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Don Gronning
Jacob Mitchell died in county jail from complications from diabetes
NEWPORT – Pend Oreille County has settled a federal civil rights lawsuit over a man who died in the county jail in 2023 while awaiting sentencing for killing his mother.
Jacob Mitchel, 29, was found dead in his Pend Oreille County Jail cell in April 2023. The lawsuit contended he died because jailers and the county didn’t provide him adequate medical care. That violated Mitchell’s civil rights, the $3 million federal lawsuit filed April 4 in Spokane contended.
The county settled the case for $1.9 million following mediation, according to attorney Lauren I. Freidenberg-McBride of the Seattle firm MacDonald Hoague & Bayless, who brought the lawsuit on behalf of Mitchell’s father, Harry Joe Mitchell and Mitchell’s estate.
“Through this settlement, our client hopes to compel systemic reforms at Pend Oreille County Jail to avoid repeat violations and to prevent future harm,” Freidenberg-McBride said.
In addition to the $1.9 million, the county agreed to implement policy and training changes. Those include using a cell sensor in single occupancy cells to monitor prisoners for abnormal conduct and vital signs and offering a wrist monitor to prisoners who identify a chronic medical condition at the medical intake at the jail or if jail staff later learns of a chronic medical condition. The county also agreed to emphasize diabetes management and care in the annual staff training and curriculum, to include monitoring procedures, blood sugar testing, insulin injections, and identifying signs or symptoms possibly related to diabetes.
Pend Oreille County Sheriff Glenn Blakeslee indicated his office is working on meeting the conditions.
“We have contacted vendors for some of the requirements and are awaiting information on price, product abilities and timelines,” he wrote in response to questions from The Miner about the settlement. He declined to comment further on the settlement.
Blakeslee told county commissioners Monday that his department was working on wiring and other technical updates for the jail.
“We’re looking at some systems to help us better track inmate movement in the jail,” he said. He said jail administrators were also looking to make sure meals, including specialty meals, were handled correctly.
He said jail staff was also working on medical wrist bands. He said there were cells that were medically monitored but there were several that were not medically monitored. “There’s just too many people moving around and it confuses the system,” he said. “So we’re looking at the option of medical wristbands.”
Most of the $1.9 million settlement will be paid by the Washington Counties Risk Pool, a group made up of 24 counties, said Theresa Deal, Risk Manager for Pend Oreille County. The county will pay a $10,000 deductible, she said.
The county pays $800,000 - $900,000 a year to be part of the pool, she said, which is based on a 10-year run loss calculation.
The $1.9 million settlement is by far the largest this year, she says. Other 2025 claims have totaled about $1,500.
The risk pool also pays for the county’s outside attorney, Prosecutor Doly Hunt said.
“The county was represented by John Justice with Law, Lyman, Daniel, Kamerrer & Bogdanovich, P.S.,” Hunt says. “The payment for the services of this outside counsel is covered under the terms of the county’s memorandum of liability coverage (MLC) with the risk pool.”
Mitchell was booked into jail Feb. 6, 2022, the day after he killed his mother, Carolyn Mitchell. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder domestic violence in March 2023. He died about a week later in April 2023.
Except for a 15-day period when he went to Eastern State Hospital for a competency evaluation and treatment, Mitchell was held in the county jail after his arrest. He was found competent to stand trial by psychologist. The psychologist wrote in her evaluation that Mitchell had an unspecified psychotic disorder and a substance abuse disorder, but that he was able to understand the charge and assist in his defense.
According to the autopsy report, Mitchell died of complications of type 1 diabetes. According to the lawsuit jailers did not provide him with an individualized treatment plan.
“Jail staff knew he had not been provided a diabetic diet and could not manage his oral intake or his diabetes on his own,” the lawsuit reads. “Nevertheless, Mr. Mitchell only had appointments to treat acute issues concerning his diabetes, which was a direct result of Pend Oreille County Jail’s failure to provide him with adequate medical care.”
The lawsuit claims Mitchell was crying out in pain in the days before he died.
“In response to Mr. Mitchell crying, screaming and asking for help, they told him to ‘shut up,’” the lawsuit alleged.
Four people have died in the Pend Oreille County Jail in the last three years.
In 2022 Franz Kroll, in jail for murdering his wife, hung himself in the jail.
Two more people have died in the jail following Mitchell’s death in 2023.
In late January this year, Krisstarah Tianna Bennett, 33, died of a suspected drug overdose in jail.
Aug. 28, Brett Randall Dison, 61, died in Pend Oreille County Jail. The cause of his death hasn’t been released.
