Ramsey Kettle wins damages, policy changes after being deprived of basic human needs in Otter Tail County Jail

On October 16, 2025, Ramsey Kettle dismissed his lawsuit against the Otter Tail County Jail and Otter Tail County Jail staff pursuant to a settlement agreement in which Otter Tail County agreed to implement policy changes to protect against the type of unlawful punishment and torture Kettle endured.

In February 2024, Kettle was subjected to punitive treatment in violation of his constitutional rights and standards for basic human dignity while held in the Otter Tail County Jail. Officers, with the approval of the acting jail administrator, kept Kettle locked in solitary confinement for days without food, water, or appropriate medical and mental health care. Kettle is represented by the ACLU of Minnesota and pro bono co-counsel Norton Rose Fulbright.

In the settlement, Otter Tail County agreed to pay Kettle $200,000. The jail also agreed to multiple changes to policies and procedures, including:

• No longer “rolling over” disciplinary segregation time that remains at the time a person is released or transferred from the jail to the next time the person is booked into the Otter Tail County Jail.
• Requiring that, regardless of tenure or rank, correctional officers must report and document when another correctional officer withholds food or water as a disciplinary measure.
• Requiring that correctional officers conduct meaningful welfare checks in which they will assess and report whether, for each incarcerated person, they actually could see the person through the window on their door; they observed signs of life; they observed mental health concerns; the person’s safety is compromised by biohazard material; and the person has access to water.

“Our constitutional rights matter most when those entrusted to protect them think no one is watching,” said ACLU-MN Staff Attorney Catherine Ahlin-Halverson. “While the court’s decision and this settlement cannot undo the unlawful torture Mr. Kettle endured, they have shone a light on Otter Tail County’s failure to respect the human rights of those in their custody. Mr. Kettle’s settlement has established policies that will help to protect the rights of everyone in the jail’s care in the future and ensure that the withholding of food and water as punishment ends here.”

“Ramsey Kettle was subjected to conditions that no human being—incarcerated or not—should ever be forced to survive,” said Norton Rose Fulbright Partner Andy Crowder.” This case is about accountability and the recognition that constitutional rights do not stop at a prison door. We are proud to stand alongside the ACLU-MN in this effort and remain committed to ensuring that what happened here never happens again, to Mr. Kettle or anyone else.”