The Family of Jonathon Fano Filed a Lawsuit in Connection with his Alleged Suicide in East Baton Rouge Parish Prison
On February 2, 2017, Jonathan Fano hanged himself in a cell at East Baton Rouge Parish Prison in Louisiana. He died three days later. This week, on September 20, his family filed a lawsuit, claiming that Fano was denied needed mental health treatment and was also subjected to unbearable living conditions. The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana. Those being sued for the jail suicide include the city of Baton Rouge, East Baton Rouge Parish, and law enforcement and prison officials.
The lawsuit claims that the serious mental health and medical needs of all prisoners were treated with deliberate indifference.
Fano’s family claims that he routinely took medication for mental illness. He was in Parish Prison for 94 days on six alleged misdemeanor charges. The lawsuit claims that 92 of those days were spent in solitary confinement.
The family says that Fano boarded a bus in Miami, Florida, and was on his way to go home to South California. On October 30, 2016, he disembarked in Baton Rouge, allegedly in response to voices he heard. Law enforcement officers discovered him the next day allegedly disturbing the peace, yelling and shouting profanities at imaginary people.
At a press announcement, Fano’s older sister said that if her brother had been taken to a hospital, where he belonged, rather than the jail, he would be alive today. She alleged that he suffered torture and was denied treatment and medication when in solitary confinement.
Allegedly, jail staff reported that Fano was frequently heard crying in his cell. In addition, the suit claims that Fano had cut his wrists in an attempted suicide within hours of being in jail. The family claims that some appointments with mental health care providers were kept but most were not, during his incarceration.
The family expressed their desire to see jail and prison reform, so that others wouldn’t suffer the same fate as their loved one.
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