Garfield County has agreed to pay $2.5 million to the parents and young daughter of a 36-year-old man who killed himself while detained in a dungeon-like basement cell in the county courthouse and has shut down its decrepit jail.
Kyle Lara was locked in a dank basement cell in solitary confinement after being arrested for suspicion of domestic violence on March 23, 2022, and according to a claim filed this year by Lara's family, officials placed him in intolerable conditions and ignored signs that he was intent on self-harm.
The claim alleged that Lara's body wasn't found for 18 hours and that jail officials "twice served food to Mr. Lara's corpse."
The settlement, announced Monday, came before the claim progressed to a lawsuit, according to the family's Seattle attorney, Ryan Dreveskracht, who is also an appointed member of the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission, the agency responsible for establishing standards and certification guidelines for Washington corrections officers.
He has called the conditions of Lara's nearly three weeks in Garfield County Courthouse confinement the worst he had ever seen and said they would be "intolerable in any civilized society."
The family's claim alleged county officials erred in placing the distraught Lara in solitary confinement and provided "wildly" insufficient supervision, leading to the man's death.
After his arrest, county officials placed him in a dingy solitary confinement cell in the basement of the courthouse, which was built in Pomeroy in 1901, disregarding concerns he might hurt himself, according to the claim.
Lara had expressed "suicidal ideation" to others after he had gotten into an altercation with another person in the jail and punched a wall, breaking bones in his hand, the claim says. He had also made similar statements during previous bookings, according to the claim.
Dreveskracht's claim cited federal legal precedents stating that housing potentially suicidal people in isolation cells "is like throwing gasoline on a fire," and the claim referenced data showing half of prison and jail suicides occur among a "single-digit percentage" of people kept in solitary confinement.
Lara's family said he died because of a lax monitoring system.
While the county's jail policy calls for frequent interaction with people detained there and increased supervision of those in solitary confinement, the claim alleges the jail is not staffed by corrections officers.
Instead, according to the claim, dispatchers who are not commissioned law enforcement officers are tasked with monitoring the jail and its 20 cameras, in violation of state law.
The claim also alleged the county's dispatchers, who often work alone, are required to "monitor, serve meals, and administer medication" to people in jail, in addition to standard duties like answering 911 calls, dispatching deputies and firefighters, and entering warrants and protection orders into the court system.
The settlement agreement, obtained by The Seattle Times, states that the county "agrees that it will not operate and maintain a jail for purposes of regularly housing inmates, but will instead contract with outside agencies for those services."
The county currently contracts with neighboring Whitman and Walla Walla counties for that service, the agreement states.
If the county ever decides to build or operate its own jail, the agreement states it must do so "within state and/or Federal regulations and will require training for correctional staff, including CJTC Corrections Certification for the jail commander."
On the afternoon of April 13 — two weeks after his arrest — Lara began acting "out of control," and county Undersheriff Calvin Dansereau allegedly threatened Lara that he'd be sent back to Walla Walla State Penitentiary, where Lara had previously served time and where he feared for his life.
That evening, video shows Lara erecting a white sheet to block the view of the camera and then "working" the web strap that held a wall-mounted television in place. The family's claim said jail protocol is to check on the inmate or call for help if a camera's view is blocked.
The claim alleged the dispatcher either saw the barrier and ignored Lara's alarming behavior or "abdicated his duty" by not seeing it at all.
Around 11 that night, Lara killed himself in the shower area of the cell, according to medical reports.
The next morning, the same dispatcher "served breakfast to Kyle's corpse," leaving the tray in a slot in the cell's door, according to the claim. The next dispatcher on duty also should have seen the sheet, but did not report it or check on Lara, the claim alleged. That afternoon, around 1:30 p.m., she brought his lunch, leaving the food tray on top of his uneaten breakfast, the claim says.
It wasn't until nearly 5 p.m. on April 14 that another dispatcher noticed the uneaten meals and called into the cell. When Lara didn't respond, a deputy was called to enter the cell, where Lara's body was found.
"This never should have been allowed to happen," said David Lara, his father, when the claim was filed in 2023. "As a parent to a young man with addiction issues, sometimes I prayed that my son would get picked up because he is safer in jail than on the streets."
In a news release Monday, he said, "We miss Kyle dearly and this settlement won't bring him back, but we take solace in the fact that Garfield County has promised to reform its ways as a result of his death. This settlement ensures that nobody else will have to endure the inhumane conditions my son suffered in the county jail during his last days."
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