Suit Filed in Death of Clinton County Correctional Facility Inmate
HARRISBURG – The family of a Lock Haven man who died in the Clinton County Correctional Facility in December of 2017 has filed a federal lawsuit against the county and correctional and medical attendants.
Shawn M. Kitchen, 41, died on Dec. 3, 2017. At the time of the death, state police issued a release on an autopsy report that the cause of death was natural causes. But the Associated Press reported on Tuesday that Kitchen’s family has gone into federal court, alleging that correctional facility guards and doctors ignored and ridiculed his medical problems as they tracked his final days of life.
The suit alleges the county failed to properly train or supervise its staff. The suit, filed by Kitchen’s mother, alleges the prison’s medical staff, Dr. Karl Pecht and Wellpath LLC denied adequate medical care and are accused of medical negligence.
According to the lawsuit, Kitchen began to exhibit health issues shortly after his jailing on Nov. 21 on a probation violation charge. The suit, filed on Friday of last week, claims what started as a urinary tract infection led to a fatal kidney infection.
The suit says medical and prison staff responded to the complaints by placing him in solitary confinement and a restraint chair.
On Dec. 3, medical responders found Kitchen naked on the floor outside a shower. The suit quotes from an EMT report the following: “Staff members denied any recent injury or illness to this patient and stated he advised no complaints prior to the collapse. It was hard to question the staff present or get answers from them. The correctional staff just repeated ‘This is not good.’”
Kitchen was taken to Lock Haven Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The Kitchen federal court action follows settlement of a previous federal court case involving the former warden at the Clinton County Correctional Facility. The final out-of-court settlement in that case was $350,000 in the civil suit filed by Tom Duran, the former warden.
