Family sues Milwaukee County over jail-death of 21-year-old Brieon Green

The family of a 21-year-old Milwaukee man who died by suicide within minutes of being booked into the Milwaukee County Jail has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the county and the jail's contracted health care provider.

The lawsuit accuses Milwaukee County and Wellpath LLC of having knowledge of Brieon Green's history of suicidal ideation and mental health challenges during a stint at the County Jail two months before his death. Despite that, Green was not placed on suicide watch and instead was placed in a single cell in booking.

Green died twenty-eight minutes after was booked into the jail on June 26. The lawsuit and investigative files showed that Green strangled himself with a phone cord in his booking cell. While he was strangling himself, a correctional officer allegedly observed Green but did not alert jail staff nor did he enter Green's cell to stop him, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit also lists correctional officer Merlin H. Amaya, sheriff Deputy Gene Langley, Wellpath nurse Brittany Wysocki and the jail's Tennessee-based medical care provider, Wellpath LLC, as defendants.

The lawsuit alleges a violation of his Fourth Amendment rights and accuses the county and Wellpath of failing to provide proper staffing and training for staff. The family is demanding a jury trial.

Green's family is represented by civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who has represented the families of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and Jacob Blake. The family is also represented by B'Iovry LaMarr and the firm, Hart McLaughlin & Eldridge.

In January, Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisolm determined there was "no basis" for criminal liability in Green's jail death.

The Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office and the County Jail have been under scrutiny in recent months, following a spate of in-custody deaths and suicides, as well as critically low levels of correctional and medical staffing and dire conditions that sparked an incident of 27 men barricading themselves in the jail library.

In May, the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors approved legislation that would seek a review of the County Jail. Over the last month, the Sheriff's Office, including Milwaukee County Sheriff Denita Ball and her staff, shared information and answered questions about the jail's current situation before multiple county committees.

There have been six in-custody deaths in the last 16 months — two confirmed suicides, three ruled as natural and one still under investigation — with five occurring after Ball took over the top spot at the agency in January and also while she served as interim sheriff after former Sherriff Earnell Lucas' departure in October 2022. There were at least five deaths during Lucas's tenure, with Ball as his deputy sheriff, between 2018 and 2022.

What does the lawsuit say?

Green was illiterate and suffered cognitive and behavioral disorders that "made it difficult for him to process information and communicate," and experienced severe mental health challenges, the lawsuit says.

Laquita Dunlap, Green's mother, previously told the Journal Sentinel that her son had been formally diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder when he was younger.

Green also had a reported history of suicidal ideation, the lawsuit says. In April 2022, two months before his death, he was taken to the County Jail. While he was there, Green was placed on suicide watch between April 29 and May 1, after displaying "mental distress, confusion, and despondency," the complaint alleges. He was later released from custody.

On June 26, authorities arrested Green at Bradford Beach on misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and carrying a concealed weapon — a handgun — and three counts of felony bail jumping.

Green again began to display behaviors demonstrating "mental an/or cognitive deficits, mental distress, confusion, and despondency," attorneys said.

After his arrest Green repeatedly banged his head against the squad car cage. The authorities called for an ambulance, but Green declined medical attention and he was immediately transported to the jail.

Correctional officer Amaya escorted and observed Green's behavior and inability to communicate while in custody, including being unable to answer questions about his name and date of birth, according to the lawsuit.

Sheriff's Deputy Langley, who was a part of Green's pre-booking process, noted that Green's behavior was "out there" and "acting like he was lost. Langley interacted with Green during his time at the jail two months earlier, the lawsuit alleges.

Wysocki, a registered nurse at the jail employed by Wellpath, conducted Green's medical screening and intake, during which she observed his "bizarre, confused, and despondent behavior," according to the attorneys.

During the initial triage process, "the intake nurse did not have access to Green's classification and placement history" at the jail, according to the District Attorney's redacted letter alerting the sheriff of the findings of the investigation into Green's death.

The lawsuit also noted that the National Commission on Correctional Healthcare, which accredited the jail in 2021, said that there were concerns about the health record system and that "staff have reported on a number of occasions that the system is down too frequently."

When Wysocki asked Green if he had thoughts of self-harming, Green was not cooperatively answering the suicide risk questions. He was placed in general population without suicide watch. She did not refer him for further medical evaluation nor any other special evaluation or precaution.

Green was placed alone in a separate cell that included a bench and telephone equipped with an "elongated metal cord," which "posed a clear suicide risk," the lawsuit says.

No one checked on or spoke with Green for roughly 30 minutes, during which surveillance footage showed Green repeatedly walking up to the cell window and looking out. He repeatedly began pulling on the metal phone cord and yanking on it loudly.

Amaya was in charge of conducting cell checks during this time, according to the suit.

"Eventually, Deputy Amaya walked by Brieon’s cell to perform a visual check on him. As he walked past the cell, he looked inside it. At this moment, Brieon was using the metal phone cord to strangle himself. The act was violent and took great strength and Brieon’s legs can be seen on video shaking or moving during his tragic self-harming in the cell," the lawsuit says.

Amaya saw Green harming himself, but did nothing and continued to walk without radioing for emergency, the attorneys allege.

Another unnamed deputy later checked on Green and saw him lying with the metal phone cord around his neck. He called for help. After additional personnel arrived they performed lifesaving measures on Green.

Green died in the cell.

Criminal charges linked to previous in-custody jail deaths

Of the deaths that have occurred at the jail, a few have resulted in criminal charges.

Much like findings of Green's investigation, the suicide of 20-year-old Cilivea Thyrion, who choked to death on an adult diaper while housed in a special needs pod, did not result in any criminal charges.

Last week, the District Attorney's Office determined that no criminal conduct was committed by Sheriff’s Office in the death of 37-year-old Terrance Mack, who was found unresponsive in his cell during a medical check in March. He died by natural causes and was caused by hypertensive cardiovascular disease.

Of the six in-custody deaths in the last 16 months, there were two others — not including Mack's — that were determined as natural: 68-year-old Mohammed Afzal on June 16, who had been diagnosed with a terminal illness, and a 58-year-old man had been hospitalized "after experiencing heightened symptoms that appeared to be related to his chronic conditions."

In April, however, jail officer Laquisha N. Cowser was accused of lying about performing routine cell safety checks. She was charged in the January death of 49-year-old Octaviano Juarez-Corro. Cowser’s plea hearing scheduled for Nov. 21.

While the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office reported that Juarez-Corro’s cause of death was initially unknown, with no reported no signs of injury or trauma at the time, records later showed that there were signs of him having strangled himself.

There were four in-custody deaths reported at the jail between January 2020 and April 2021. Three of the cases were investigated as suicides, with the cause of the death for the fourth determined as acute heart failure.

Three guards involved in two of those incidents were ultimately fired or resigned.

In 2016, Terrill Thomas, who was being held at the jail after having had a psychotic episode, according to his family, was placed in a segregation unit where guards shut off his water. Six days later, Thomas died of dehydration. Several guards were criminally charged in the case. The former medical provider for the jail, Armor Correctional, was found criminally guilty for his death in October 2022.

Contact Vanessa Swales at 414-308-5881 or vswales@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @Vanessa_Swales.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Family sues Milwaukee County over jail-death of Brieon Green