On December 6, 2024, the ACLU of Minnesota and pro bono co-counsel Norton Rose Fulbright filed a lawsuit on behalf of Ramsey Kettle, who was unlawfully punished by Otter Tail County correctional officers while housed as a pre-trial detainee on charges that were later dropped.
Mr. Kettle was subjected to extreme, punitive treatment in violation of his constitutional rights and standards for basic human dignity. Otter Tail County officers, with approval of the acting Jail Administrator, kept Mr. Kettle locked up in solitary confinement for days without food, water, or appropriate medical and mental health care.
This horrendous abuse was carried out by eleven different correctional officers, including two acting sergeants, in February 2024. Mr. Kettle’s condition was known to the acting Jail Administrator, who expressly approved of withholding food and water from Mr. Kettle as punishment. These officers did not feed Mr. Kettle for nearly 60 hours. They turned off the water to his cell so that he could not even flush his toilet or drink from his sink.
As Mr. Kettle exhibited increasing signs of physical and mental distress, Otter Tail County officers did nothing to help him. They did not provide medical or mental health attention. Instead, they laughed at him, mocked him, and left him to suffer. And when the abuse did come to light, the Otter Tail County Sheriff’s Department attempted to cover up their unconstitutional mistreatment of Mr. Kettle by falsifying jail records, failing to document what occurred, and misrepresenting what had occurred to the Minnesota Department of Corrections (DOC).
In fact, Mr. Kettle’s shocking mistreatment was only uncovered when an Otter Tail County Jail staff member blew the whistle and reported the abuse to the DOC. A subsequent investigation by the DOC confirmed the extent of Mr. Kettle’s abuse, although those responsible have yet to be held accountable for the devastating impacts they have had on Mr. Kettle and his physical and mental well-being.
“We must never allow ourselves to be fooled into judging whether we are living up to our constitutional promises by evaluating how we treat those with the most rights and privileges. Our constitution is tested by how we treat those on the margins, with the fewest rights, when no one is looking. And this was a total failure for which Otter Tail County and its officers must be held accountable,” said ACLU-MN Staff Attorney Catherine Ahlin-Halverson. “No one – no matter what brings them to be housed in a county jail or other carceral facility – deserves to be deprived of the most basic of our human needs.”
With this lawsuit, Mr. Kettle seeks to right the wrongs he experienced by seeking relief from Otter Tail County for violating his clearly established constitutional rights.
“It is an honor and privilege to represent Mr. Kettle as we seek to hold accountable those responsible for such egregious wrongdoing,” said Norton Rose Fulbright’s Andy Crowder. “Withholding food and water from a helpless detainee as punishment is something you read about in stories, not something you’d imagine occurs in a civilized society in the 21st Century. This case is about restoring dignity to a man who, although he was housed in a cell—for crimes that were later dropped, I might add—was no less a human being than any other. This case is about showing that such brutish tactics will not be tolerated.”