Jail guard ‘tormented’ inmate before her death, Washington lawsuit says. City must pay

CORRECTION: Mike Rowley was incorrectly identified in an earlier version of this story. He is named as a defendant in the lawsuit.

The corrected story is below.

The family of a woman who died in her jail cell after reporting that she was “sexually harassed and tormented” by a guard reached a $1 million settlement with the city, Washington lawyers said.

Kimberly Bender, 23, a mother and a member of the Quileute Tribe, was found dead in her cell in the Forks City Jail on Dec. 7, 2019, after complaining of repeated abuse by corrections officer John Gray, according to a lawsuit filed by her estate. She died by suicide, the lawsuit says.

Jail officials were accused of failing to properly investigate reports of misconduct against Gray and failing to attend to Bender’s medical and mental health needs , according to the lawsuit.

The Forks City Council approved the $1 million settlement on Nov. 14, according to an attorney for Bender’s estate, Gabe Galanda.

A “significant portion” of the payment will go into a structured settlement for Bender’s child, an attorney representing the city, Megan Coluccio, said in a statement.

“The City is glad to have some level of closure for the parties, particularly Ms. Bender’s minor child,” the statement says. “The City stands by the multiple layers of review of this event, its employees, and its defense of the lawsuit.”

The resolution also “dismisses the matter with prejudice,” the statement says, meaning that it will be dismissed permanently.

Forks is about 140 miles northwest of Seattle.

Pattern of abuse

Bender, who was sent to jail on on a probation violation, complained of harassment by Gray dating back to a previous jail stay in July 2019.

She said that Gray would often make inappropriate comments toward her, “stalk” her in her cell, make sexual comments while she was sleeping and “sexually torment” her while she was going through heroin withdrawal in her cell, the lawsuit says. He was also accused of waking women up in the middle of night and forcing them to get out of bed so he could “leer at them” in their sleepwear, the lawsuit says.

City of Forks Police Chief Mike Rowley, who is named as a defendant in the lawsuit, initiated an internal investigation but found Bender’s claims “unsubstantiated,” the lawsuit says. An investigation by the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office later found that Gray had sexually assaulted at least four other female inmates during the summer and fall of 2019, and on Feb. 2, 2021, he pleaded guilty to crimes associated with the assaults, the lawsuit says.

Failure to monitor a vulnerable inmate

The lawsuit accused jail officials of failing to adequately monitor Bender despite the fact that they were aware that she had mental health and addiction issues and was at risk of suicide. She had previously been placed on suicide watch while in jail in 2014 and attempted suicide once on Nov. 16, 2019, according to the lawsuit.

On Dec. 4, 2019, three days before she died by suicide in her cell, she was admitted to a hospital for “cardiac monitoring.”

A guard last checked on her just before 4 p.m. on Dec. 7, 2019. She was found dead just before 7 p.m. that day, around three hours after a guard had last seen her, the lawsuit says.

The jail failed to adequately train its employees in suicide prevention and did not enforce its own policies and procedures, the lawsuit says.

“Kimberly’s death by suicide was tragic and could have been prevented by standard approaches to jail management regarding sexual harassment and suicide prevention,” the lawsuit says.

Family says settlement brings relief

Bender’s mother, Dawn Reid, told McClatchy News that the settlement reached with the city has brought her some sense of relief because the court proceedings were a constant reminder of her daughter’s death.

“It’s hard every day, let alone having to relive it through this lawsuit,” she said.

Reid described her daughter as a “beautiful, energetic” young woman who was “happy-go-lucky.” Her son, who is 6 years old, “misses his mom,” she said.

“She had this beautiful laugh,” Reid said. “Once she’d walk into a room, she would light up the room. You could be in the worst of moods, and she would come around and just light up your life.”

Reid said she’s hopeful that the lawsuit will help make a difference and bring about change in city policy.

“I hope they get better policies in place to protect their inmates and to treat their inmates with respect,” she said.

“She wasn’t just a drug addict, she was a human being,” Reid said of her daughter. “Nobody deserves to go through anything like she did.”

In a statement, her lawyer, Gabe Galanda, said that Bender’s life mattered.

“Like many, she suffered affliction and addiction,” the statement says. “Her hurt and suffering as a young Indigenous woman made her more, not less, human... Kimberly’s family hopes Forks will take greater efforts to honor and protect the lives of incarcerated women and Indigenous people.”

This story was originally published November 17, 2022 at 2:00 PM with the headline "Jail guard ‘tormented’ inmate before her death, Washington lawsuit says. City must pay."