The state of Kentucky and a company that provides medical care in its state prisons have reached an undisclosed settlement with the widow of a man who died during mental health episode at a state facility, but attorneys say there is still a lack of accountability and systemic issues that plague the prisons.
Attorneys for Marcus Penman’s wife said instead of treating him for his mental disorder, prison staff at the Kentucky State Penitentiary in the town Eddyville responded with “physical torture” that led to his death.
No criminal charges were filed against anyone involved in the incident. It is an example of the systemwide disregard for inmates with mental health issues and an attempt to cover up misconduct, one lawyer says.
“What I’ve seen historically is a manipulation of the truth by Kentucky officials as to how a death has occurred and a prolonged investigation, which I believe to be designed to prevent any family from claiming a civil rights violation because it would push it past the one-year statute of limitations,” Daniel Smolen, attorney for Marcus Penman’s widow, said in an interview with Atlanta Black Star.
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Video footage of the April 2017 incident shows the 39-year-old man, who had bipolar disorder, punching himself in the face, slamming his head, and running into a cell door even after blood splashes on the wall and he falls multiple times.
After nine minutes, Penman was tased seven times and pepper-sprayed three times before seven guards entered his cell to shackle him. He was placed in a restraint chair with a spit mask over his head and a shield pressed against his face for about eight minutes.
Penman’s official autopsy report shows that he died of asphyxia by “compression of the neck.” He had a collapsed lung and blood in his eyes, and blunt force trauma to the head and wrist and knees. However, days after his death, prison officials announced in a press release that he died because of self-inflicted injuries.
The medical examiner Dr. Christopher Kiefer pointed out that a guard’s hands were on Penman’s neck while he was being restrained.
“The decedent is moved from the cell into the common area where he is raised by officers to the restraint chair. At this point, an officer located behind the upright part of the chair appears to restrain the decedent’s head by placing his left hand on the head and his right hand on the upper anterior neck,” Kiefer wrote.
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