Pasadena City To Pay $8.5M Over A Suicide Attempt In Jail

Introduction

The family of a 32-year-old woman, who attempted suicide in a Pasadena jail in 2015 and suffered brain injuries, will receive an $8.5 million settlement from the city.

According to the lawsuit filed in June 2016 in the Burbank Superior Court, the woman was in the Pasadena city jail on Feb. 22, 2015, and the surveillance video showed that she was making preparations to hang herself.

She was hanging from a second-story railing for 26 minutes before the jail staff noticed. The loss of oxygen to the brain for 21 minutes left her with a permanent traumatic brain injury that paralyzed her from the neck down and made her bedridden, blind, and unable to communicate.

The lawsuit claims that the staff failed to follow the basic responsibility of watching inmates and protect them from self-harm. It further claims that the staff should have responded promptly and given her mental health treatment and aid after she was seen attempting to measure her neck with the bedsheet.

The family is taking care of the woman's daily needs and will receive the settlement amount to provide the professional nursing care that she needs. Following the incident, the jail has taken steps to help prevent suicides, which includes body-worn cameras, ongoing suicide crisis and prevention courses, rescue training, and in-house protocol drills, among other efforts.

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