. Bachicha, his mother, and his stepfather were all sitting in the living room together waiting for a football game to start. ECF No. 91-4 at 4. Mr. Bachicha left the room and went downstairs for a few minutes and came back with a homemade shank made out of a serrated steak knife with an approximately five-inch blade. Id. at 4. Seemingly unprompted, he stood over his stepfather and began repeatedly stabbing him in the neck. Id. He did not stop until his mother pleaded with him to give her the knife. Id.
When police arrived on scene, Mr. Bachicha's mother told them that her son had been acting strange and paranoid during the week leading up to the stabbing. Id. She also informed officers that Mr. Bachicha had previously been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. Id. Mr. Bachicha had not taken his prescribed medication for these disorders for months. Id. Mr. Bachicha was arrested for attempted murder based on this stabbing. Id.
At the time of Mr. Yoemans’ death, the ACDF did not have a separate mental health unit within the facility. Instead, inmates who had been diagnosed with mental health disorders—or who were on suicide or homicide watch—were housed in the jail's infirmary aside patients dealing with physical ailments and infectious diseases. ECF No. 91-7 at 82. There were only five mental health cells in that mixed-use facility. Id. at 83. In 2012 Susan Argo, the Support Services Manager in the Adams County Sheriff's Office's jail division, began noticing that more and more people with mental health conditions and disorders were being brought to the jail. ECF No. 91-13 at 32. Around that time the Sheriff's Office—under then-Sheriff Doug Darr—requested a budget increase for the purpose of building a separate mental health unit within the facility. Id. at 50. The Board of County Commissioners initially rejected that budget request. Id. The budget request was not approved until 2015—three years after the Sheriff's office initial request. Id.
At all times relevant to this case the Adams County Sheriff's Office contracted with two separate companies to provide medical services to the facility's inmates. Wellpath LLC provided inmates with medical care for their physical health. ECF No. 88-1 at 4. Wellpath LLC was also responsible for doing an initial medical screening as inmates came into the jail. ECF No. 91-12 at 32. Community Reach Center ("CRC") provided medical care for inmates’ mental health. ECF No. 88-1 at 4. Because different providers were responsible for the inmates’ physical and mental health, some infirmary employees reported communication breakdowns. Wellpath employees only had limited, if any, access to CRC mental health records. ECF No. 91-14 at 31; ECF No. 88-2 at 4. Entries by therapists and those who were not psychiatrists were not available to Wellpath LLC's employees. ECF No. 91-14 at 31.
In March 2015 the Adams County Sheriff's Office contracted with Matrix Consulting Group to provide them with a report on the staffing requirements of the jail division. See ECF No. 91-14. Matrix Consulting issued a 109-page report and made significant findings as to the adequacy of ACDF's staffing within the jail division. Id. The report provided both conclusions and recommendations. In reaching these, the consulting group did the following: interviewed county management staff and political leadership; interviewed the jail's managerial, supervisory, and line staff; toured the jail facility; collected and reviewed data from a wide range of sources; and reviewed key documents including program budgets, operating policies, and staffing documents. ECF No. 91-14 at 4.
The report made several recommendations that have no bearing on this case. However, one recommendation pertinent to this case was the need to add an additional court services specialist to classifications. ECF No 91-14 at 7. Additionally, the consulting group found that 93 percent of people surveyed did not believe the jail division operated with an appropriate number of staff; 90 percent did not believe the jail had an adequate number of staff to meet the requirements of the fixed post staffing plan; 84 percent did not believe they had sufficient staff to perform their jobs safely; and 77 percent did not believe ACDF had an adequate number of staff to ensure inmate safety." ECF No. 81-14 at 30.
At all times relevant to this case ACDF classified new inmates into different custody levels and pods within the jail. According to ACDF's protocols, when a new male inmate arrived at the facility the booking deputies sent him to the jail's intake unit. ECF No. 88-3 at 1. New inmates usually remained in the intake facility for up to seventy-two hours while they awaited a more permanent housing assignment. Id. While inmates were in the intake unit, on-site jail deputies monitored the inmate's behavior and attitude. Id.
The jail's classifications unit was within the Court Services Unit. The Court Services Unit was responsible for a number of vital functions within the jail, including "classifications of inmates through use of an objective classification system, conducting pre-trial investigations of inmates, [and] performing jail review of housed inmates ...." ECF No. 88-3 at 1. Classifications specialists were primarily trained through on-the-job training—where a new hire shadowed a more senior employee—and received no mental-health-related training.
Classifications specialists interviewed incoming inmates, classified them according to the jail's classification system, and assigned them to a custody level based on each inmate's classification score. Id. Custody levels were divided into three categories: minimum, medium, and maximum security. Id. at 2. The purpose of classifying inmates was to ensure that inmates housed together had the same custody level designation. ECF No. 91-2 at 28. The jail's protocols also required the facility "to provide for the separate management of male and female inmates, special...
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