The ACLU-MN and co-counsel Norton Rose Fulbright filed a lawsuit in December 2024 on behalf of Ramsey Kettle, who was subjected to extreme treatment that violated his constitutional rights and basic human dignity while in the Otter Tail County Jail. On August 15, the U.S. District Court of Minnesota ordered that the majority of claims brought by Mr. Kettle will go forward. This means we can continue to pursue justice for Mr. Kettle and accountability for those who violated his rights.
In February 2024, Mr. Kettle was placed into solitary confinement while he was housed as a pre-trial detainee, on charges that were later dropped. Mr. Kettle soiled his cell, and as punishment, Otter Tail County Jail employees turned off the water in Mr. Kettle’s cell and denied him food and water for more than 48 hours.
The Court found that Mr. Kettle’s claims against the county challenging his placement in “rollover disciplinary segregation” – a practice in which a jail imposes disciplinary solitary time that if not completed, “rolls over” to a person’s next jail stay – without due process and without assessment by a qualified mental health professional, will proceed.
The Court also found that Mr. Kettle’s claims against 11 correctional officers who participated in unconstitutionally denying him food and water, and the administrators who had failed to properly train them, also will proceed. In denying the correctional officers’ motion, U.S. District Court Judge Katherine Menendez noted the “troubling framing” of their position that Mr. Kettle needed to “earn his access to basic human necessities.”
“No court order can undo the torture Otter Tail County Jail employees inflicted on Mr. Kettle in February 2024,” said ACLU-MN Staff Attorney Catherine Ahlin-Halverson. “But we appreciate that the Court’s denial of the defendants’ motions allows us to continue to pursue accountability and justice for Mr. Kettle with the hope that as a result, no one else will ever experience this kind of mistreatment in the Otter Tail County Jail.”