Lawsuit alleges 'horrific neglect' of Dakota County inmate led to serious health crisis

A new federal lawsuit filed against Dakota County, its jailers and a for-profit medical provider alleges a mentally ill and diabetic inmate suffered "horrific neglect and deliberate indifference" while detained in 2022.

Minneapolis-based law firm Storms Dowark announced the lawsuit Thursday, filing on behalf of inmate Caleb Duffy's father and legal guardian, Brian Duffy.

The complaint alleges that correctional officers and nurses at the Dakota County Jail purposefully ignored Duffy's requests for help during his detainment, causing him to languish in his cell "in a psychotic state with no clothes, rolling around in feces, blood, urine and vomit for hours on end."

According to the complaint, Caleb Duffy was detained on July 2, 2022.

Less than 48 hours since being jailed, a deputy checked Caleb's blood sugar and found it to be 531 mg/dl, which is dangerously high and generally requires hospitalization.

Brian Duffy informed the jail his son needed his insulin and Gabapentin, an anti-psychotic drug, and provided them to the jail by July 5, 2022.

Despite this, nurses allegedly repeatedly denied Caleb Duffy his Gabapentin, causing him to go through withdrawal and his psychotic state to become heightened.

He began to threaten suicide, to which the jail allegedly responded by placing him in a padded cell. He repeated cried out for needing a doctor, but the lawsuit alleges that deputies did not seek out medical help for him.

When jail nurses finally checked his condition, they recorded a blood sugar level so high they could not measure it, finally deciding to send him to the hospital, the lawsuit alleges.

He was diagnosed with diabetic ketoacidosis with coma, spending nearly two weeks in intensive care.

"This case involves a shocking lack of care by the defendant corrections and jail medical staff," stated attorney Ryan Vettleson, of Storms Dworak. "Mr. Duffy's plight was so severe that it is extremely difficult to watch any of it on video."

The complaint names the defendants as the Dakota County jail, Advanced Correctional Healthcare, several individual deputies and nurses, and a nurse practitioner.

The Duffys are demanding "compensatory, special, and punitive damages" for the alleged abuse Caleb endured in the jail, noting a violation of his 8th and 14th Amendment rights, as well as accusing the defendants in the case of professional and ordinary negligence.

The Dakota County Sheriff's department declined to speak on the allegations due to this being an active legal proceeding, but shared in a statement that the agency takes "all complaints and allegations seriously. The safety and care of those in our jail is our top priority."