BATON ROUGE - Jennifer Bartie, on behalf of her deceased son Javon Kennerson, filed a federal lawsuit on November 28 in the Middle District Court of Louisiana against Lasalle Corrections, Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections, Secretary James M. LeBlanc, Catahoula Correctional Center and others.
Other defendants in the case include Sheriff Toney Edwards, Warden Sherman Ford, Warden Jeremy Wiley, Ben Adams, Randy Stockman, Blake LeBlanc, Pat Book, Asst. Warden Eric Stott, Clara Hodas, Lillie Brown, Ashli Oliveaux and Selena Holmes.
The lawsuit alleges establishment of a system in which prisoners with serious mental health issues are denied access to appropriate medical care resulting in injury and death.
According to the suit, Kennerson was convicted of an offense for which he was sentenced to 20 years in prison beginning in 2013. Kennerson was transferred to C. Paul Phelps Correctional Center on Nov. 17, 2020.
During Kennerson's time at the correctional facility, notes from the C.C.C. show that he would shake bars, ignore verbal orders, spray people in the face with chemicals, rip off his clothes and other behavior that indicated a mental health issue, the suit says.
Kennerson's condition continued to worsen and on December 2, 2020, he was finally taken to the Riverland Medical Center. He was found to have altered mental status, hypernatremia, abnormal metabolic blood panel levels, scalp laceration, infected wounds and rhabdomyolysis, the suit says. On December 4, 2020, Mr. Kennerson was transferred to Lakeview Regional Medical Center where it was noted he acted increasingly psychotic, the suit says. On Dec. 18, 2020, he began engaging in self-harm. Kennerson died eight days later.
Bartie seeks compensatory and punitive damages, attorney's fees and other relief deemed proper by the court. Bartie is represented by Christopher J. Murell of New Orleans.
Middle District Court of Louisiana case number 1:21-cv-04074-DCJ-JPM