Howtopat family to sue Klickitat County following son’s death in jail

Ivan Howtopat, a Goldendale resident and a citizen of the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, was 24 years old at the time of his death. He was found in his solitary cell on May 20, 2023, having died by hanging. The claim notes that his placement in solitary confinement “served to exacerbate his withdrawal symptoms and increase his risk for suicide.” Additionally, the cell was outfitted with the means for him to commit suicide.

At the time of Howtopat’s death, he was going through withdrawal from fentanyl. Howtopat wrote he was dependent on fentanyl in his risk assessment form. He had also had run-ins with Klickitat County Jail before, Sebren said, and they were aware of his opioid use disorder. When he was arrested on May 15, he was found to have drug paraphernalia on his person. Despite this, he received no treatment for the disorder or his withdrawal, Sebren said.

“There’s no record of him receiving any detox protocols, any medical care, any mental health care,” Sebren said. “If you talk to any medical expert, opiate withdrawal is very serious. It can be violently painful. It’s torture. So, in essence, by failing to treat him for his fentanyl withdrawal, they were torturing Ivan in that jail. He was tortured to death in there.”

Howtopat did not receive a fit-for-jail examination or medical screening, despite county corrections officers writing that he was “hard to wake,” the tort notice alleges. According to the Klickitat County Sheriff’s Office custody manual, “arrestees in urgent need of medical attention should not be transported to this facility.”

The manual also says that “transporting officer should stay until the arrestee has been searched, screened and accepted.” Howtopat was accepted into jail custody with his only medical screening being a risk assessment completed by corrections officers, rather than a medical professional. Furthermore, according to public records, neither of the corrections officers screening Howtopat were found to have completed their training on the jail’s standard operating procedures, including the medical and operating procedures.

The tort notice points out that Klickitat County’s policy is to have corrections officers perform all medical intake screenings, which it notes “runs counter to nationally recognized standards of care for correctional facilities.” This is because the jail has no healthcare providers on staff, the notice alleges. While the jail does have an on-call provider, that provider is not a correctional medicine specialist, and is located in Vancouver.

Additionally, the only screening that Howtopat did receive, the risk assessment, was inaccurate, the notice alleges. The corrections officer wrote that Howtopat showed no signs of mental health issues, was not acting strange or under the influence of drugs, was not disoriented or confused, had never attempted or considered suicide and displayed no signs of issues that would make him vulnerable.

However, other records indicate that Howtopat was not fully conscious when he arrived at the jail, the tort claim says. Additionally his county records, which should have been available to corrections officers, display past reports of attempted suicide.

Sebren said that under the Constitution, it’s illegal to be recklessly or deliberately indifferent to the serious medical needs of prisoners. The county was undoubtedly deliberately indifferent to Howtopat’s medical needs, which would qualify as being unconstitutional, Sebren said.

“It’s particularly upsetting, the hypocrisy of [Klickitat County Sheriff] Bob Songer calling himself a constitutional sheriff yet unconstitutionally running a jail,” Sebren said. “I’m embarrassed as a citizen of this state to have that happen here.”

Howtopat’s death is indicative of a larger problem at Klickitat County Jail, Sebren said. Though they haven’t yet engaged in discovery in the case, they do have access to records acquired through the Public Records Act. In these records, Sebren said it became apparent that the policies the jail had were nowhere near sufficient in ensuring the safety of inmates.

The policies are not the only problem Sebren said; the jail chief, Loren Culp, is a former police officer with no corrections experience. Despite this, he was appointed by Songer, Sebren said. It shows a disregard for inmates’ wellbeing, she said.

“Inadequate treatment of inmates in jails, particularly county jails in Washington State, is a really serious public health crisis,” Sebren said. “It’s alarming and it’s unconstitutional, the way that these people are being treated and are jailed in Washington State, and Klickitat County is among the worst I’ve seen.”

Besides not having a medical director or any medical staff and having a jail chief with no correctional experience, the county also has no suicide prevention policy, the notice says. Despite his history and the fact that he was experiencing fentanyl withdrawal, Howtopat was placed into a solitary confinement cell, which are well understood to create additional risks for suicide.

“I don’t think the fact that he hanged himself absolves them,” Sebren said of Klickitat County. “If anything, it’s further proof of his torture. He was in such misery he chose to end his own life.”

Sebren said that, in filing the lawsuit, the Howtopat family is seeking to prevent what happened to Ivan from happening to someone else.

“The way that they treated Ivan was unconstitutional and the county does not appear to be holding itself accountable at all, so Ivan’s family is filing this lawsuit because it’s the only recourse for accountability they had,” Sebren said.

The Klickitat County Sheriff's Office declined to comment on the case.