Farmer’s family said his death would have never happened if the jail had stricter precautions. (Submitted by family of Jack Farmer)
Indiana State Police have released the findings of an investigation into the death of a Bloomington man held in the Greene County Jail.
Guards found Jack “Jay” Farmer Jr. asphyxiated in the “I” pod in July. His family said staff failed to prevent the death.
Here’s what we learned from the Indiana State Police investigation, which was released Sept. 5.
Farmer was arrested on July 7, according to public court documents. On July 23, Farmer hanged himself with a telephone cord in the “I” pod of the jail, according to the state police.
Read more: Family urges protocol change after Greene County inmate dies
The following is the incident narrative from Detective Matt Hatchett.
“At this time Farmer was participating in his daily recreational time, which is conducted in a solitary setting due to recent mental health complications. Farmer had successfully cut the end of his finger off approximately one week prior to this incident, by repeatedly slamming it in his cell's bathroom door. Since that incident occurred Sheriff George Dallaire had a mental health screening completed by Quality Correctional Care (QCC) on July 17th, 2023. The Sheriff's Office was required to give Farmer recreational time. During that recreational time, Farmer is monitored via camera. At approximately 5:30 PM, Farmer is seen in the camera footage, utilizing a phone cord to choke himself effectively. In the video Farmer is wearing a blanket which he's using to cover the phone cord, in what appears to be a method to prevent the jail staff from seeing what he is trying to do. After wrapping the cord around his neck, Farmer appears to squat down, creating enough pressure around his neck to choke himself. In the camera footage, it takes approximately three minutes for Farmer to appear to lose consciousness. Approximately twenty minutes later Jail Officer [Adam] Adcock comes into the video and immediately pulls the cord from Farmer's neck and lays him on the floor… Based on the video's timeline it takes EMS approximately eight minutes to arrive in the jail. EMS then takes over medical care and transports Farmer to Greene County General hospital. At this time Farmer is still alive, he is then flown to Deaconess Hospital in Evansville, IN.”
Approximately a week before the suicide, Farmer was seen on video repeatedly shutting his cell’s bathroom stall door on his hand, cutting off a portion of his right pinky finger. This was confirmed by multiple interviews conducted by Detective Hatchett.
On July 17, Farmer met with two QCC employees. Nurse Aimee Otterbein, a licensed practitioner with QCC, assisted in treating Farmer’s finger injury. She said that she was able to make mental health recommendations but she did not make any for Farmer.
The second QCC employee Farmer met was Julie Ottis, Greene County’s mental health provider. This was the only time she met with Farmer. Ottis recommended he be placed on Level 2 suicide watch.
Hatchett wrote in his report that Ottis’ protocol included one hour of recreational time, which is when the suicide occurred.
According to a 1995 manual from the Department of Justice, a Level 2 suicide protocol example lists the following:
“This level will pertain to inmates who are considered at high risk for suicide. The on-call psychiatrist will have been consulted. Efforts will probably be made to have the inmate committed to a mental health facility.
“The person should be either in a ‘safe room’ or in the health clinic. Safety precautions should be observed. There may be a mattress and pillow on the floor. The person may have clothes (no belts), linen, and blankets. If the inmate verbalizes or demonstrates immediate intent to harm himself/herself, bedding should be removed and the health staff notified. The person should be checked at least every five minutes while awake and every ten minutes while asleep. He/she should have one-to-one attention when out of room, if potentially harmful objects (pencils, TV, etc.) are brought into room, or if he/she seems unusually distraught.”
Ottis said that the jail did not have to follow her recommendations but in this case they did.
Nurse Janet Mitchell told Sheriff George Dallaire to put Farmer on suicide watch, and he agreed. Mitchell is also employed by QCC, working in the jail on weekdays. She was not present for either incident, which both happened on weekends. She said Farmer should not have been allowed recreational time because he was not in a good mental state.
A statement from one officer said Farmer was alone in the “I” pod for 20 to 30 minutes before the incident occurred.
After Farmer hanged himself, footage shows that it took jail officer Adam Adcock 20 minutes to respond. Adcock earlier walked Farmer from booking to the “I” pod. He said in his statement that before he was called to check on Farmer, he was cleaning out pipes behind the “D” pod.
Officer Dylan Richardson called Adcock to check on Farmer. Richardson was working the tower shift at the time of the incident, meaning he oversaw 105 inmates. He said that on his first round, he saw nothing wrong. When he came back the second time, he noticed Farmer’s posture was odd, which is when he radioed for Adcock as well as an additional officer.
The statement did not say how much time passed between rounds.
The report said that Farmer used a blanket to cover the phone cord.
A statement from assistant jail commander Brandon Eads said blankets were not allowed. However, they had received multiple complaints from inmates that the pod was cold, so they started allowing them in the “I” pod.
Farmer’s family said his death would have never happened if the jail had stricter precautions.
“No one should ever be unsupervised if they are on a suicide watch,” Farmer’s stepmom Mary said. “He was obviously a risk and it was taken too lightly and now he is gone.”
Farmer’s sister, Tiffany, agreed. “I just feel that someone clearly did not do their job here. He was definitely failed by the system.”
Suicide is the most common unnatural cause of death in Indiana jails and prisons, according to a report from the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute.
A 2010 study from the National Institute of Corrections found that 93 percent of suicides were by method of hanging.
Greene County Attorney Marvin Abshire said there had not been an in-custody death at this jail since 2012.
Cathy Knapp contributed to this report.
