NORFOLK, Va. — The family of Philemon Vinson is seeking $34 million in damages after they say he died by suicide while he was an inmate in the Norfolk City Jail.
Several people are named in the lawsuit, including Norfolk Sheriff Joseph Baron, the sheriff's office chief of staff, in addition to a deputy and mental health employees.
On Aug. 14, 2022, court documents show Vinson was booked into the jail for failing to appear in court. A judge denied Vinson's bond.
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The lawsuit alleges Vinson willingly submitted to a mental health and suicide risk screening, which was administered in which he replied 'yes' to a question that asked if had feelings that there is nothing to look forward to or feel hopelessness/helpless."
Such a report, according to the allegations, would require urgent follow-up for suicide prevention.
But the lawsuit says the nurse and the counselor who worked with Wellpath LLC — the third-party company the jail uses for medical and mental health services — places Vinson in the jail's general population.
According to the lawsuit, the Wellpath counselor, who became the jail's director of mental health services, created a record to show Vinson denied plans of self-harm and said he would never hurt himself.
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In reality, Vinson, according to the lawsuit, never actually met with a mental health professional during his four-day stay in the jail.
The lawsuit says deputies in the jail are required to check on inmates at least once every 30 minutes. It's known as making their "rounds." The deputies are required to look inside each cell and note anything unusual. The deputies then tap their phones on an electronic receiver to send confirmation.
On the day Vinson died, the deputy assigned to his block never looked in his cell, even though he logged as doing so, according to the lawsuit. It was until nearly four hours after Vinson took his life that court records say the deputy found Vinson dead in his cell.
Randy Singer, the attorney for Jamie Vinson who is Philemon's mom and the administrator of his estate, released the following statement to News 3's Jay Greene.
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"Philemon’s death is so tragic because it could have been so easily prevented. If the Sheriff’s staff and deputies or Wellpath had provided basic mental health services or followed their own procedures or simply done rounds on detainees like they were supposed to—Philemon would still be alive today. Nothing can bring him back but his family doesn’t want anyone else to ever go through what they have endured."
The sheriff's office shared the following statement regarding the lawsuit:
While we cannot comment on the facts of this specific case due to pending litigation there are several important general facts to highlight about NSO operations:The NSO strives to ensure we are living up to our stated mission and commitments to the wellbeing of those in our care on a daily basis and we look forward to presenting the facts, as we know them, to the court.
- The Norfolk Sheriff’s Office is a value-driven organization and is committed to providing an environment of life, health, safety, and security for those in our care.
- The Norfolk City Jail is regularly inspected and certified by the National Commission on Correctional Healthcare (NCCH).
- Additionally, the Norfolk City Jail is regularly inspected and audited by the Virginia Department of Corrections and the State Board of Local and Regional Jails.
- The City of Norfolk currently spends $9.2 million annually on medical and mental health care for its inmate population at the Norfolk City Jail.
We've also reached out to Wellpath LLC requesting a statement. We're still waiting on a response.
The lawsuit involves four counts of negligent wrongful death totaling $14 million. There's around another wrongful death (Negligence, Gross Negligence & Willful and Wanton Negligence) count totaling $10 million against the sheriff and the deputy. A sixth count is for $10 million for deprivation of civil rights.
