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Jackson County settles with McLemore estate for $7.5 million

By Patrick Beane

Posted December 6, 2023

Joshua McLemore is seen restrained in his cell at the Jackson County Jail in July of 2021. (Budge & Heipt, PLLC)

Jackson County paid the estate of Josh McLemore $7.5 million to settle a civil lawsuit brought after McLemore died at the Jackson County Jail in 2021, according to a press release from the firm representing the estate.

The firm of Budge & Heipt said the settlement, announced in September, was the largest legal settlement for the wrongful death of an incarcerated person in Indiana.

According to court documents, the 29-year-old McLemore “died from the results of dehydration and malnutrition after spending 20 days in solitary confinement at the Jackson County Jail.”

The lawsuit alleged that McLemore was suffering a psychotic episode when he was arrested the previous month at the Schneck Medical Center in Seymour for pulling a nurse’s hair.

McLemore was taken to an isolated cell at the county Jail. Over the next 20 days, he rarely ate, losing 45 pounds, and slept a total of about 15 hours. By the time he was transported back to the medical center Aug. 8, he was too weak to lift his own body. He was airlifted to Mercy West Hospital in Cincinnati, where he died.

The autopsy listed the immediate cause of death as “multiple organ failure due to refusal to eat or drink with altered mental status due to schizophrenia.”

Jail surveillance video obtained by the law firm showed McLemore to be in a “state of active psychosis for the entire duration of his detention, naked, staring into space, playing with his food, rolling on the floor in his own feces and urine, chewing Styrofoam, blurting out nonsense and gibberish, and displaying other erratic behaviors,” according to court documents.

(Story continues below)

McLemore.Press.Release.Dec.... by Indiana Public Media News

The lawsuit alleged the jail staff, including Jackson County sheriff Rick Meyer, knew about McLemore’s mental state and behavior, but never called in a doctor or mental health professional to examine him during his time at the jail.

“The size of the settlement reflects the egregiousness of the jail’s mistreatment of Josh,” said Ed Budge, an attorney for McLemore’s estate, in a press release. “The video we obtained shows a young man in severe mental and physical distress, with no ability to care for himself, being ignored by the people responsible for his safety and wellbeing. The video reveals a level of indifference and inhumanity that should never be tolerated in a modern jail.”

Investigations conducted by the Indiana State Police and reviewed by Jackson County Prosecutor Jeff Chalfant resulted in no criminal charges being filed in the case, although Chalfant concluded that, “Mr. McLemore most likely died due to a prolonged lack of attention by Jackson County Jail staff as a group.”

“More than anything, I want this to be a wake-up call to Jackson County and every other jail," Melita Ladner, McLemore’s aunt and only surviving close relative, said. "No other person should be made to suffer as Josh did, and I hope other families will be spared from similar pain."

McLemore was the second inmate to die at the Jackson County Jail in summer 2021. Ta’Neasha Chappell died on July 16 after falling ill while in custody. Chappell’s family also filed suit against the jail, but that case remains unsettled.

Budge said while the suit against the jail had been settled, litigation against Advanced Correctional Healthcare, Inc., the private jail healthcare company contracted to provide medical care to inmates, remains ongoing.

Mclemore 1 by Indiana Public Media News