Inset: Grayson Painter (Oregon Department of Corrections). Background: The Oregon State Correctional Institution where Grayson Painter was an inmate when he died by suicide after allegedly being "encouraged" by prison officers to take his own life (KGW).
The Oregon Department of Corrections is paying $2.3 million to settle a lawsuit filed by an inmate's family who alleged that he died by suicide while in solitary confinement after being "encouraged" to take his own life by prison officers.
"Why don't you just kill yourself, motherf—er?" Oregon State Correctional Institution (OSCI) officers in Marion County told 22-year-old Grayson Painter while he was in isolation, according to his family's legal complaint.
"Neighboring AICs [adults-in-custody] also report that the officers called Mr. Painter names while taunting him," the complaint said. "Mr. Painter was weeping, asking correctional staff to have a book to read. An AIC tried to console him from their cell, offering Mr. Painter books. Mr. Painter ultimately declined, stating that he 'won't be around much longer.'"
Painter had been locked up after being arrested and charged with assaulting a public safety officer, first-degree criminal mischief and second-degree criminal mischief. Oregon DOC officials sent out a press release following his death on June 29, 2023, saying his earliest possible release date would have been March 26, 2025.
Painter allegedly exhibited "erratic behavior" while suffering from "severe persistent mental illness" before being put into solitary confinement, which staff wrongly attributed to being "the result of intoxicants," according to his family's complaint.
"Painter was clearly experiencing a mental health crisis," the complaint said, noting how Painter was living with "mental illness, including cognitive issues stemming from a traumatic brain injury he sustained in a 2019 motor vehicle accident, a psychotic disorder, ADHD, substance use disorder, and documented history of suicidal ideation and self-harm," per his family.
"Painter was brought into the [solitary confinement unit] at OSCI to provide a urine sample," his family alleged. "The urinalysis results came back negative."
Painter had been placed in a 6-by-9-foot "black box" cell and given "minimal time outside of the cell," according to the complaint. He began experiencing "delusions, was suspicious of his surroundings, and was yelling," per the complaint. His in-cell camera had also allegedly stopped functioning.
"Despite Mr. Painter's recorded medical history, observed self-harm behaviors earlier that day, and the sergeants' request to place him in a cell that allowed for 24-hour surveillance, there is no indication that ODOC staff tried to engage with Mr. Painter, provide him with any care, check on Mr. Painter, or fix the camera in his cell after it stopped working," the complaint said.
Hours later, a correctional officer went to Painter's cell to check on him, according to the complaint. "He observed Mr. Painter hanging by his neck from the cell bars with a bed sheet," the complaint said, alleging that staff "cut him down" and then "shackled" his ankles "as soon as he was placed on the floor."
Painter's family accused officers and ODOC of being "deliberately indifferent" to his mental condition and said they failed him by placing "a patient with severe persistent mental illness" into solitary confinement. They also failed to move to a higher level of care when Painter's "behavior and health appeared to worsen; failed to initiate suicide watch precautions after demonstrated self-harm; failed to address the camera failure in Mr. Painter's cell; failed to regularly monitor Mr. Painter while he was in a double-door cell; punished instead of treated a patient undergoing a severe mental health crisis; and encouraged his suicide with their words and actions," according to the complaint.
"In taking these actions, defendants were deliberately indifferent to Mr. Painter's serious medical needs and were deliberately indifferent to a serious risk of harm to him, in violation of his right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution," the complaint concluded.
Painter's family argued that even if Painter was using illegal substances, which he wasn't, ODOC staff didn't have the right to "deliberately choose to deny him life-saving mental health treatment and dismiss Mr. Painter's mental suffering and anguish."
Painter's mother, Jennifer Painter, told local CBS affiliate KOIN that his family's lives "will never be the same" after what happened to him.
"No settlement or verdict will bring him back, but it's my sincere hope that this result not only causes ODOC to change their ways but reminds everyone that they have rights and dignity that can and should be vindicated," she said.
ODOC did not respond to Law&Crime's requests for comment.
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