Spartanburg jail failed to provide adequate care for man who died in custody, lawsuit says

A lawsuit on behalf of a man who died in-custody last year at the Spartanburg County Detention Center was filed Monday morning.

Lavell Lane, who was 29, died at the jail on Oct. 3, hours after he was arrested the previous night for walking in the middle of Chesnee Highway. The lawsuit, filed in state court against Spartanburg County and the Sheriff’s Office, alleges that Lane was subject to inhumane treatment that led to his death at the detention center and that employees failed to provide adequate medical care.

Lane’s family held a press conference Monday afternoon outside the Spartanburg County Courthouse to announce the lawsuit.

“Every morning when I wake up, I say, 'Lord, thank you for the justice for Lavell.' I thank him in advance because I know he’s gonna do it,” Andy Reese, Lavell’s father, said.

Four days before his arrest on Oct. 2, Lane was detained following a physical altercation with a patient at Spartanburg Regional Medical Center. During that time, Lane was given a dose of an anti-psychotic medication administered by jail nursing staff.

The lawsuit claims jail employees failed to research Lane’s medical history to discern whether the medication was appropriate and failed to monitor for lethal side effects associated with the drug.

Documents reviewed by The Spartanburg Herald-Journal, including an investigative summary from the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, report that Lane was under severe mental distress prior to his death.

The Spartanburg County Coroner’s Autopsy Report lists Lane’s cause of death as Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome. According to the report, NMS is associated with the use of anti-psychotic drugs and can cause death. Lane's manner of death was listed as natural.

The state Attorney General’s office issued a letter March 30 declining criminal charges related to Lane’s death.

Lavell Lane bounced between facilities days leading up to his death, documents show

Documents obtained by The Herald-Journal describe Lane in a state of mental distress while in constant rotation between the jail, hospital and an assisted living facility where he was staying.

On Sept. 28, Lane was transported to Spartanburg Regional following altercations with staff at Midway Residential Care Facility and another resident, according to an investigative report from SLED. Midway is an assisted living facility that includes housing for residents that need mental health support.

Shortly after Lane arrived at the hospital, around 3:40 p.m., he struck another patient in the face. A physician then administered an atypical antipsychotic medication. The name of the drug administered is redacted from the investigation.

At 10:48 p.m., Lane was discharged and arrested for an assault and battery charge related to the incident at the hospital. Overnight, Lane was physically combative with another inmate in the booking area of the jail and was pepper-sprayed by jail staff, according to SLED’s report.

An incident report from the Sheriff’s Office states that a little after 1 a.m. on Sept. 29 an officer heard Lane banging his head on his cell door. After Lane refused to comply with relocating to a padded cell, the officer pepper-sprayed Lane in the face. When Lane attempted to rinse his eyes using water from the toilet bowl, the officer sprayed the bowl, the report says.

Around 8:40 a.m. on Sept. 29, nursing staff at the jail administered two injections of aripiprazole lauroxil, an anti-psychotic medication used to treat schizophrenia, an incident report says. The doses administered were 675 mg of fast-release and 1064 mg of slow-release, according to the coroner's report.

According to the coroner’s report, risk of NMS is increased with recent or rapid doses of neuroleptic medications and when the medication is not administered by mouth.

Lane was discharged after the medication was given, according to SLED’s report.

Lane's decline while detained at Spartanburg jail

On Oct. 2, Lane was detained again around 8:30 p.m., this time for walking in the middle of Chesnee Highway. According to an incident report by the arresting officer, Lane initially ran but surrendered himself “because he was scared.”

According to the SLED report, the officer thought Lane was under the influence of a narcotic. However, the toxicology report reviewed by the Herald-Journal found Lane was only positive for chlorpromazine and aripiprazole. The coroner’s report states he was recently treated with chlorpromazine for schizoaffective, bipolar type disorder according to medical records.

After Lane was booked into the jail, he began to exhibit “paranoid behavior with possible hallucinations or delusional thinking,” the coroner’s report said.

Shortly after 11 p.m. Lane was discovered banging his head against the wall of his cell. He resisted transport to a padded holding cell and was tased by officers. Once in the padded cell he was placed in a safety smock, which he later removed, according to SLED.

While Lane was in the padded cell, he was observed sweating profusely and breathing heavily, while “visibly agitated and striking out at the air and walls.”

After 1:18 a.m. on Oct. 3, the coroner’s report describes Lane as mostly motionless on the floor of his cell. Before movement ceased completely, Lane underwent “possible seizure-like activity.” Lane’s last movement according to SLED’s report occurred around 2:53 a.m.

SLED’s investigation noted Lane was found unresponsive at 4:45 a.m. by a deputy during breakfast rounds. CPR was performed on Lane and EMS was called. Lane was declared dead at the scene.

The lawsuit alleges that Lane’s medical condition required constant supervision and transfer for emergency care, and that defendants did not provide Lane with a basic level of care.

According to the coroner’s report, NMS can occur at any time during the use of neuroleptic medications but is most common within the first two weeks of starting a medication.

Stopping medication immediately is recommended treatment for NMS, but the report notes that can be difficult when slow-release medication is administered.

Lawsuit claims Lane’s death part of a broader problem at Spartanburg jail

Lane’s death in October was one of five inmate deaths at the Spartanburg Detention Center in 2022. The jail had the most deaths of any county in South Carolina from 2015 to 2021, according to a report by Incarceration Transparency. Three individuals have died in-custody so far this year.

According to the Incarceration Transparency report, of the 18 deaths documented at the detention center from 2015 to 2021, nine were reported as deaths by medical illness, while four were reported as suicides and one was determined accidental. Four other deaths over that timeframe were classified as unknown. Data provided by the coroner from 2022 lists three in-custody deaths from the facility as natural, one as a suicide and one as accidental.

“Someone needs to be held accountable for it,” Dr. Candace Brewer of the Racial Justice Network said on Monday. “Too many deaths, too many bodies, too many people that once they're a resident are already granted a death sentence, because they're walking in that jail and they're being carried out in a body bag.”

The lawsuit alleges the jail failed to provide appropriate medical care as statutorily required by the Minimum Standards for Local Detention Centers in the state.

According to the minimum standards, detention facilities are required to have a “written agreement or arrangement” with a licensed physician or medical authority. The lawsuit claims the jail has a well-known history of providing substandard medical treatment and that medical personnel providing such care should have been investigated and terminated prior to Lane’s death.

The standards also require screening policies for jails to record evaluations for health problems, medication requirements and specific assessments to provide appropriate housing of “mentally disordered inmates.”

Further, the standards state that any person who appears severely injured or ill, “or who is in a stupor or a coma, even though the apparent cause may be intoxication” is required to be examined by a qualified medical practitioner before admission. If cleared for admission, these inmates are required to have a necessary level of observation recommended by the medical staff.

Detention centers that fail to meet the minimum standards are at risk of being shut down by the state Department of Corrections.

Lavell Lane Civil Complaint by USA TODAY Network on Scribd

On Monday, local advocates and Lane’s family repeated criticism of Spartanburg County Sheriff, Chuck Wright, in how deaths in-custody have been handled at the detention center and alleged lack of transparency from the sheriff’s office.

“I’m very sorry they lost their family. It was not our fault, and the reports and all the evidence have proven that it’s not our fault,” Wright said Monday afternoon over the phone with the Herald-Journal.

Wright deferred any further comment to the County Attorney’s office.

Christopher Pracht, an attorney representing Lane’s family, dismissed the notion that the Attorney General’s letter absolves the sheriff's office of any wrongdoing regarding Lane’s death.

“Part of the problem here, there's no curiosity by Sheriff Wright to say, 'Wait a second, why are these people dying in my jail?’” Pracht said. “’What can I do, as Sheriff of Spartanburg County, to stop this immediately? What steps do I need to take?' Rather, it's just deflection and defensiveness.”

Pracht said he plans to subpoena SLED and the Attorney General’s office for the full footage of Lane’s stay at the detention center between Oct. 2-3. The footage is around five hours long, Pracht said.

Family members said they were offered the opportunity to see a selected amount of footage. However, at the press conference Monday, Lavell’s mother, Beverly Lane-Reese, said she had no interest in viewing an edited version.

“I want to see the full video. I don't want to see your little snippets that you want me to see,” Lane-Reese said.

Chalmers Rogland covers public safety and breaking news for the Herald-Journal. Reach him via email at crogland@shj.com

This article originally appeared on Herald-Journal: Lawsuit: Substandard care led to man's death in Spartanburg jail