A 33-year-old Berea man died shortly after he starved and was left in his own excrement for days at a time during his week-long incarceration at the Madison County Detention Center in 2023, a new lawsuit claims.
A Kentucky medical examiner ruled in an autopsy that “medical neglect” contributed to Brandon Baker’s death three weeks after he was taken by ambulance from the Richmond jail.
At the time of his death, Baker was diagnosed with infectious endocarditis, hepatitis C, renal failure, sepsis and hemorrhaging in his brain, according to the autopsy.
An Aug. 14 lawsuit filed in Madison County Circuit Court outlines how guards at the facility allowed Baker to go days without eating and stepped over his body to hand out food trays while he was lying in his own excrement without offering him medical attention.
Penny Baker, Brandon’s mother, filed the lawsuit, which alleges deliberate indifference, negligence, wrongful death, and medical indifference, according to court documents. Penny Baker is represented by Lexington attorney James Yoder.
“Part of your sentence for a nonviolent crime shouldn’t be the risk of death,” Yoder said in a statement to the Herald-Leader.
The Madison County Detention Center, Jailer Steve Tussey, the Madison County Fiscal Court, West Kentucky Correctional Healthcare and unknown jail guards and medical staff are listed as defendants.
Tussey declined to comment on the lawsuit, and had not reviewed the complaint.
Jail nurse: ‘It feels like you are going to die, but you won’t’
Baker was jailed at the facility on July 18, 2023, for public intoxication and possession of a controlled substance. He was living with hepatitis C and polysubstance use — taking two or more drugs either intentionally or unintentionally.
That day, he appeared unwell on video surveillance and struggled to stand without help, according to the suit. Over the course of the next week, Baker would only take two bites of food, vomit, seize, urinate and defecate on himself, and lie unconscious on a mat on the floor.
Other people held in the same cell would call out for help on his behalf, screaming and kicking on the doors, according to the complaint. One man is alleged to have yelled out to jail staff, “What’s it going to take for you all to call a f---ing ambulance?” Another incarcerated person died in the jail a week prior, they were heard saying on video surveillance.
According to an article from the Richmond Register, there were four publicly reported deaths at the facility from August 2022 to February 2024.
Guards and medical staff repeatedly enter and quickly exit multiple times while asking if Baker is okay; Baker would tell them, “no,” and say he needed help, according to video surveillance footage.
On one occasion, a staff member took his blood pressure. Another medical staff member offered him medication and asked if he was taking anything. Baker replied he was previously taking Suboxone, a prescription opioid agonist used to treat substance use disorder.
“Heroin is terrible coming off of it, it is terrible,” the nurse replied before exiting his cell. “It feels like you are going to die, but you won’t.”
In another instance documented in the lawsuit, a guard asks Baker what is wrong. He replied, “everything,” and asked for medical attention. The guard did not respond and left the cell. A nurse never came to check on Baker.
On July 25, 2023, a nurse checks Baker’s vital signs around 8 a.m. EMS arrived at 9 a.m. to transport Baker to the hospital, where he died 21 days later.
It is unclear from the lawsuit if Baker was conscious at the time of his transport. EMS records cited in the suit said Baker had a low body temperature, was breathing rapidly and had an elevated heart rate, and was found “lying in his own urination and feces.”
In the final diagnosis by state medical examiner Meredith Frame, she found Baker died of endocarditis, an infection of the lining of the heart often caused by injection drug use.
“Medical neglect is considered contributory,” she added.
Frame noted that prior to arrival of EMS, it appears that a medical staff member was examining him and taking his vitals, but there is no written documentation of this exam or record of his vital signs at the time.
Jail staff did not record Baker’s inability to eat, court documents say.
There was no documentation of any medical examinations conducted during Baker’s period of incarceration, Frame wrote.
“The only available medical documentation from the jail at the time of this report is that of an apparent medication log, which is partially illegible and incomplete,” she concluded.
Penny Baker is seeking actual, punitive and compensatory damages.
The Madison County Detention Center is a 184-bed facility in Richmond. The week of July 20, 2023, the facility was housing 321 people, according to weekly jail population reports.
As of August 8, there are 307 people incarcerated inside the jail.
