Father files wrongful death suit against Department of Corrections

WASILLA — “Completely unacceptable and appears to be an attempt by someone to avoid being held accountable for my daughter’s death and avoid justice for Kellsie,” stated John Green of Wasilla. Green is the father of Kellsie Green, who died at the age of 24 as a result of heroin detox complications in an Anchorage jail on Jan. 10, 2016. Through Kellsie’s estate, he has filed a wrongful death suit against the State of Alaska’s Department of Corrections (DOC).

Represented by Anchorage attorney Jason Skala, the suit was filed March 21 in Anchorage Superior Court. It questions why more wasn’t done by DOC officials to address what Green alleges was obvious health concerns while Kellsie was a ward of the state. According to Green, his daughter was a heroin addict whose death was caused by a number of factors including severe dehydration, malnutrition, heart dysrhythmia and renal failure.

“There is no way to be prepared to be the parent of an addict. We did everything in our power to help Kellsie, but at the time, as any person or family seeking solutions will tell you, there were little to no options available. What was there had waiting lists, male or native only, required proof of income and virtually all required detox first, which was not available to her,” Green said. “We even sent her to an out-of-state rehab but, there is no instruction manual for choosing one of those and she walked out after only two days when she began to be dope sick.”

Green said when his daughter stole from the family after returning home, something he felt was totally out of character for Kellsie, and compelled by the fear of being dope sick, the family felt the only way to save her was to have her arrested for an outstanding warrant for failure to complete community service.

“She was arrested and honestly, we slept for the first time in a long time assuming that she was at least safe from herself and that we would have the chance for a real intervention,” Green said. “Kellsie died in jail five days later.”

Following Kellsie’s death, two state agencies—Alaska State Troopers (AST) and Alaska Bureau of Investigation (ABI), determined there was no criminal liability on the part of DOC correctional officers.

“Based on our review of the investigation,” the state Office of Special Prosecutions stated,” the (DOC) personnel followed their then-existing medical protocol…their actions did not give rise to criminal liability.”

Green said that report wasn’t enough.

“We were contacted by inmates who were with Kellsie during her incarceration and we’re being told the same story over and over — that requests for help for our daughter were ignored completely. That she had collapsed in front of a guard after approaching the officer asking for help and saying something was wrong,” said Green. “We were told the guard turned away and told the inmates to carry her back to her cell. Inmates, and, reportedly, Kellsie herself, reported being threatened if they continued to ring the help button.”

Green alleges his daughter vomited and defecated on herself for five days and at one point while being consoled by an inmate told that inmate, “I’m going to die in here.”

Green said he was told inmates got into an argument with the guards trying to get Kellsie help but were threatened again and the request was ignored. He was told by inmates the night of Jan. 9, Kellsie’s condition became so bad that she was vomiting blood and had defecated on herself and in her bunk making conditions unbearable for the two inmates sharing the cell. Green said Kellsie was finally removed at around 4 a.m. on Jan. 10, put in segregation rather than being sent to medical or taken to a hospital, and was found dead about four hours later.

“Wanting to know what happened and this could have happened, in order to get any information from the state, we were forced to file a lawsuit to have access to the information and to find out the truth,” said Green. He said the state offered to settle the suit with the condition that none of the evidence be released. “We declined because we wanted the truth to why our daughter was allowed to die in jail revealed and to have some form of closure, …(to have) those individuals and institutions held accountable, and corrections made to prevent this from happening again.”

Green said there was much “back and forth” between the family and DOC for months following that. He said the state cited privacy and security concerns but DOC finally agreed to release the video to his attorney with the stipulation that it not be made public. Green said there is an option to ask the courts to release any or all segments in the future.

Green stated DOC policy for retaining video in the event of an inmate death stipulates all video for 24 hours prior to an inmate’s death, as well as any other relevant video be retained. He said in mid-February, his attorney received six video segments from the state Attorney General’s office. In an April 5, 2017 letter to Green’s attorney, Assistant Attorney General Ali Moser Tahoi stated, “Following Ms. Green’s death, DOC pulled surveillance video for…the 24 hours preceding her transport from the facility to Alaska Regional Hospital along with video visits she had. DOC did not pull any additional video at the time.”

Tahoi said the state has produced all available audio and surveillance video in their entirety and that no video or audio recordings were withheld.

“If any had been, a privilege log noting this would have been provided as required by the civil rules. I have confirmed with (DOC) that no additional recordings exist,” Tahoi stated in the letter.

“It is not possible to retrieve any further video from the system as it records over prior date approximately every 30 days depending on the amount of state stored, Hence, there is no further data to produce,” Tahoi went on to write.

Sequentially speaking, the first video shows Kellsie’s arrival at the facility. The next available video is almost four days later—5:30 p.m Jan. 9 to 12:30 a.m. Jan. 10. Green said in question is whether the state did indeed release all video and more importantly, why is there the large timeline gap.

“As the days that were ‘destroyed’ were evidence, that would confirm the claims of severe negligence and would be opposite of DOC Policy as it pertains to relevance. Considering Kellsie’s condition and her treatment in the days leading up to her death, I can only come to one of two conclusions’ said Green. “Either the person(s) deciding that this evidence be destroyed is incredibly incompetent (or) negligent. And (it’s) even more proof that this jail is severely broken, or that it was willful, unjust and (attempted) a cover up to hide fact and protect the individuals that allowed Kellsie to die,” Green said. “Either is no excuse, is completely unacceptable and appears to be an attempt by someone to avoid being held accountable for my daughter’s death and avoid justice for Kellsie.”

Contacted Monday, Green said he and his attorney are in the process of securing depositions from individuals most knowledgeable about the DOC surveillance file system, who made the decision to delete data related to the time gap, and attempting to see if system video can somehow be covered. DOC spokesman Corey Allen-Young stated department records are generally not subject to release because they contain confidential medical, security, and/or personnel information.

State DOC Commissioner Dean Williams, who came onboard shortly after Green’s death, is on record stating the DOC has updated some 100 protocols in dealing with opioid-related issues including detoxing. Green said although he supports those changes, he still feels jails have they should be held accountable for past wrong actions that cost lives.

“Without that knowledge there is no way that we can have any closure for our loss,” Green said. “Whether it be corruption or complete incompetence, this behavior cannot be allowed by the State of Alaska or its agents…those responsible and negligent will continue to go about their lives without consequence.”

According to Alaska’s online CourtView, the case is scheduled to go to trial next April.