A southeastern Kentucky jail is facing a lawsuit that claims a man died in its care when he did not receive requested medical attention or prescribed medication.
Kyle Barton, 40, was incarcerated inside the Whitley County Detention Center for 16 days from Sept. 14 to Sept. 30, 2023, where he became so ill and went without treatment, he suffered a serious fall that caused fatal injuries to his head and brain that resulted in his death, according to the lawsuit.
The man’s parents, Dennis and Gina Barton, filed suit in federal court on Oct. 8 against Whitley County, the detention center, the fiscal court, Jailer Jason Wilson, several jail employees and the jail’s medical provider for wrongful death, gross negligence, negligent hiring and training and medical negligence.
But the Bartons took their lawsuit one step further by listing the Kentucky Department of Corrections and several of the department’s high-ranking officials as defendants in the suit.
“Kyle Barton didn’t deserve to be neglected or die in the manner or fashion that he did,” said Lisa Circeo, the Bartons’ attorney. “No inmate deserves that. Clearly this is a systemic problem not just in Whitley County, but throughout the commonwealth. The Barton family knows, while they can’t bring Kyle back, they don’t want this to happen anybody else. They want to bring attention to a systemic and pervasive problem.”
The lawsuit claims factors such as placing state inmates in local facilities’ care contributed to their burgeoning overcrowding. It also asserted the department does not adequately reimburse county jails at the standard rate for medical care. With an influx of inmates and under-funding of medical reimbursements, jails were inadequately able to offer healthcare.
Barton’s death is one of six deaths that have occurred inside the Whitley County Detention Center over the past four years, according to data compiled by the Herald-Leader from the Department of Corrections’ local jail death logs.
Neither Wilson nor Captain Jason Strunk, the jail’s top leaders, responded to a Herald-Leader request for comment Wednesday.
Morgan Hall, the communications director for the Justice and Public Safety Cabinet, said the Department of Corrections had not been served with the lawsuit as of Wednesday.
“The Kentucky Department of Corrections is committed to ensuring the safety and well-being of all individuals who fall under the department’s oversight,” Hall said in an emailed statement.
By state statute, the department of corrections is tasked with enforcing the regulations and jail standards, Hall said, but does not have ultimate responsibility for all operations within the Whitely County Detention Center as alleged in the complaint. County jails are the responsibility of the fiscal court of each county.
Lawsuits between local jailers and the Department of Corrections dating back to the 1980s and as recent as 2023 show that courts have sided with local jailers, who have long claimed the department soaks local taxpayers for tens of millions of dollars a year by ordering thousands of state inmates to be held in county jails without properly reimbursing county governments for the expense.
The family is seeking punitive damages, and reimbursement of finances related to medical care and funeral expenses.
What happened to Kyle Barton
Barton was incarcerated at the Whitley County Detention Center beginning Sept. 14, 2023, for theft, according to court documents.
At that time, the detention center — which has 184 total jail beds — was housing 260 people. Barton was required to sleep on a floor mat, according to the lawsuit.
At his initial medical intake two days after his arrival, Barton had an abscess on his arm which required antibiotics two times a day for 10 days. He did not receive his first dose until two days later, and of the 20 doses, Barton did not receive nine of those, the lawsuit says.
Barton was also undergoing withdrawals from heroin, which the jail’s policies and procedures require initiation of a medical emergency care plan which includes notifying a physician. Despite this, Barton received no medical support, the suit says.
His condition deteriorated rapidly to a point Barton was defecating on himself, speaking in a bizarre manner, unable to eat, dizzy and too weak to walk properly, according to the complaint. Fellow inmates tried over the course of days to get attention of jail and medical staff to offer assistance to Barton.
Barton made several formal requests to receive care, but there is no jail documentation showing medical assessments were given, according to the lawsuit.
“There is no record that Kyle Barton was ever seen by a provider while incarcerated at the jail after complaints were made by Barton and fellow inmates, in reckless disregard and with deliberate indifference to his condition,” the lawsuit reads.
Barton even attempted to sleep in an area of the cell where a camera was placed so as he continued to deteriorate, jail staff would be able to monitor him. His attempts were in vain, as the cameras in the cell were not properly installed, the lawsuit says.
On the morning of Sept. 30, Barton was so weak he fell in the bathroom, resulting in several brain bleeds and a significant skull fracture, according to the lawsuit. His cellmates banged on the windows and doors and tried to flag the video camera to get him help.
Two officers noticed this while walking to another cell and found Barton on the floor bleeding from his head and ear. He was taken out of the cell in a wheelchair, where he slumped out onto the floor in the booking area, according to the lawsuit.
Staff attempted to administer Narcan in case Barton was experiencing an overdose; bloodwork later confirmed he was not.
The staff then began life-saving measures until he was transported by EMS to a local hospital, where he was declared brain dead.
Barton’s heart stopped beating Oct. 1 — less than 24 hours after he left the detention center.
‘Systemic failure’ by DOC
The Department of Corrections is listed as one defendant, as are Commissioner Cookie Crews; Scott Jordan, deputy commissioner of adult institutions; Hilary Dailey, deputy commissioner of support services; and Lisa Lamb, commissioner of community services and local facilities.
Months before Barton’s incarceration, in April 2023, the department conducted an inspection of the Whitley County Detention Center. The department cited the jail for non-compliance in regards to overcrowding, failing to conduct in-person surveillance every 60 minutes and employees not receiving medical awareness of communicable disease training within the first 30 days of their employment.
At that time, the detention center housed 312 inmates in its 184-bed facility — 92 of those were state inmates.
The Whitley County facility was one of several local jails that joined an April 2023 Franklin Circuit Court lawsuit against the department in an effort to improve conditions by reducing the number of inmates held in count jails and improve access to quality healthcare.
The Franklin County lawsuit claimed the Department of Corrections keeps their 14 state prisons consistently under capacity by housing as many state inmates as they can in county jails, including Whitley County.
The department’s fails to take state inmates back to prisons in a timely manner, jailers said, which increases the costs inside the county jails who are not compensated properly for medical services and medications, according to the suit.
A judge ruled in favor of the county jails in May 2024.
The department’s own annual report published in 2023 indicates the annual medical cost per inmate in an adult facility for a year is $22.55 per day. The same report revealed the department was only reimbursing county jails, including Whitley County, a per diem rate of $2.15 for medical expenses.
The department does not determine the per diem rate, according to Hall. The per diem rate for jails is set by the state legislature, she said.
A Franklin County circuit judge said the department caused and contributed “to Whitley County Detention Center lacking resources necessary to appropriately provide medical care to its inmates. The same created a dangerous condition for the inmates.”
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