Federal Jury Awards $5.4 Million in Damages for Solitary Confinement of Prisoner with Schizophrenia

On March 10, 1999 a federal jury levied $5.4 million in compensatory and punitive damages against the Sparta, Wisconsin jail administrator and supervising sheriff for depriving Scott Lawson, who has schizophrenia, of mental health treatment while he was in the jail and holding him in solitary confinement for more than 65 days.

The amount appears to be "the largest damage award to a person with a mental illness for lack of mental health treatment in a jail," according to Linda Priebe, senior attorney with the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law in Washington D.C. "In fact," Priebe added, "it's an extraordinary award in any context, because our legal system generally values the lives of people with mental disabilities as worth less than others'&$151;and as having even less value if the person has been accused of a crime."

Lawson was arrested on November 19, 1993 for carrying a concealed weapon (a fishing knife) and "burglarious tools" (screwdrivers and wrenches). He had been hitchhiking to his parents' home for Thanksgiving when he detoured through Sparta to pursue a job opening he had heard about. When he arrived the job was gone. He had only a $50 savings bond and some spare change in his pocket. When he couldn't find a ride out of town he headed to the Side Kicks Tavern to cash the savings bond. Though the owner couldn't cash the bond, he did buy Lawson a beer. But the bar became less friendly when Lawson began asking questions: Was there a back door? Did it open inward or outward? Was it kept locked? The bartender also said later that Lawson watched her closely whenever she operated the cash register.

That was enough to prompt someone to tell the police that a man was acting strangely at the bar. Officer Wendell Howland arrived and asked Lawson for identification; Lawson provided his Social Security card. When the officer checked his name through the police computer, nothing came up because he had no criminal record.

Later that evening, however, Officer Howland arrested Lawson because he was carrying a fishing knife. The pretext, carrying a concealed weapon, is a misdemeanor for which people are usually released on their own recognizance. But Lawson was held, beginning his ordeal. Later, officers at the station house searched Lawson's bags and found the wrenches and screwdrivers. They increased the charge to a felony, for possession of burglarious tools.

Lawson did not have $500 to post bond; his monthly veteran's disability checks barely covered rent for his apartment in Verona, Wisconsin. So he was jailed with only ten cents and two bottles of medication for his schizophrenia. Jail administrator Lee Robarge subsequently acknowledged that a friend of Lawson's called to notify him that Lawson had a mental illness and needed medicine.

Lawson was held in the jail and denied any medical care from November 19, 1993 until March 3, 1994. For 65 of those days, he was kept in solitary confinement, although no justification was ever given for such segregation. He was then sent to the state hospital for a mental examination--only then receiving medication--and was held there until "restored to competency" in June. At that point he was returned to the Sparta jail with an order from the judge that he have access to medication.

Eventually, Lawson was sentenced to 10 years' conditional release. He successfully appealed the conviction and, after it was dismissed, the state dropped all the charges. He was finally released on September 19, 1994, exactly 10 months after being arrested for carrying the fishing knife.

On August 30, 1996, Lawson filed a civil rights lawsuit in federal court, charging Robarge and Dale Trowbridge, the supervising sheriff, with being "recklessly indifferent" to his serious mental health needs and unconstitutionally punishing him by placing him in solitary confinement. The jury found the defendants liable on both counts, but awarded Lawson only $1 in damages from each.

Lawson appealed the $2 damage award. The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit agreed that, in light of the jury's finding that the defendants were liable, the token award violated Lawson's constitutional rights.

The trial court had erred in two ways, the appeals court found: First, by letting the defendants rely heavily on their argument that Lawson could have avoided his injuries by posting the $500 bond and being released from the jail. The defendants had acknowledged that Lawson did not have the money himself, but asserted that he was obligated to get the money from family or friends or use his veterans' disability checks. (Lawson had testified that he was uncomfortable asking for financial assistance from family or friends and he needed the VA checks to pay his rent to avoid eviction.) The court specifically stated that it was:

uncomfortable with the conclusion these facts present: that a mentally ill man, who [the jury found] was held unconstitutionally in solitary confinement for at least 65 days, and [the jury found] was not provided medical care for his disease, and spent three months of his confinement in a state mental hospital because he was adjudged to be incompetent to stand trial, acted unreasonably by not applying his VA check (used for rent money) toward his bond and not asking his family members to bail him out. 153 F. 3^d 368, 378 (7^th Cir. 1998).

The second mistake the trial court made, the appeals court held, was to allow Robarge and Trowbridge to give the jury the erroneous impression that they would be personally responsible for any damages awarded against them, while rejecting efforts by Lawson's attorney to challenge that impression on cross-examination. The appeals court pointed out that, under Wisconsin law, if the defendants were acting within the scope of their employment at the time of the constitutional violations, they would not be personally liable and their employer, the state or county, would pay any damage award. The appeals court found this error to be "not harmless" because it resulted in a ludicrously small award, and sent the case back to the trial court for rehearing of the evidence regarding damages. 153 F. 3d at 380.

The retrial concluded on March 10, 1999, when the jury awarded Lawson $400,000 to compensate him for past and future pain, suffering or disability sustained from the solitary confinement and lack of mental health treatment at the jail in Sparta, and $5 million in punitive damages against the defendants.

"This case sets an important precedent," said Priebe, whose nonprofit organization advocates nationally for the rights of people with mental disabilities. "It sends a strong message to both jail and mental health administrators that the public is concerned about the increasingly widespread incarceration of people with mental illness in jails and prisons and their inadequate treatment there."

For more information, contact Scott Lawson's attorneys:

• Michael J. Devanie, 115 Fifth Avenue South, Suite 301, P.O. Box 2255, La Crosse, WI 54602, (608) 784-8055, and

• Michael Fox, 44 East Mifflin Street, Madison, WI, (608) 258-9588.